Panorama Ephemera

This film opens with an ordinary couple Don and Clare, who have been hypnotised but don’t know it. ‘You’re awake, aren’t you?’ somebody asks. It’s a good question. The film sequences that follow suggest that it’s America that’s been hypnotised into the banal ordinariness that Don and Claire embody. Panorama Ephemera focuses on familiar and mythical images in America (1626-1978). Many creatures and substances that we hardly notice because we feel so used to them take centre stage, including pigs, corn, water, telephones, fire and rice. At first resembling a compilation, it soon reveals itself as a journey through the American landscape over time, and the story begins to emerge between the sequences. The film consists of 64 self-contained film sequences ranging from 5 seconds to 4 minutes in length, arranged into a narrative. The fragments originate from the Prelinger Archives, with a vast collection of titles on videotape and a smaller collection of film materials. Its goal is to collect, preserve, and facilitate access to films of historic significance that haven’t been collected elsewhere. (EC)