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A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS

Ben Rivers
Ben Russell
2013 France, Estonia 98 min Language: English
©Rouge International
©Rouge International
©Rouge International

A character at three different moments of his life: a member of a commune on a small Estonian island, a hermit in the solitude of northern Finland, and a singer in a neo-pagan black metal band in Norway.


From the revival of pagan myths to the failure of community life, from heavy metal festivals to arctic hermits, from the eternal “magic hour” to the northern lights, A Spell To Ward Off the Darkness is a quest for the possibilities of spiritual existence within an ever more secular Western culture. Participatory ethnography in the best sense of the term, A Spell choreographs the actions of non-actors amid real Scandinavian landscapes, seeking to achieve a hybrid testimony to the past, present and future.

(FIDMarseille)

Production :
Rouge International (Julie Gayet, Nadia Turincev), Must Kasi (Indrek Kasela)
Photography :
Ben Russell
Sound :
Nicolas Becker, Philippe Ciompi, Chu-Li Shewring
Editing :
Ben Rivers, Ben Russell
Music :
Lichens, Queequeg, Veldo Tormis
Print source :
Ben Russell - br@dimeshow.com

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