ONLOOKERS: ONLOOKERS offers a visually striking, immersive meditation on travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. Traversing the country’s dusty roads and tranquil rivers, we watch as elaborate painterly tableaus unfold, revealing the whimsical and at times disruptive interweaving of locals and foreigners in rest and play.
ONLOOKERS transports viewers on a sensorial journey of deep looking and listening, inviting audiences to reflect on their own modes of tourism, while asking the looming existential questions: Why do we travel? What do we seek? (72 minutes / 2023)
“A wry and at times uproarious ethnographic work…revelatory!” -Michael Sicinski , FILM COMMENT”Visually-stunning! ….showcases how tourism can have an effect on a country and its local people.” -Charles Barfield, THE PLAYLIST “Compelling! …Through a series of consistent wide shots, the camera never moving, to a sound tableau that picks up the most subtle touristic rustling…Onlookers not only grabs your gaze almost subconsciously, but it also elicits nostalgia and self-reflection of one’s own such experiences.” – MODERN TIMES REVIEW “Onlookers is a novel exercise in audio and visual presentation…If you’re looking for a new kind of travel film, this is for you.” -Benjamin Franz, FILM THREAT
ACM’s Professor Kimi Takesue’s latest film has just premiered at the 2023 SlamDance Film Festival. The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual showcase for raw and innovative filmmaking that lives and bleeds by its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.
“A VISUALLY STUNNING DOCUMENTARY” – The Playlist
ONLOOKERS offers a visually striking, immersive meditation on travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. Traversing the country’s dusty roads and tranquil rivers, we watch as elaborate painterly tableaus unfold, revealing the whimsical and at times disruptive interweaving of locals and foreigners in rest and play. Drawn to spectacle, tourists swarm to magnificent Buddhist temples, the ordered rituals of monks, and sites of dazzling natural beauty, then recede like a passing tide, leaving Laotians to continue with their daily lives. ONLOOKERS transports viewers on a sensorial journey of deep looking and listening, inviting audiences to reflect on their own modes of tourism, while asking the looming existential questions: Why do we travel? What do we seek?
ACM Video Professor, William Garcia’s FOOD OF LOVE – A Trilogy has been acquired by Lightbeam, a social enterprise that harnesses storytelling for daily inspiration, connection, and motivation. Lightbeam’s mission is to create more empathy in the world. They are a video source of inspirational, shareable micro-films about compassionate acts and selfless people.
Below is a link for Bill Garcia’s three short films.
