Flood Tide

Preceded By A Program of Short Films with Live Music

Flood Tide follows a group of artists and musicians who live in a small, post-industrial town. They chase jobs, struggle with bills, and use art and music to build their own small world. When their friend Maya dies, they set out on an extraordinary voyage, unknowingly accompanied by her ghostly presence. And while they drift past empty new condo developments, explore crumbling castles, and swim in iridescent quarries, Maya narrates a parallel story about a strange and meandering river that flows both ways.

Flood Tide is a collaboration with the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea, a project dreamed up by the artist Swoon. With her, an eclectic group of artists and performers built and floated seven large sculptures down the Hudson River, putting on live performances in towns along the way. Although it documents this real life journey, Flood Tide is an independent, fictional film that uses the voyage as its centerpiece.

Music is an integral part of Flood Tide, both on screen and off. The film features an all- original score by the band Dark Dark Dark and includes several onscreen performances by the band as well as a special performance by renowned musician Pauline Oliveros. A preview of the film with a live score by Dark Dark Dark was presented at the Hammer Museum, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, 01SJ Biennial, and Rooftop Films and the Museum of the Moving Image in 2010 and 2011. Flood Tide premiered at the 2013 Torino Film Festival. 

In 2014 Flood Tide will tour the United States and Europe. The film will be preceded by a program of shorts by director Todd Chandler accompanied by a live score by Chandler and Marshall LaCount (Dark Dark Dark). The duo weaves a layered counterpoint to a meditation on creative reuse and the kinds of possibility found in places on the margins.