Célia Hay - Wake for a Horse
Super 8 color 4/3 and color 16/9 4K, original soundtrack by Kali Malone featuring Stephen O’Malley and Lucy Railton. 39 min.
A diptych, dream-like tale of sisterhood, paganism and mourning shot on Super 8 and 4K. A contemporary twist on acid westerns, featuring an original hypnotic score by Kali Malone.
Synopsis: In a faraway land, a wanderer poetess announces the death of a horse. Two sisters living secluded in a desert begin to prepare a mourning ritual. Following a mysterious long lost tradition, they work on creating a “jar of sorrows”: they walk in the desert to harvest clay and make a vessel to collect and encapsulate their tears, which they seal and bury to honor the deceased horse. Sisterhood evolves through a journey of loss.
Written and directed by Célia Hay @celiahay_
Production : Samantha Steele
Cinematography : Célia Hay
Assistant Director : Bradley King
Editing : Célia Hay
Music : Kali Malone
Musicians : Kali Malone, Stephen O’Malley, Lucy Railton
Cast : Laurette Hay, Nairi Mila, Alisha Sofia
Colourist : Sharon Chung
Sound mixing : Hugo Mir-Valette
Distribution : Oyster Films
Film poster : Dean Gullers
Célia Hay is a French visual artist currently doing a PhD in Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Dallas. She holds an MA in Photography from Central Saint Martins (2016).
Her work mixing film, photography and installation depicts isolated social misfits wandering, on their journey to mysterious existential quests. Characters who have left the world to carry out uncanny and rebellious gestures of intimacy which are theirs only, and invent new ways to love and to exist. Themes of mourning, sisterhood, rituals and how the loss of words can establish bonds in ways that defy societal rules, are at the core of her practice.