The Thrill of Anticipation: Films We Have Yet to Meet
Six contributors to the 2024 Personal Film List discuss their selections of unreleased films.
32 Sounds (directed by Sam Green)
“Everything changes, and nothing is lost.”
This line, casually uttered by Annea Lockwood in the film, encapsulates a profound insight: Everything changes, but nothing truly disappears. It embraces the impermanence of life and the pain of loss with poignant clarity. Sound, ephemeral and fleeting, exists only in the moment before dissipating. Yet, it is precisely for this reason that sound offers solace, transcending the impermanence of life and the nihilism of death. It burrows into the subconscious, creating a repository of memories and emotions deep within us.
While humanity tends to rely uncritically on sight as its dominant sense, setting aside this visual dominance momentarily opens up the world of sound—a new pathway to perceiving reality. When revisiting the film's 2023 Sundance debut performance on a streaming platform this year, the initial emotional resonance deepened into thoughtful reflection.
Interviews with legendary contemporary musicians and emerging media artists guide audiences across the intersections of physics, philosophy, and art, introducing both familiar and unfamiliar realms. Lockwood’s joyful expression as she lowers a hydrophone into a lake and immerses herself in the underwater soundscape reflects a profound connection to her world. For me, as I faced another challenging year and compiled my end-of-year list, this work offered a deeply comforting reminder of resilience and continuity in the face of time's relentless march.