Alaya (film)
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- October 6, 1987
| Alaya | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Nathaniel Dorsky |
| Distributed by | Canyon Cinema |
Release date |
|
Running time | 28 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent |
Alaya is a 1987 American avant-garde short film directed by Nathaniel Dorsky. It shows sand filmed in different ways.
Dorsky used a combination of film stocks, in color and in black and white, that he had collected during the 1970s.[1] He shot the earliest footage for Alaya while visiting friends in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. To attain extreme magnification of individual grains of sand, he made use of extension tubes. Dorsky's home in San Francisco, California was not far from the beach, so he photographed it during spring, when heavy winds would blow the sand around. Shooting was difficult, and he had to have his camera cleaned repeatedly.[2] Additional filming took place in Death Valley.[1]
Dorsky set up a makeshift soundstage in the cellar of his home. He placed his camera on a tripod with an aperture around f/11. Because he was using multiple extension tubes, a large depth of field was required to keep entire grains in focus. Two photofloods provided the amount of light needed for this, which heated the lens of his camera enough that he could not touch it. While the camera was rolling, Dorsky used an Electrolux vacuum cleaner to blow the sand around on a baking tray.[2]
Alaya was inspired by a Buddhist teacher.[3] It is named after alaya, a Buddhist term for what Dorsky described as "perception without concept".[4]
