Joshua Bonnetta
Directing
Biography
Experimental filmmaker, soundscapist and professor of cinema studies at Ithaca College. Joshua Bonnetta is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose work spans installation, performance, and traditional cinema. He explores environmental sound through acoustic ecology and conservation bioacoustics frameworks. His films have been showcased at international venues, including The Berlinale, BFI London Film Festival, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Notable works include El Mar La Mar (2017) and The Two Sights (2020). Bonnetta's sound works are published by Shelter Press, Canti Magnetici, and Senufo Editions.
Known For
This is a beautiful and poetic cinematic ode to our moon. Made primarily from international cinematic archives in combination with literary fragments and original moonlit cinematography filmed across five continents, To the Moon steps lightly through the ages and ideas that people have drawn from the moon to create a meditative work.
To the Moon
Explore the disappearing tradition of second sight in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. As we listen to locals' accounts of haunting experiences—phantom horses, ghost voices and other supernatural phenomena—Joshua Bonnetta connects their testimonies with 16mm images and a sonic montage of the physical and aural environment of these enchanted islands.
The Two Sights
An immersive and enthralling journey through the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, El Mar La Mar weaves together harrowing oral histories from the area with hand-processed 16mm images of flora, fauna and items left behind by travelers. Subjects speak of intense, mythic experiences in the desert: A man tells of a fifteen-foot-tall monster said to haunt the region, while a border patrolman spins a similarly bizarre tale of man versus beast. A sonically rich soundtrack adds to the eerie atmosphere as the call of birds and other nocturnal noises invisibly populate the austere landscape. Emerging from the ethos of Harvard's Sensory Ethnography Lab, J.P. Sniadecki's attentive documentary approach mixes perfectly with Joshua Bonnetta's meditations on the materiality of film. Together, they've created an experience of the border region like nothing you've seen, heard or felt before.
El Mar La Mar
The upcoming contemplative feature film from audiovisual artist, Joshua Bonnetta.
Low Islands
An experimental short film directed by audiovisual artist, Joshua Bonnetta.
Lanterna
Echo will be a feature length documentary exploring the animal consciousness through the ultrasonic echolocating world of bats. It will also look into the field work of biologists who seek tounderstand and preserve them.
Echo
An experimental short film directed by audiovisual artist, Joshua Bonnetta.
Strange Lines and Distances
American Colour was funded by the Images Festival and the Deluxe Cinematic Vision Award. "Joshua Bonnetta’s American Colour (note the bi-national spelling), was shot on old rolls of 16mm Kodachrome during a pilgrimage from the stock’s birthplace in upstate New York to Kansas, where its final rolls were processed earlier this year. Like a postscript to Dean’s Kodak, American Colour explores Kodachrome’s historic use and singular hues, doing so with digital means in the wake of its obsolescence.
American Colour
Early video piece inspired by Nam June Paik, in which video feedback effects generate the illusion of the Aurora Borealis.