Underground Film Journal

Posted In » Screenings

Images Festival: Sufjan Stevens’ The BQE

By Mike Everleth ⋅ October 23, 2009

Innis Town Hall Toronto

Oct. 25
7:30 p.m.
Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto
2 Sussex Avenue (St George Station)
New Toronto, ON

Hosted by: Images Festival

The BQE by Sufjan Stevens is a cinematic celebration of the architecture of the NYC boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn as it’s bisected by the imposing Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Plus, girls with hula hoops! The film was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and was filmed by both Stevens and Reuben Kleiner using time-lapse photography, slow motion and post-production mirror effects. Plus, girls with hula hoops! The action — both the traffic and the hoops — unfolds on three simultaneous screens.

Music for the film was composed by Stevens for band and chamber orchestra and was designed to evoke “a romanticized musical choreography of perpetual motion vs. gridlock.” The soundtrack borrows from influences such as Gershwin, Terry Riles, Charles Ives and Autechre.

For more info and to buy advance tickets, please visit the Images Festival website.

The film and soundtrack are also available from Asthmatic Kitty.

Watch the trailer: