Decasia: The State of Decay

Decasia is an experimental feature which sets stunning archival footage to an original symphonic score by Bang On A Can co-founder Michael Gordon. Created by award-winning avant-garde director Bill Morrison, Decasia was edited entirely from found film footage left in archives that had deteriorated over time. The severe emulsion deterioration reveals the film stock to the viewer in its basic chemical form and the images likewise are stripped to their most primitive emotional state. The film was shaped to the beautiful and moving symphony performed by the 55-piece Basel Sinonietta. The soundtrack is decaying itself: Michael Gordon took the orchestra to musical extremes by detuning the instruments and using prepared pianos to further emphasize the hallucinatory visual experience.