The 2023 Edition of Vancouver International Film Festival ran from September 28 to October 8. VIFF Live was a series of events curated to platform artists who sought to expand beyond the cinematic experience. The most anticipated event of this series was “32 Sounds”, an explorative live venture by Oscar-nominated director Sam Green and artistic polymath JD Samson.
Delivered in an innovative format called ‘live documentary’, everyone in the audience was given a pair of headphones. The production aimed to supersede Dolby Atmos’ surround sound technology by creating a more realistic and immersive experience via custom headsets. The show featured a movie on the big screen and live narration by Sam Green, accompanied by a variety of sounds covering wide geographical and timespans. The audio component was an eclectic mix-tape of music and audio effects that delved into the sensorial and somatic experience of sound by utilizing embryonic heartbeats, cat purrs, mating calls of an extinct bird, digitally manufactured binaural beats and foley effects; interspersed with personal anecdotes, metaphysical reflections and voice recordings of past lives that left everyone in goosebumps. The visual component effectively added depth to the ideas being explored. I particularly enjoyed the video medley accompanying John Cage’s auditory experience 4”33. “32 Sounds” felt like a cinematic extension of Radiolab with occasional crossovers into TED Talk territory.
A few creative choices left me rather confused. Why was Green’s narrative commentary live but not Samson’s musical renditions? The overuse of binaural sound effects and the pumped up subwoofers felt a tad bit gimmicky. Experiencing the show in a packed auditorium was counteracted by the isolating function of headphones. However, the people who featured in this production were exceptionally brilliant and they passionately shared their musings and life’s work. Their recollections went from profoundly poignant and meditative to viscerally rousing and celebratory. “32 Sounds” was an incisive demonstration of the emotive and spiritual aspects of sound production and reception.
– Annapoorna Shruthi