Célia Hay


Wake for a Horse (parts I and II) (2023)
Film
Duration 39 minutes, Super 8 color 4/3 and color 16/9 4K, original soundtrack by Kali Malone featuring Stephen O’Malley and Lucy Railton 

    In a faraway land, a wanderer poetess announces the death of a horse. Two sisters living secluded in the desert then prepare a mourning ritual. Following a mysterious long lost tradition, they work on creating a “jar of sorrows”: they walk in the desert to harvest clay and make a vessel to collect and encapsulate their tears, which they seal and bury to honor the deceased horse. ‘Wake for a Horse’ follows the evolution of their sisterhood, through their journey of loss.

    This film was produced by Samantha Steele, and is distributed by Oyster Films (Berlin). It premiered as part of Microwave International New Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong, in November 2023, and won the award for Best Experimental/ Poetic Film at Carmarthen Bay Film Festival 2024 (Wales). It will be screened at Halle13 Gallery (Vienna) on July 25.


Excerpt from Wake for a Horse part I







Excerpt from Wake for a Horse part II