Undergrowth (2011)
Robert Todd (USA)
16mm
11 min 30 s

«A blind predator dreams through its prey’s eyes».
The obvious predator is a Barred owl, but the film uses this a vehicle to consider the active role of the camera in image «capture». The prey is undefined, but suggested as a compendium of natural figures that the camera «captures».
The film establishes visual (textural) similes between the environment and the predator, and a kenetic dialogue between the camera and its objects/subjects: gliding through the underbelly of the world, tunneling under the natural flora of a semi-urban setting, the camera establishes a presence within the Ground of Nature, counterpoint to an examination of the Figure of the Owl, whose head turns in slow drifting arcs that mimic the dance of the nature-seeing/seeking camera.
The owl’s blindness is revealed in extreme close-ups of the creature’s cataract-encrusted eyes. Its blind state creates a stumbling block to an easy decoding of the nature-seeking footage as a representation of its own outer-directed sight, calling into question the nature of this perspective, and consequently the nature of that which is «capturing» the owl.

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