The Wind

Directed by Miranda Javid

A historical fact rolls by like clouds, or maybe like cloud computing. Digital landscapes like desktops, trash cans, and cursors flatten the sensation of what tangibly remains: the invisible pleasure of wind on skin.

Director's Statement

The Wind is about trying to execute a big idea in the studio when it might be just as meaningful to go for a walk. In 2019, I was at a residency in Spain, trying to work on an essayistic video about the first television transmission in 1928, which happened to be of the cartoon character Felix the Cat. However, amidst a new landscape, I found myself unbelievably distracted. Temporarily putting down my digital stylus, I wandered through El Bruc and Monserrat using experimental methods to catalog what I saw. I drew in graphite on thin sheets of tracing paper, delicately shading each frame. I snapped quick digital photos on my iPhone. I printed frames and enlarged them at a local copy shop to simulate the feeling of zooming into the digital/corporeal divide.

While the project was an important reminder to acknowledge the body while making, it does not seek to diminish the reality of digital worlds or the importance of that original television transmission. Surprisingly, as the film emerged, there was still plenty of crossover between the original conceit of the film and what I uncovered. Seeds in the air became a kind of television static. Stray cats replaced Felix. Instead of exploring early television transmissions, my phone became my portal, crucial in cataloging and even sound-designing The Wind.

I released the film in February 2020. Shortly after, The Wind’s deconstructed-digital desktop had a bit more relevance in the pandemic era of remote work. I hope for viewers, it can be what it has provided to me. Though I often relish the amount of information at my fingertips, I can always use a reminder to get outside and feel the wind on my face. 

About the Director

Miranda Javid

Miranda Javid is an animator, curator, and art educator with a Masters in Fine Art from the University of California Irvine and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her films have shown nationally and internationally at festivals like the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Slamdance, the Flaherty Seminar, and Malt Adult. She is a Kenan Fellow, a Sherman Fairchild grantee, and a recipient of the Nancy Harrigan Prize, given through the Baker Artist Fund. Her drawings have shown at Commune1 in Cape Town, S Africa, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Mint Museum of Art in North Carolina, and Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA. Currently she lives in the Mid-Hudson Valley.