Our films grow out of a desire to transform our own experience into something useful, something viewers will make part of their experience. We think a movie should move so we begin not with words, but by combining images and sounds to produce a certain rhythmic feeling. Although we’re always seeking new ways to marry image, sound and idea, our work aspires to the standards set by masters such as Kurosawa, Fellini, Bergman, Godard.
vinca productions: Peter Greenwood, Jubal Greenwood
Speaking With a Thousand Tongues
The Primordial Work of Joseph Ascrizzi
Forty minutes with Joe: in his shop shaping wood and bone into sacral offerings, in the garden picking peas, in the kitchen cooking them, all the while speaking on art, life, and pasta piselle. Rarely has an artist on film revealed his creative process with such eloquence, insight and humor. It’s all here—sun, moon, phallus, womb, stones and bones, the primordial stuff of life. . . roots dangling, dancing. . . speaking with a thousand tongues.
Shorts
At 40 minutes, Speaking With A Thousand Tongues is a long short movie. Here are some of our short shorts, none more than 12 minutes. Most of them present performers of the Bay Area (San Francisco/Oakland).
Spirit Calling
Baracoa…the people…the music
Doug Goodkin and the Pentatonics
Caminos Flamencos
Diego Plays Tango
Unique Derique in Fool La La
Films in Progress
The Way Home
An Ageless Tale For all Ages
From wonder into wonder the powerful rhythms of Bali, Japan and Africa take you on a journey into worlds of splendor never seen before. As the sensual rhythms of drum and bamboo flow through your chest, belly and feet, you slide round and round in a spiral seashell, bounce on an enormous Japanese drum, dance inside the giant bamboo tubes of a Balinese xylophone, jump into the center of a flower blossom, a place where only honeybees have been.
Two children from a far-off planet, devoid of sound and color, arrive on Earth in search of music. By chance they land in ancient India and from there they travel to Bali, Japan, Africa and fifteenth century Italy. Throughout their journey they encounter the deep, powerful rhythms of drum and bamboo and discover many intriguing natural forms—starfish, sunflower, snowflake.
When those objects morph—precisely synchronized to the rhythms of the music—into spirals, spheres and other forms, the kids (and their audience) jump, swing and dive into a glorious jungle gym of geometry. Playing inside those forms we see, hear and feel the surprising connection that binds nature, geometry and musical rhythm.
But the journey is not all play; the children must overcome dark forces, negotiate close calls and narrow escapes. They are abducted by the flying shadow monkeys in Bali, terrified by a tough old samurai warrior in Japan and pursued by that African trickster, Ananse the spider. Finally, landing in Italy, they meet geometer Luca Pacioli (1445–1517), author of a treatise entitled “Divine Proportion.” He conjures up a geomagical spectacle of transformation wherein the nature, geometry and music the children encountered reappear to reveal a deeper message, that nothing is separate—everything is connected.
The Way Home is a full-length film of animated figures (lead characters and geometric forms) and live action (musicians, dancers, natural phenomena). There is a story line, humor, tension, and character development: the children (a 12 year-old girl and her younger brother) serve as guides, leading viewers into an exploration of their own sensory perceptions of sound. The film poses provocative questions meant to generate further inquiry which will be supported by interactive media, books, recordings, constructive play objects, and simple musical instruments based on those played in the film.
The Way Home is a new telling of an old story—the wonders of harmonious proportion that we find in natural forms and the wonderful ways we express that beauty and order through geometry and music. Working together, the music, images, and story of The Way Home convey an elemental force that goes directly to the deepest part of our being. This is real magic—creation, growth and transformation, the force that sprouts a seed, spins a spiral, sounds a drum.
Moon and sphere, starfish and pentagram, sunflower and spiral set to the music of ancient traditions—timeless elements for an ageless tale, one that is forever re-imagining itself, forever spiraling outward, leading us to new places, forever spiraling inward, showing us the way home.
More than a decade in development, The Way Home has a screenplay, several animatics (animated storyboards), a complete presentation (graphics, natural objects, concept & technical descriptions, soundtrack samples, etc.) and is ready for production.
Personal presentation arranged for potential participants.
Z***Z***
A young boy, chased relentlessly through the underbelly of San Francisco by dark digital forces, desperately tries to find a way back to his mom and dad.
The premise of Z***Z*** is embodiment vs. disembodiment, that digital technology is destroying our physical and mental rhythm, disconnecting us from each other, from the visceral, intuitive and spontaneous responses that align us with the natural rhythms of existence.
Now several years in development, Z***Z*** has a synopsis, screenplay, demo sequences, written descriptions, etc., and is ready for production.
A 25 minute live-action demo for Z*** Z*** (a movie that will never be made—it’s too late, we’ve crossed the Rubicon) is available upon request.