Vocal chords with a life of their own
Clovelly filmmaker John Fink’s latest film, Glottal Opera, is screening at this year’s Flickerfest short film festival before screening at the renowned Sundance Film Festival in the USA later this month.
Glottal Opera is an ode to the ingenious assembly that is the human body. The beauty of the human voice and the complexity and contradictions inherent in its instrument are celebrated in this disturbing, confronting, mesmerising yet ultimately compelling musical piece.
The seeds of Glottal Opera were sewn when Fink undertook voice sessions with renowned chanteuse Virna Sanzone. In the course of a sitting Sanzone played an old VHS of her throat to show how the voice works. Fink was intrigued by the image.
Hatching a cinematic plan with producer Deborah Szapiro, Fink hooked up with vocal quartet Kaya while they were guest appearing with guitarist Ben Fink for his album launch at The Basement.
The girls agreed to join the experiment, as did ENT specialist Dr Jonathan Livesy and Jan Cullis, voice counsellor from Voice Connections.
Fink also had to face the music when Szapiro insisted he undergo the procedure a week before shooting so he could experience firsthand what the girls would be dealing with. The procedure involves threading an endoscopic camera up the nose of the singer to reach to the back of the throat. The image was then recorded to disk with the girls singing each part of their harmony.
Fink’s most recent long film was the quirky Australian documentary Big Dreamers, which enjoyed a solid two-year run on the international festival circuit.
