PORT NOIR (HD, 11 min, 2014)
Within the vast machine landscape of Terminal Island, the textural strata of a 100 year old boat shop provides a glimpse into Los Angeles Harbor’s disappearing past. Dwarfed by massive container terminals, the cumulative scenic details of the last working boatyard, often recast as an underworld backdrop for fictional crime dramas, evoke imaginary departures and a hidden world at sea.
"Port Noir is, literally, film noir, with enigmatic high contrast lighting and a luscious sense of disorientation, but it is also a loving embrace of noir’s moral confusion. Nature and culture are completely entangled here; neither earns approval over the other. Instead, as in all of Kraning’s work, we cannot help but see their embeddedness." - Holly Willis
"The wiggling strands of well-lit reflections of water dance and flicker onscreen in a meditative look back at a lost world, as slats of wood, metal wires, and creaking grating form their own compositions in carefully framed shots. Ephemera of long-gone seafarers, such as old-time safety-match posters, pinups, and occasionally menacing images, peel away to reveal the ravages of time. The film's sound is just as compelling, with man-made noise contrasting with songs of wildlife and the subtle sounds of the sea." - Tanja M. Laden
AWARDS:
Jury Award, Ann Arbor Film Festival
SELECTED SCREENINGS:
Ann Arbor Film Festival
REDCAT Theater, "Transforming Spaces: New Films from L.A. Filmmakers"
New York Film Festival: Projections
Athens International Film and Video Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival
Traverse City Film Festival
Festival du Nouveau Cinema
Antimatter Film Festival
Art Toronto: Verge Video
Transient Visions: Festival of the Moving Image
Strange Beauty Film Festival