14:30, color, sound
"Passaggio" is a term for the transitional area between vocal registers. It has inspired my titular project, one that blends experimental film, performance, and installation to explore the vexed politics of "voice". I engage first with the formation of voice and its difficulties, which means to question how it is often suspended in the passaggio zone of translation, whether at the localised body of an individual or the collective body of a community, much like traversing treacherous shoals amidst silent reefs, before being brought into sharp relief—or simply sinking back into the mind’s murky recesses.
The Passaggio film questions the gender politics of sound through a teenage boy's voice-finding odyssey. Going through the unsettling phase of voice transition and subsequently losing his voice, the protagonist must plunge into the world's myriad sounds, turning his body into a locale of observation, absorption, and mimesis. Challenging the dominant narratives of voice articulation and able-bodiedness, he fearlessly embraces a fluid identity, a life without an accepted voice. Through this narrative, I explore political and gendered expectations around sound, asking: what constitutes an eligible voice? How do we find our own voices in this chaotic world?
Directed by Amiko Li
Performer: Mingchi Sun
Producer:Wenli Liu
Cinematographer: Junqian Xie
Editor: Anderson Matthew
Art Director: Mengda Zhang
Composer: Casey Mullen
Colorist: Emett Casey
Type Designer: Shanshan Duan
Special Thanks to:
Wang Zhe, Wang Jiachun, Ye Xuecan, and Guo Cheng
Performer: Mingchi Sun
Producer:Wenli Liu
Cinematographer: Junqian Xie
Editor: Anderson Matthew
Art Director: Mengda Zhang
Composer: Casey Mullen
Colorist: Emett Casey
Type Designer: Shanshan Duan
Special Thanks to:
Wang Zhe, Wang Jiachun, Ye Xuecan, and Guo Cheng