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An elegiac, intimate portrait of one woman’s quest to preserve a uniquely beautiful landscape in the face of ecological devastation and the limits of her solitary existence.
Sable Island, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia, is a long, narrow sandbar and a world all its own. A birdwatcher’s paradise and home to the planet’s largest colony of grey seals, the island is a place of wonder and windswept isolation. Its sole inhabitant – Zoe Lucas, self-taught scientist and environmentalist – has lived here for over 40 years, collecting data about its distinctive flora and fauna, and increasingly, about erosion and the plastics that wash up on the shore, which she turns into artful collages.
Filmmaker Jacquelyn Mills shows us Sable Island through Lucas’s eyes. Shooting exclusively on vivid 16mm, Mills captures the sensory experience of this unique idyll – its textures, tones and rhythms – with experimental and eco-friendly techniques. The soundtrack is frequently derived from natural beats provided by beetles, snails and air currents; images, wrought from raw materials, narrow the space between science and art. Geographies of Solitude is an unforgettable collaboration between landscape, subject and filmmaker.
“Beautifully shot and constructed, Geographies of Solitude is a truly unique film … A visual and aural treat in which every shot has been created to maximize its impact.” – POV Magazine
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