At Death We Forage
At Death We Forage is the first in a series of experimental films by artist Quin de la Mer, documenting the unraveling of life on planet Earth during the global pandemic known as COVID-19. Filmed on location in San Francisco, California, during the summer of 2020, it is an emotional journey expressed through artistically rendered moving images.
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Quin de la MerDirector
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Project Type:Experimental, Short, Web / New Media
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Runtime:9 minutes 14 seconds
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Completion Date:August 28, 2020
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Production Budget:0 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:4:3
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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Montreal Independent Film FestivalMontreal
Canada
Official Selection -
Hollywood International Golden Age FestivalNew York
United States
Finalist & Official Selection -
Venice Shorts Film FestivalVenice Beach, California
United States
December 17, 2020
Official Selection -
Athens International Monthly Art Film FestivalAthens
Greece
Finalist & Official Selection -
New York Tri-State International Film FestivalNew York
United States
Official Selection -
London Indie Short Festival of 24 FramesLondon
United Kingdom
March 19, 2021
Official Selection -
Cult Movies International Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
May 1, 2021
Semi-Finalist & Official Selection -
Liber Films International FestivalAthens
Greece
October 6, 2023
Official Selection
Quin de la Mer is a conceptual artist based primarily in California. Grounded in place related processes, Quin wanders this world making work about the unraveling of life on planet earth caused by the global apartheid that exists between those that have and those that do not. She is particularly focused on the gap between the human species and the non-human earth community. Quin aims to shift the viewers perception of the known by composing the unseen as the course of action that transmutes consciousness. The result is a visual narrative of nested stories supportive of permanent change and disruption to human patterns producing global extinction.
Quin earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Currently, she is a Doctoral student in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at CIIS where she is combining philosophical enquiry with artistic practice. She has exhibited work nationally and internationally in gallery settings and public forums, been an artist in residence in the U.S. and abroad, and has been a featured artist in print and web magazines globally. Her works reside in several private and public permanent collections.
San Francisco has been home to me since 1991. No matter how many times I moved away, it always opened its arms when I returned. This time was shocking. The pandemic shutdown started in March, just after I departed SF for a stay in Portland, Oregon. I returned in July to find a completely different city. The barren emptiness was altering. At 5:00 pm I could drive through the city without encountering a single traffic jam. Downtown, amidst towering skyscrapers, there were maybe one or two cars at a traffic light intersection. Without people and vehicles to buffer the sound of a crosswalk signal, sounds echoed off the buildings. Isolation took on new meaning. I expected businesses to be closed, but I was overwhelmed by how much it changed the landscape of the city. Businesses and shops were not only closed, they were boarded up with plywood, and everything at street level seemed to be graffitied. Houses and flats were emptied out, but the rent was still astronomically high. It was wrenching to see the enormous increase in displaced people living on the street under empty apartment buildings. I came to realize that many of them had been tenants of those apartments. Their belongings were surrounding them. Entire living room sets were arranged in the street decomposing along with their owners. It was surreal to see the multitude of signs that read “San Francisco, We’re all in this together.” What absolute horse#*%?
So, I made a film to communicate my perception.