“What the Water Said,” films by David Gatten

Experimental filmmaker David Gatten made two series of underwater films: “What the Water Said, Nos. 1-3” (16 minutes, 16mm, 1998) and “What the Water Said, nos. 4-6” (17 minutes, 16mm, 2007).

Gatten submerged unexposed celluloid (encased in crab traps) into the Atlantic. The film that results is a direct inscription of ocean processes, light, sand, rocks, and marine life: the sea itself is the recording apparatus.

I thank Eva Hayward for bringing these films to my attention in her excellent presentation, “And Say the Water Responded?” at SCMS ’08.