Alfazema

Cinematic Study — 2021

Rooted in gesture, memory, and atmosphere, exploring self-healing in relation to the body and its environment, set against the ocean.

Alfazema is a contemplative cinematic study for camera, inspired by Afro-Brazilian movement and built around a simple, dreamlike encounter.

A woman arrives at the beach feeling ill and falls asleep; in a dreamlike encounter, a mysterious woman appears and works over her body in an act that suggests healing. When she awakens restored, the work leaves open who the mysterious woman was: was she real, a manifestation of something within herself, or an embodiment of the natural world?

The title, Portuguese for lavender, references água de alfazema, used in Afro-Brazilian spiritual traditions. The healer’s attire draws inspiration from the traditional dress of the Baianas of Bahia, Brazil. While not directly related to my proposed project, the natural world is already present in this earlier camera work and continues to surface in my practice.

Commissioned by: Composer Ami Molinelli for Raízes do Choro, supported by a San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant awarded to Molinelli.

Credits
Directed & choreographed by Vanessa Isaac
Music: Ami Molinelli, Clarice Cast, Liza Wallace
Percussion: Ami Molinelli, Clarice Cast
Harp: Liza Wallace
Cinematography: Christopher La Rosa

Produced by Vanessa Isaac

Support: San Francisco Arts Commission (composer support for Ami Molinelli); American Dance & Music, Inc. (subsidy grant to Vanessa Agle Isaac)