About The Film With a contemplative pace Farmer's Requiem studies the effects of time on the icons of agriculture. The hauntingly beautiful decay of farms and barren fields are echoed in the fading considerations of a farmer at the end of his days. About the Filmmaker Ramses Madina has recently produced, directed, and photographed his first film, Farmer's Requiem, which will have its world premier at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.  Currently the filmmaker is in post-production on his second film, The Fool the Friend and the Stranger, and in production on a third film, Night for Day.  Born in London, and raised in rural southwestern Ontario, Ramses Madina relocated to Ottawa where he graduated with a degree in English Literature, and has since been working as an artist within the mediums of photography and filmmaking. Following Farmer's Requiems world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film will be presented as a six week installation selected by the City of Ottawa Public Art Program. The solo exhibition will include the film projected by way of a 35mm film projector with an endless looping platter at the Ottawa City Hall Art Gallery.  The exhibition will also include several large silver gelatin prints of images related to the film.  The exhibition will open November 16 2007, and runs until January 6, 2008. Visual Treatment Production for Farmer's Requiem began in the summer of 2002 as a series of large format photos of rural decay. In keeping with the style of these initial works the filmmaker along with Bernard Cousineau, the films Director of Photography, developed a visual concept for mixing the detail and contemplative style of the initial print series with a more cinematic experience. The result is a fusion of techniques from both disciplines. Single frames exposed for 1 to 2 seconds continued over long intervals with manual camera movement work together to create a methodical capture of the passage of time. Each shot in the film was created with this lengthy and labour intensive process that included meticulous planing and rehearsal as well as the construction of a special camera rail. The planning and rehearsals consisted of detailed timing and exposure calculations while the special camera rail was designed and built by the filmmaker with the help of the Carlton University Science and Technology Center. The camera rail was 12 feet in length and supported by two tripods.  The rails had 1/4 inch markings along the side of each rail that allowed the filmmaker to move the camera precisely a 1/4 inch in-between exposures for an average of about 420 increments per shot.  He also used a geared head for panning and tilting the camera by marking off the pan and tilt handles with 1/2-cm markings for between exposure pan and tilt movement. A zoom lens with movement by hand at 1-mm increments was also used in between exposure for some shots.  Each exposed single frame of film with various intervals and camera movements resulted in a series of still images that together translate into a poetic and fluid movement of cinematic images. Sound Treatment The images were later complimented by music and the voice of Victor McGregor, an elderly farmer that Ramses Madina had the pleasure of interviewing at his farm near Napanee Ontario shortly before his death.  The music of Godspeed You Black Emperor along with the beautiful texture of Victors voice recalling his past experiences, and observations about the changing times compliment the films hauntingly beautiful images of decaying farms and barren fields that illustrate the loss of tradition and livelihood. Afterward Farmer's Requiem was filmed over a period of three summers beginning in the summer of 2002.  The entire filmmaking experience was a unique one that involved labour intensive shots filmed using a specially modified Bell & Howell 2709 film camera. The 2709 was made during the 1920's, around the same time many of the barns being filmed were constructed. The entire process from production to editing created an intimate relationship with the barns and in many ways the era they emerged from. From long days camped out executing methodical time-lapse shots in and outside the barns, to a return to the tactile process of picture and sound editing on a 35mm flatbed, the nostalgic gaze of the film is echoed in the process of its creation. The dilapidated barns and barren fields also represent our tenuous relationship with history.  Farmer's Requiem is not only about the loss of tradition and livelihood, but also the disappearance of a cultural landscape, the shift from agriculture to agribusiness,  from the farmers market to the supermarket, and our growing disconnection with what we eat, how are food is produced and sold, and a disappearing sense of community.