Sonic Transmissions

Sky Hopinka's (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) cinematography gives the feeling of floating, as if led by an unseen presence through spaces permeated by sounds and echoes—rhythmic, vocal, choral, musical. This momentary look through Hopinka's viewfinder is not a chance to walk in his footsteps or step into his experiences, but to be in observance, with ears attuned to his frequency. We are guided through powwows, down forest paths, through stretches of lonely highways, and towards the land's end. Each scene unfolds in a collage of moving images and sounds as if tuning a radio that vacillates between the diegetic and the external. We feel a sense of immersion and of being there, or having been there, even if in a dream (or hallucination). But remember: we're just passengers.