Tess Martin's '1976: Search For Life' Is Available Online
We've been closely following the career of animator, artist and filmmaker Tess Martin for some time. She has been quite prolific over recent years, and has made a splash on the festival circuit. Recent films such as How Now, House? and Still Life with Woman, Tea and Letter have attracted multiple plaudits and awards. Most of these films have only been able to be seen at festivals or as part of an exhibit, but one of her latest films has finally been released online.
1976: Search For Life was released on July 13 to mark the 50th anniversary of NASA's Viking 1 mission. The film marks half a century since humanity first saw the surface of Mars through the Viking lander. Described as an "experimental animation documentary" the short connects the historic space mission with a much more personal story. In the same summer the landing occurred, Martin's father travelled to Scotland in search of his family roots. After more than two years on the international festival circuit, this will be the general audience's first chance to watch the film.
On July 20, 1976, Viking 1 transmitted the first photographs from the surface of Mars. Around the same time, Martin's father, a science-fiction fan, travelled to Scotland searching for his family's origins. 1979: Search For Life brings these parallel journeys together, asking what we discover when we search across space, across generations, and across memory itself. Released exactly 50 years after the events it depicts, the film features archival commentary from astronomer Carl Sagan, whose observation that "as your perspective broadens you learn more about what you left at home, as well as what you went out to seek" becomes the emotional thread connecting space exploration with family history.
Using analogue animation along with Super-8 footage, Martin layers past and present into a single conversation. The film definitely could be Martin's most personal yet, dealing as it does with her family history.
The mixed-media short is available exclusively via Zippy Frames, where writer Amanda Barbour said that Martin's use of replacement animation "create[s] a dynamic where time unfolds at different speeds," calling the search for heritage "an extraterrestrial pursuit: difficult, possible, outlandish, but ultimately, worth trying."
1976: Search For Life premiered at the DOK Leipzig festival, where it screened alongside a retrospective of Martin's work and a masterclass where she was that year's special guest. “Tess Martin’s poetic stories about belonging, identity and loss ring with echoes of autobiographical experiences" said Franka Sachse, festival curator.
Since then, the film has gone on to screen at over 20 international festivals, including Animafest Zagreb, Rencontres Internationales Traverse, Proyector Moving Image Festival and Science New Wave.
You can watch the film here:
