At Death We Forage

At Death We Forage is the first in a series of experimental films by artist Quin de la Mer, documenting the unraveling of life on planet Earth during the global pandemic known as COVID-19. Filmed on location in San Francisco, California, during the summer of 2020, it is an emotional journey expressed through artistically rendered moving images.

  • Quin de la Mer
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 14 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 28, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Montreal Independent Film Festival
    Montreal
    Canada
    Official Selection
  • Hollywood International Golden Age Festival
    New York
    United States
    Finalist & Official Selection
  • Venice Shorts Film Festival
    Venice Beach, California
    United States
    December 17, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    Finalist & Official Selection
  • New York Tri-State International Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    Official Selection
  • London Indie Short Festival of 24 Frames
    London
    United Kingdom
    March 19, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Cult Movies International Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    May 1, 2021
    Semi-Finalist & Official Selection
  • Liber Films International Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    October 6, 2023
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Quin de la Mer

Quin de la Mer is a conceptual artist based primarily in California. Grounded in place related processes, Quin wanders this world making work about the unraveling of life on planet earth caused by the global apartheid that exists between those that have and those that do not. She is particularly focused on the gap between the human species and the non-human earth community. Quin aims to shift the viewers perception of the known by composing the unseen as the course of action that transmutes consciousness. The result is a visual narrative of nested stories supportive of permanent change and disruption to human patterns producing global extinction.

Quin earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Currently, she is a Doctoral student in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at CIIS where she is combining philosophical enquiry with artistic practice. She has exhibited work nationally and internationally in gallery settings and public forums, been an artist in residence in the U.S. and abroad, and has been a featured artist in print and web magazines globally. Her works reside in several private and public permanent collections.

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Director Statement

San Francisco has been home to me since 1991. No matter how many times I moved away, it always opened its arms when I returned. This time was shocking. The pandemic shutdown started in March, just after I departed SF for a stay in Portland, Oregon. I returned in July to find a completely different city. The barren emptiness was altering. At 5:00 pm I could drive through the city without encountering a single traffic jam. Downtown, amidst towering skyscrapers, there were maybe one or two cars at a traffic light intersection. Without people and vehicles to buffer the sound of a crosswalk signal, sounds echoed off the buildings. Isolation took on new meaning. I expected businesses to be closed, but I was overwhelmed by how much it changed the landscape of the city. Businesses and shops were not only closed, they were boarded up with plywood, and everything at street level seemed to be graffitied. Houses and flats were emptied out, but the rent was still astronomically high. It was wrenching to see the enormous increase in displaced people living on the street under empty apartment buildings. I came to realize that many of them had been tenants of those apartments. Their belongings were surrounding them. Entire living room sets were arranged in the street decomposing along with their owners. It was surreal to see the multitude of signs that read “San Francisco, We’re all in this together.” What absolute horse#*%?
So, I made a film to communicate my perception.