SPOTS
Identical creatures from different worlds are drawn together by a musical force.
Tammy Salzl was born in Amiskwacîwâskahikan, Treaty 6 (Edmonton Canada), into a gigantic dysfunctional family with 18 aunts and uncles, 42 cousins, and barely one parent. She spent her summers being tortured as an English speaking city slicker in French speaking prairie farm communities. Retreating into art and stories and animals was the salvation she didn’t find in the fundamentalist religion she was periodically thrown into. Salzl completed an MFA in Studio Arts at Montréal’s Concordia University and has since expanded her storytelling to include film. The tales she creates in all media, awkwardly blending whimsy and melancholy, embody what it means to be human in todays world. She has been awarded several grants and residencies in Canada and internationally, and uses them to make her beautiful parasites: work that enters the eyes through beauty, sinks to the gut with uneasy questions, then rises to the brain to fester over time.
Her first one woman film, The Valise, premiered at the Edmonton International Film Festival and showed at several other wondrous film festivals. SPOTS is her second solo production.
During the confines of the pandemic, like so many of us, the entirety of my family’s lives narrowed to the square footage of our house. I was heading towards my next zoom meeting, third coffee in hand, when I walked past my son’s room and glanced in. There he sat, a seemingly permanent fixture in his gaming chair, enthralled in a world building game with headphones blocking all else and surrounded by a mess of dirty clothes, junk food and gadgets. It occurred to me we hadn’t actually been in the same room together in two days, much less gone outside.
SPOTS is a tale of two creatures whose very different worlds are brought together by a magical force. It’s a film about love, isolation, separation, and what it’s like to be on the outside looking in.
I asked composer Greg Mulyk if he could create a main character for the film in the form of a musical score. I wanted a magical force that pulls together two versions of the same creature, one domesticated and one wild, allowing them to see each other’s spots. His uncanny ability to interpret my visuals brings this tale to life. The star of this film, Kai Salzl, is an aspiring, neurodivergent actor who has acted in live theatre since he was small. This film is for him.
SPOTS got us out of the house and reminded us of the importance of being connected. As the world shifts and moves on, through darkness and light, may we all remember our wilder selves. And may we all have the freedom to dance like no one is watching.