An “an aural and visual narrative” celebrating 10 years of Brazil’s Novas Frequências Festival.
Novas Frequências is Brazil’s most adventurous music festival. Founded in 2011, the Rio de Janeiro-based event has played host to pioneering experimental artists from across the globe, including King Midas Sound, Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland, Elysia Crampton, Julianna Barwick and many more.
Last year, the festival – headed by director and curator Chico Dub – celebrated its tenth edition. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival went ahead in an online format, switching live shows for filmed performances and audiovisual works, featuring 100% Brazilian artists for the first time in its history.
To mark 10 years of Novas Frequências, the festival reached into its video archive to create À Margem, an “aural and visual narrative” that covers highlights from the event’s first decade. The documentary stitches together performances from 2011 to 2020, assembled in a loose narrative with the logic of a DJ set or polyphonic composition.
The film prioritises rhythm and fluidity, and organises 67 moments in conceptual sequences, with sections that explore themes such as the festival’s relationship with the city of Rio, the festival’s club nights, noise music and improvisational performances that combine in a dream-like structure.
“À Margem does not provide statements, interviews or any other type of support with an explanatory purpose,” the festival says. “The documentary, on the contrary, allows the music to speak for itself, seeking to insert the spectator in the midst of countless performances – that’s why there is few cuts in each take. Another stylistic and conceptual choice was to incorporate images whose camera shakes or seeks focus. The purpose is to naturalize the scenes as much as possible, thus creating intimacy with the viewer.”
For more information on Novas Frequências, visit the festival’s website. The documentary is accompanied by a book covering 10 years of the festival titled Estudando o Som that features 20 commissioned essays on experimental music and sound art that use the festival as a starting point.
Credits:
Beck’s presents: À Margem
Written and directed by: Chico Dub
Editing and post-production: Fabiano Araruna
Title design: Adriano Motta
Creative consultancy: Cauê Ueda
Cameras: 14 Produções, Alexandre Marcondes, Clara Cavour, Daniel Tumati, David Argentino, Eduardo Magalhães, Fabiano Araruna, Fabrício Menicucci, Gilson Junior, Guilherme Bezerra, João Carlos Rocha, Júlio Martins, Luís Pedro Dantas, Raphael Hansen, Yan Motta
Artists (in order of appearance):
Tim Hecker, Keiji Haino, Stephen O’Malley, Natural Nihilismo, b-Aluria, Encarne, Quiet Ensemble, Stine Janvin, King Midas Sound, Negro Leo / Quintavant Ensemble, Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland (FKA Hype Williams), Rakta, Juçara Marçal & Cadu Tenório, Tunga + Ava Rocha & Eduardo Manso, Tantão & God Pussy & Lê Almeida, Andreas Trobollowitsch, Thiago Miazzo, O Grivo, Luisa Lemgruber & Gabriela Mureb & Sanannda Acácia, Tim Shaw, Pierre Bastien, Thessia Machado, Bartira, Áine O’Dwyer, André Damião & Gabriel Francisco Lemos, Dewi de Vree & Patrizia Ruthensteiner (Magnetoceptia), Camila Proto, Aki Onda / Vivian Caccuri, Loïc Koutana x NSDOS x Zorka Wollny, Lawrence English, Beatriz Ferreyra, Thomas Ankersmit, James Ferraro, Phantom Chips, Tyondai Braxton, Interspecifics Collective, Mark Fell & Keith Fullerton Whitman, Thelmo Cristovam, Otomo Yoshihide & Felipe Zenícola & Renato Godoy, Bill Orcutt, Ute Wassermann & Thomas Rohrer, Dissonantes: Carla Boregas / Leandra Lambert / Natacha Maurer / Paula Rebellato / Renata Roman, Interregno Trio, Oco – Caron / Campello, São Paulo Underground, Ashley Paul, Julien Desprez, Tali on pills, Mauro Telefunksoul, DJ Marfox, Marginal Men + DJ Sydney + Pininga, Ripatti, Elysia Crampton, Mr Mitch, RP Boo, Cainã, Kenya, The Bug & Miss Red, Laraaji, Projeto Observador, Daniel Nunes & Leandro Cesar, Tomoko Sauvage, Oren Ambarchi, Enrico Malatesta, Julianna Barwick, William Basinski
Thanks to:
Rodrigo Peirão, Sarah Lage de Oliveira, Renata Pimentel, Alessandra Libman, Louise Almeida, Thaisa Bianchi, Oi/Oi Futuro, Secretaria de Estado de Cultura e Economia Criativa do Rio de Janeiro, Roberto Guimarães, Victor D’Almeida, Luciana Adão, Sandro Rosa, Zelia Peixoto, Sergio Pereira, Yuri Chamusca, Raphael Silva, Marciel Oliveira, Danielle Christian Ribeiro Barros, Conceição Diniz, Natália Lebeis, Valéria Martins, Cida de Souza, Ione Carneiro, Tathiana Lopes
Novas Frequências
Created and founded by: Chico Dub e Tathiana Lopes
Organized by: Outra Música
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