Evan Albam – Begotten (1990)

 

Composer: Evan Albam 

Tracklist

1. Untitled 44:49

2. Untitled 30:26

Begotten is a 1990 American experimental film written, produced, edited and directed by E. Elias Merhige.
The film narrates the story of Genesis while re-imagining it.
Begotten is considered by Merhige himself as the start of an unofficial trilogy. 

The second film in the trilogy is the 14-minute short Din Of Celestial Birds, which deals with evolution 

and premiered in 2006 on Turner Classic Movies, and was shot in similar visual fashion as Begotten.
Development for the film began in 1984.
Merhige, who was twenty at the time he wrote the script, was inspired by the theories and ideas of Antonin Artaud 

and Friedrich Nietzsche, which in his opinion had not been developed on film to the fullest extent.
The film incorporates many different religious themes and events from Christian and Slavic mythology including Creation, Mother Earth, and various other religious themes on which the events that take place in the film are loosely based upon.
Filming took place over a period of three and a half years in several different locations, with Merhige filling multiple roles in the film's production including working on the film's cinematography, and special effects. 

The film was shot using a 16mm Arriflex camera on black and white reversal film. 

While filming, Merhige would experiment with the film reel to give it an old, withered look. 

This included running the unshot negative through sandpaper in order to scratch it up before shooting. 

Unsatisfied with the overall effect, Merhige decided to use an optical printer but that was over the film's budget. 

He then constructed one himself using old, spare parts that he acquired from camera stores and special effects houses.
The eerie music of the film was composed by Evan Albam.

Memory