Credit:

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, CREATIVE PRODUCER

Filmed on

Arri 16-SR3, Kodak 16 mm stocks 7203, 7207 + Blackmagic 6K camera.

Select Premiers and Screenings:

True/False Film Festival (2023)

Official selection at DOC-10 (2023)

Streaming on NOWNESS Asia

Much like filmmaking, glassblowing calls for a certain kind of dance - a 'live' routine that also amounts to preservation. This is what makes it feel so high-stakes. But unlike filmmaking, glassblowing wears its dangers quite openly. Fiery liquid spun into an orb, tenuously attached to a smoldering metal pipe, cues a set of hands waiting to shape it with wet newspaper, which cues a rhythm of puffs, which cues another set of hands - eager to catch a sculpture that's at least 2000°F. Severe injury is a matter of millimeters. Long-term effects on the body are collateral. Practice makes perfect. BEFORE IT BREAKS is a lyric piece about our bodies based on the simple paradoxes of glass - a material that's both liquid and solid, fragile and tough. It's about the constant negotiation with our pain that we must make as artists. It's a secret love note between Nao and her assistant, Emily. Above all, it's a testament to the enduring strength of the female body.

Featuring Japanese glass artist (and contestant on Netflix's Blown Away) Nao Yamamoto.