Movie: Swan’s Island

  • HomePage

  • Overview

    Katy Martin paints directly on her skin, and uses her whole body to make marks with the paint. Bill Brand frames the action and its trace, in the process, linking painting and cinema. Swan's Island explores gesture in painting, and how it relates to the hand held camera. The film creates abstractions from the glistening blue paint that in turn evoke a seascape or a distant, yet intimate place. In its choreography, Swan's Island is a duet. The painted figure occupies space, and the camera describes that space. The person filming and the person filmed are moving as one, and yet they are separate, each an island. Seeing and being seen are inextricably bound with emotions of love and loss, longing and a sense of place.

  • Release Date

    2005-01-01

  • Average

    10

  • Rating:

    5.0 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    English

Recommendations Movies

Age of Consent
59%

Age of Consent(en)

1969-05-13

An elderly artist thinks he has become too stale and is past his prime. His friend (and agent) persuades him to go to an offshore island to try once more. On the island he re-discovers his muse in the form of a young girl.

Castaway
62%

Castaway(en)

1986-03-05

Middle-aged Gerald Kingsland advertises in a London paper for a female companion to spend a year with him on a desert island. The young Lucy Irving takes a chance on contacting him and after a couple of meetings they decide to go ahead. Once on the island things prove a lot less idyllic than in the movies, and gradually it becomes clear that it is Lucy who has the desire and the strength to try and see the year through.

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
71%

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas(en)

1931-07-30

On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.

Powaqqatsi
73%

Powaqqatsi(en)

1988-04-29

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

A Brush with Love
58%

A Brush with Love(en)

2019-03-30

As she considers giving up on her artistic dreams, Jamie paints a vision board that brings her success and love—only to discover that the mystery man in her painting isn't who she thinks.

Lava
73%

Lava(en)

2015-06-18

Inspired by the isolated beauty of tropical islands and the explosive allure of ocean volcanoes, Lava is a musical love story that takes place over millions of years.

Sketch
71%

Sketch(en)

2025-08-06

When a young girl’s sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life—chaotic, real, and on the loose. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash.

Frida
67%

Frida(en)

2024-03-08

An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.

Oceans
74%

Oceans(en)

2010-01-22

An ecological drama/documentary, filmed throughout the globe. Part thriller, part meditation on the vanishing wonders of the sub-aquatic world.

Our Planet: Behind the Scenes
76%

Our Planet: Behind the Scenes(en)

2019-04-05

Years spent recording footage of creatures from every corner of the globe is bound to produce a bit of drama. Here's a behind-the-scenes look.

The Ballad of Jack and Rose
61%

The Ballad of Jack and Rose(en)

2005-02-25

Jack Slavin is an environmentalist with a heart condition who lives with his daughter, Rose, on an isolated island. While Jack fights against developers who wish to build in the area, he also craves more contact with other people. When he invites his girlfriend, Kathleen, and her sons, Rodney and Thaddius, to move in, Rose is upset. The complicated family dynamics makes things difficult for everyone in the house.

The Meg
62%

The Meg(en)

2018-08-09

A deep sea submersible pilot revisits his past fears in the Mariana Trench, and accidentally unleashes the seventy foot ancestor of the Great White Shark believed to be extinct.

Maudie
77%

Maudie(en)

2016-06-16

Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis falls in love with a fishmonger while working for him as a live-in housekeeper.

Barbie of Swan Lake
70%

Barbie of Swan Lake(en)

2003-09-27

Barbie as Odette, the young daughter of a baker, follows a unicorn into the Enchanted Forest and is transformed into a swan by an evil wizard intent on defeating the Fairy Queen.

Koyaanisqatsi
79%

Koyaanisqatsi(en)

1983-04-27

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

The World to Come
70%

The World to Come(en)

2021-02-12

In 1856, two women forge a close connection despite their isolation on the American frontier.

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
70%

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing(en)

2004-10-12

Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.

Naqoyqatsi
61%

Naqoyqatsi(en)

2002-09-02

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
60%

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon(en)

1998-09-16

In the 1960s, British painter Francis Bacon surprises a burglar and invites him to share his bed. The burglar, a working class man named George Dyer, accepts. After the unique beginning to their love affair, the well-connected and volatile artist assimilates Dyer into his circle of eccentric friends, as Dyer's struggle with addiction strains their bond.

The Love Nest
67%

The Love Nest(en)

1923-03-01

In an attempt to forget his lost sweetheart, Buster takes a long trip at the sea when he's caught by pirates.