Ghostly figures are conjured from a mist of crumbling film emulsion, while flickers of familiar melody emerge amidst a sea of resonance and static. Weaving together fragments of footage from Alexander Sokurov and Irakli Kvirikadze, Black Seas salvages damaged 35mm film prints, breathing new life and stories into cinematic material that was originally destined for destruction.

Printed on handmade film stock, and employing artisanal colour separation techniques, Black Seas was commissioned by Guillaume Lafleur for the Cinémathèque québécoise as part of the project Archives in the Hands of Filmmakers, which invited artists to create new works from a donation of Soviet prints. It was created using clips from The Swimmer and The Lonely Human Voice.