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Graminoids, Demelza Kooij
REVIEWS //
''Graminoids, in its silvery black and white cinematography made the invisible, visible as the wind passing over grass on Arthur's Seat, appeared like the waves of a rough sea, in a piece in which image and sound are composed seamlessly together to rapturous effect.''

Harriet Warman, Cinevue (June 2014)

"But for me the real highlight of the evening (and perhaps of the whole festival) was Demelza Kooij and Lars Koens' Graminoids, a short black and white study of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. The visuals concentrate obsessively on the effect of wind and air currents moving through fields of grass, a stream of ever-changing unseen forces causing spirals, threads, waves, cycles and other patterns as well as arbitrary twists and sharp bends. The monochrome film found a parallel in the use of just treble and bass registers for the music, which blurred the distinction between natural and artificial sound, clarified occasionally in close-up shots with exquisite moments of music that seemed to emerge directly from a vibrating head of grass. One of the film's most memorable images was when it abruptly, and briefly, switched away to a seemingly static shot of trees from above, their long shadows giving the impression that they were gazing directly at the sun. It was an amazing, breathtaking moment; Kooij and Koens are a pair to keep a close eye on."

Dr Simon Cummings, 5:4 (27 Feb 2017) reviewing Electric Spring Festival


''The rippling patterns of wind in the grass on Arthur’s Seat in Lars Koens' and Demelza Kooij’s Graminoids... end up tingling the scalp like an ASMR video. [...] Seductive and semi-abstract... just the kind of immersion in ravishing visuals and sounds at which Sonica excels.''

David Kettle, The Scotsman (4 November 2019) reviewing Sonica


''Elsewhere in Tramway (Glasgow), Demelza Kooij and Lars Koens' Graminoids, a six-minute video installation piece, documenting the reeds of native grass that harvest upon Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. Embedded in the monochrome video is a polarity between the heavy and dark colouring of the visuals and the light and airy movement of the grassland; graceful and breath-taking but also maintaining the purity of vision concomitant to Hinde and Olden’s work outside the same building.''

Colm McAuliffe, The Quietus (1 Feb 2020)


''The Full Frame schedule is dotted with intriguing pairings of short and long films in one screening, none more intriguing than Graminoids and Devil's Rope on Friday morning. Collecting six-minutes of black-and-white footage of wind blowing grass, Graminoids is what is called a ''sensory film'' – one that gives a dynamic impression rather than dispensing information. Demelza Kooij and Lars Koens haven't made a headlining film with Graminoids, but it's one that I will find myself telling friends about later – and then futilely searching Netflix and the internet for henceforth.''

Chris Vitiello, Carolina Theatre of Durham (9 April 2015)

''This visual reverie of wind blowing through a field of grass is more interesting than it sounds. The documentary short combines mesmerizing long shots of the meadow's undulations and tight shots of the individual strands of grass. A graceful respite, it needs no plot.''

Indy Week (8 April 2015)





Graminoids (6'18'', 2014)

SYNOPSIS //
''A lilting paean to the manifold strains of native grass that cultivate upon Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh. Frenetic movement and textures dominate the frame, and the synergy between sound, locomotion, and image creates a hypnotic sensory panorama.''

Lydia Beilby, programmer Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF)


SCREENINGS //
Edinburgh International Film Festival – June 2014, UK
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma – Oct 2014, Montreal, Canada
Zinebi – Nov 2014, Bilbao, Spain
Ann Arbor Film Festival – March 2015, Michigan, USA
Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA)
– March 2015, Glasgow, UK
Go Short – April 2015, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
– April 2015, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Ashland Independent Film Festival – April 2015, Oregon, USA
Alchemy Film & Arts Festival – April 2015, Hawick, UK
Madeira Film Festival – April 2015, Funchal, Portugal
Southern Alberta Art Gallery – May 2015, Canada
Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival
– June 2015, Halifax, Canada
Whitechapel Gallery – July 2015, London, UK
Irish Sound, Science & Technology Conference
– Aug 2015, Ormston House Gallery, Limerick, Ireland
Environmental Film Festival Australia
– Sept 2015, Melbourne, Australia
WNDX Festival of Moving Image
– Sept 2015, Winnipeg, Canada
Imagine Science Films – Oct 2015, New York, USA
WE festival – April 2016, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Electric Spring – Sound and Music in Documentary Film Festival – Feb 2017 Huddersfield, UK
Annapolis Region Community Arts Council – July 2017 Nova Scotia, Canada
Bear River / Oakdene Community Centre – July 2017 Nova Scotia, Canada
New Glasgow Public Library – July 2017 Nova Scotia, Canada
Inverness County Art Centre – July 2017 Nova Scotia, Canada
Sonica – Glasgow, 31 Oct-10 Nov 2019, UK

Labocine January 2017, Issue #6, Nature Expressions
www.labocine.com


WINNER // Creative Edinburgh Awards 2014, UK

CREDITS //
Directed by – Demelza Kooij and Lars Koens
Cinematography – Demelza Kooij
Music and Sound Design – Lars Koens
Editor – Demelza Kooij
Sound Mix and samples – Pete Smith

Graminoids on IMDB.com