Featuring Performances BY:
The Concord Blue Devils, Concord, CA
Iglesias Cristiana Pentecostes, Los Angeles, CA
David Scott Stone, Echo Park, CA

Synopsis
Noise Unto the World is an experimental documentary about the progression of three musical groups into an ecstatic state of mind. Shot in urban and suburban environments of California, filmmaker Aleigh Lewis follows performances of a marching band, an evangelical church, and a noise artist. With masterful camera work, the contrasting subcultures interweave from preparation to performance blurring the lines between noise and music, ceremony and entertainment, spectator and performer.

Director's Statement
While attending an El Salvadorian Pentecostal store front church for five months, I realized that I couldn’t tell the difference between creativity and the presence of God. It seemed that God’s presence is akin to the rush I get from making art which made me question where the sensation of higher states of consciousness actually come from. What the process did illuminate was the way sound is able to bring humans together in a powerful way. Sound is the bridge to a dream world, our imagination, and connects us to a place that is weightless and suspended; a higher place.

To recreate this sensation of suspension, it was critical that the film feel like a live performance. I developed a way of shooting and editing to intensify the rhythm and movement of the performers and unwaveringly use close-ups to document the emotional transitions. I needed the musicians to feel physically present in the cinematic space.

The film intentionally foregrounds the resonating presence of humans and music rather than language. Music is something that you feel rather than describe with words. It was challenging to find the rhyme and reason for this film because it was often through mistakes or unintentional edits that I would notice connections that suddenly make the juxtaposition of the groups make sense. My method was less about trying to create a narrative, but to be aware and open to the connections I was finding through an organic editing process.