Room 2

When acclaimed cinematographer and director Leon Narbey (Illustrious Energy, Whale Rider) was first studying sculpture at Auckland's Elam Art School, he was drawn to the interplay of light and shadow. His earliest films were made to document his gallery installations. Room 2 dispenses with notions of narrative and instead uses colour, sight and sound to evoke a mood. Narbey's camera enters a white room and an ever-changing palette of red and blue lighting states. A man climbs a ladder while a black-clad woman watches on. Phil Dadson, the founder of experimental percussion group From Scratch, provides the score.  

[Leon] Narbey first turned to film merely as a way of documenting his installations but found that colour and lighting needed to be rethought in film terms.

– Film historian Roger Horrocks on Leon Narbey's first short films, in Horrocks' 1984 booklet Leon Narbey - New Zealand Film Makers at the Auckland City Art Gallery

Key Cast & Crew

Leon Narbey

Director, Editor, Room

Phil Dadson

Composer

Rodney Charters

Camera