Musician Meets Filmmaker in Portland
Jim Nollman and Rankin Renwick will perform and screen films at the Hollywood Theatre on November 1.
By Samira Khalil ·
A dog steps on a squeaky toy. The toy emits two tones.
Two seconds later, an orca whale on a recording makes the exact same sounds. Portland filmmaker Rankin Renwick captured that moment on video. The clip now sits inside a work titled Translation Please. It shows humans trying to communicate with animals that do not speak our language.
Renwick first encountered the work of musician Jim Nollman two years ago. A colleague loaned them one of Nollman’s older records. Renwick listened at home while their dog watched the speakers. The interaction between the pet and the music convinced Renwick to reach out to Nollman. The two have spoken by phone and exchanged emails, but they have never met in person.
Nollman built a career on the idea that animals can perform music. His 1982 album Playing Music With Animals began with 300 turkeys on a Bay Area farm. He sang the English folk song “Frog Went A-Courtin’” to the birds. The album also featured tracks recorded with wolves in Nevada and orcas. Nollman spent nearly 30 years recording with cetaceans. He said the work attracted audiences and allowed him to sustain a career.
His 1999 record Orca’s Greatest Hits returned to shelves in August. Smithsonian Folkways handled the re-release. Nollman now lives in the San Juan Islands. He describes some of Renwick’s films as “nutso.” He added that he loves that quality. He said, “Some of [the films] are just nutso on a certain level, but I love nutso.”
The event combines Nollman’s music with Renwick’s films. Renwick will screen parts of Translation Please. They will also show a short film called Cold Holy Water. That piece uses archival nature footage from Portland Public Schools. A librarian friend discovered the tapes just before they were thrown away. The film also includes a dolphin giving birth from the Internet Archive. Portland musician Marisa Anderson composed the score. Anderson wrote the music as an elegy for a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned while crossing to Greece.
Renwick says the film is beautiful, lyrical, and hypnotic. They describe the experience of watching in a large theater as “totally my church.” The two artists will share a stage for the first time at the Hollywood Theatre. The event runs at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1. Tickets cost $15. The theater is located at 4122 NE Sandy Blvd.
