Criterion Channel Picks Up Oscar-Nominated Documentary Featuring Three Donkeys, ‘Perfectly A Strangeness’
EXCLUSIVE: Criterion Channel has secured the rights to Alison McAlpine’s Oscar-nominated short documentary perfectly a strangeness, which has garnered multiple awards on a global scale. The film is set to debut on the streaming platform in March, featuring a unique narrative led by three non-human characters.
The film’s logline reads, “In the dazzling incandescence of an unknown desert, three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory and the universe. A sensorial, cinematic exploration of what a story can be.”
McAlpine, a poet and filmmaker based in Montreal, employs a distinctive visual style, occasionally adopting the perspective of the donkeys and contrasting it with views from the towering telescopes in the observatory.
‘Perfectly a strangeness’
McAlpine filmed perfectly a strangeness in the Atacama Desert of Chile, a location she had previously visited, where she observed a population of donkeys. She remarked, “Some of them were wild, I think, and some of them were domestic. Seeing these donkeys grazing next to these billion-dollar beasts, these metallic domes, I asked a question: how do they see this world? We also looked at how to replicate the perspective of a donkey. We used anamorphic lenses, and a simple light in a donkey’s eye revealed fascinating results; some eyes appeared like galaxies.”
‘Perfectly a strangeness’
Produced by Second Sight Pictures in collaboration with GreenGround Productions, perfectly a strangeness is currently available for streaming in Canada via the Crave platform. The documentary has been featured in over 80 international film festivals, receiving more than 20 awards. Notable accolades include the Grand Prize at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema, the Silver Hugo for Documentary Short Film at the Chicago International Film Festival, recognition as one of Canada’s Top 10 TIFF films, and a nomination for Best Documentary Short at the 98th Academy Awards.
In a statement regarding the acquisition, McAlpine expressed her excitement, saying, “It is a filmmaker’s dream to have one’s film stream on the Criterion Channel. I am truly honored that perfectly a strangeness will join such a beautifully curated selection of titles.”
Criterion Channel offers a wide array of fiction and nonfiction films, focusing on classic and contemporary cinema. The platform is known for its curated programming, high-quality editions, and special features.
