In the Keeping

USA | 16mm | Work-in-Progress 

In the Keeping takes as its subject the practice of keeping and cultivating koi fish, following them as they are hatched, harvested, raised, and dispersed across various human contexts. A dynamic landscape of often-invisible processes and infrastructures comes into view, revealing the entanglement of nature and humanity.

Each chapter of the film explores a different dimension of koi keeping: breeders use the bodies of koi as living canvases for elaborate patterns and colors; veterinary scientists employ CT scans to generate detailed, cross-sectional views of the fish; judges from an international koi organization describe the art of photographing champions to highlight their award-winning traits; and university researchers record the beating heart of a small fish under a high-powered microscope. These episodes are rendered through close-up 16mm cinematography, alongside experiments with underwater shooting, time-lapse photography, and soundscapes that fuse electronic music with field recordings.

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