60 Seasons is a reflection on the passage of time and how we mark and record it wrapped around the celebration of the life of a dog.
Echoing the avant-garde European filmmakers of the 1920s, the film’s mid-section serves as a visual tone poem in which Schierholt travels through the seasons of his dog’s life, utilizing storytelling that allows images, music and ambient sound to do the work. Immersing us in an emotional and experiential journey, the film will inspire viewers to recall dogs of their own and the memories that accompany them. For anyone that has shared part of life’s journey with a dog. 60 Seasons is a deeply personal film that will resonate in a very universal way.
Faced with the loss of my dog , I retreated into my studio where I began going through fifteen years of old video tape, a lot of it I hadn't looked at since it was shot during our years in Maine, before my move to California.
I suspected much of that footage would include her and so over the next couple weeks, as part of my grieving process, I began organizing and digitizing the footage. In doing so, I realized that with several camcorders and iPhones I had captured much of my dog's life - from the day we picked her up at the kennel to our last afternoon together in the park.
Also, over those following weeks, in conversations with others, I began to recognize the universality of our connections with dogs and the role they play in our lives. The film emerged out of the process of wading through fifteen years of memories, reflecting on the passage of time and thinking about the role my own dog played in my life.
In my recent films capturing and conveying a sense of place and personality has played an ever increasing role. Recreating an experience for the viewers has become a vital element of the work and this film expands on that, as well as my desire to challenge the ever waning contemporary attention span.
–Dale Schierholt
