War Drums

War Drums (25 minutes, 2014) was shot in one of the few existing stands of pine forest in Dade County, near a decommissioned nuclear missile base that was on high alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The camera pans the horizon in a continuous circle once per minute, moving like the second hand of a clock. At 12 o’clock the camera passes a woman playing traditional Afro Cuban rhythms on a conga. At 6 o’clock, the camera pans another drummer playing snare cadences, military drum corps style. Embodying the cultural conflicts of the Cold War, the drummers pass improvised beats between themselves as the listen deeply to, and interpret, the sounds of the forest.