Kyle Whitehead calls Maverick “a meta-film…part lucid dream, part manifesto and part autobiography.” He shot the piece on Super 8 and developed it himself by hand, experimenting with alternative chemical processes to achieve its look. Whitehead felt he benefited doubly thanks to this D.I.Y. approach, first by being able to remain in constant contact with his celluloid source material and second, by being continually reminded over the course of his improvisations of the roles that indeterminacy and the unexpected play in the creative process. Fusing quite seamlessly with its original score by Josh Seeley, Maverick is an unabashed celebration of the world’s eye-view made possible on film via the lens of a motion picture camera.Kyle Whitehead
Kyle Whitehead, a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily with Super 8 film, the photographic process and low-tech electronics, holds a B.F.A. from the Alberta College of Art and Design. He confesses he prefers the careful and considered approach to image making, but warns that this should not be confused with a strict adherence to what some might call best practices. Calling himself a “mad, sensorial alchemist”, Whitehead leaves plenty of room for serendipity in his work. If the lo-fi and D.I.Y. technologies he favours bring indetermin acy to his creative process, he finds his faith in chance confirmed by the unusual and startling effects he achieves with them. Whitehead’s other films, Vidoplyasov’s Laments, Nothing and Four Vignettes, are also made using Super 8. He currently resides in Calgary, where he is also the assistant director of the Stride Gallery.