His Eye Is on the Sparrow (2006)

16mmDigital colorbwsound Bruce Conner began working on By and By a documentary about The Soul Stirrers several decades ago shooting their reunion concert with four cameras and accumulating interview material Conner was poised to finish the piece in the mid80s but the project was abandoned for a variety of financial and personal reasons From the ashes of this project arises a new collage film miniature completed this year His Eye Is on the Sparrow takes its name from a classic gospel song written by Civilla D Martin and Charles H Gabriel in 1906 often associated with Ethel Waters Mahalia Jackson and most recently Lauryn Hill The Soul Stirrers cut their version in Chicago on October 10 1946 and it is this recording that is heard on the track Carefree and complex the song moves in tandem with a set of found images that seem utterly transparent yet are evocative of other mysteries just out of reach Mark McElhatten