FLOW

Katie Gately journeys through a landscape of grief in ‘Flow’

Filmmaker Jola Kudela combines dramatic footage with digital effects in the stunning video.

On her latest album, Loom, Katie Gately responds to the tragic loss of her mother to cancer through intricate acts of sonic manipulation. Taking the sounds of howling wolves, screaming peacocks, slapping meat and raging earthquakes, the experimental musician weaves together an audio patchwork on an epic enough scale to approach her emotional turmoil.

 “I felt like my world was being shaken,” she explains. “I was losing the person who created me, and it seemed an appropriate time to sample earthquakes.” ‘Flow’ was written from the perspective of her mother confronting her illness, the song’s lyrics exploring grace in the face of extreme suffering.

It was this aspect of the powerful composition that inspired filmmaker Jola Kudela to create the stunning visual accompaniment. “I particularly loved the tone and the subject of Katie’s song”, she explains, “it’s hauntingly beautiful, it’s about how to find peace in your grief and pain, and how to accept it.”

She continues: “As I was visualising the video, I imagined a sort of a journey of a spirit that doesn’t despair after death but continues its movement through the world.” 

Just as Katie Gately manipulates sounds, Kudela manipulates dramatic footage of volcanic landscapes, snowy wastelands and dark waters to visualise the Gately’s journey of grief, from the micro detail of a windswept petal to the vast expanse of space.

world premiere FATMAG.com July 24, 2020

• 3th Award Digital Ars Warsaw Poland March 17, 2021

• Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival 2020 Los Angeles USA 2020 - Finalist

• Los AngelesGlobal Network Pinewood Studios London UK September, 2020

• High Tatras Film & Video Festival Dolný Smokovec Vysoké Tatry, Prešovský kraj Slovenia June 13, 2021

• Munich Music Video Awards Munich Germany

  March 31, 2021 Semi-Finalist / Experimental Music Video

• Best Music Video Award London, E1 4UJ UK January 31, 2021 Finalist / Female Director Music Video

• International Music Video Awards London UK December 29, 2020 Semi-Finalist / Experimantal Music Video

• New York City Independent Film Festival New York USA June 2021