This film depicts a man in search of a relationship. However, after experiencing a number of situations, he realizes that the true relationship is with himself.

Shot over the course of an entire year, the film is a 50-minute structural journey centered on the Twin Peaks hills in San Francisco. Wong mounted a 16mm camera inside his van and repeatedly drove the "infinity loop" road that winds around the peaks at a steady 15 miles per hour.

I first started by taking a black 16mm film leader and holding a magnifying glass above the film. I then used the sunlight to burn each frame in the film leader. At the same time that I was burning the film leader, I was also filming the process of burning each frame. After developing the film, I then physically burned each frame with a soldiering iron in the exact same area that it was burned by the sunlight. The result was that when projected, one would see the filming of the burn at the same time one sees a single frame action of the physical burning of the film, followed by other concepts dealing with 24 frames. 24 frames make one second and this gives the illusion of smoothness. However, because each frame was burned, it gives an animated impression together with the smoothness of 24 frames.

This film deals with filming (taking) and (giving) projecting into the same space of present and past.

Al Wong’s Same Difference was composed over the course of a year, a 16mm camera set up on a tripod in the artist’s kitchen capturing views of the San Francisco hills through a large double window. Artist Ursula Schneider sits on a chair underneath the window, her presence and stillness an essential part of the work. With Schneider’s body in the centre of the frame, Wong shot freely at different times of day and night, cloudy or empty skies, and experimented with in-camera effects and editing to compose complicated choreographies of light, clouds and atmosphere.

16mm Film by Al Wong.

16mm Film by Al Wong.

16mm Film by Al Wong.

Developing a new friend sometimes comes with discovering surprises. In this film, I experience when a personality changes so quickly that it appears to be two personalities.

16mm Film by Al Wong.