Interview: Xavier Tera – The Color of the Sun

After competing in Venice’s Orizzonti section and taking home the prestigious FIPRESCI Prize, The Color of the Sun begins its journey around the world with a North American premiere on home turf for Canadian filmmaker Xavier Tera. Shot on 35mm by the celebrated cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, its sun-drenched landscapes, tactile textures and expressive use of color create a visual world that is both sensuous and unsettled. Rather than spell out its political and emotional tensions, Tera allows them to emerge through glances, silences and relationships that resist easy definition. I spoke with the filmmaker about his outsider’s perspective on Okinawa, the film’s visual language, the ambiguity of adolescent desire and the delicate balance between personal experience and historical memory. I sat down with the filmmaker at Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cinéma.