In November of 2004, I was invited to spend a couple of weeks in Cinque Terre (a string of towns along the Northern Mediterranean Italian coast). The area has been listed as a World Heritage Site, by UNESCO, because of its exquisite coastline and the hill towns which cluster on its rocks. Indeed, one is easily overwhelmed by the place, the extraordinary beauty of the light and color, the geometry of the towns and the incredible way humans have inhabited the landscape. Of particular beauty to me was the train line that runs directly along the edge of the water and passes like a needle and thread through the mountains. Line, geometry, and tones (both sound and color), became for me the abstract power of the place. And this is what I tried to relate in my film...
–– Ken Kobland