Dream of Light

Dream of Light is a 1992 Spanish narrative/documentary film directed by Victor Erice. Its Spanish title is El sol del membrillo, which translates directly to the English "The Sun of the Quince"; it was released in Hong Kong as The Sun of the Quince Tree, and internationally as Quince Tree of the Sun and The Quince Tree Sun. The film centers on Spanish painter Antonio López García (playing himself) and his attempt to paint the eponymous quince tree. López struggles to capture a perfect, fleeting moment of beauty on canvas, and the film meticulously chronicles his work.

Synopsis

The film begins by showing Antonio López García as a very meticulous painter. He drives in pegs to mark his stance, hangs a weight and uses strings to determine the symmetry and center of his painting. His first attempt starts out peacefully but he soon encounters problems due to the weather and the size of his canvas. As García and a friend discuss Michelangelo's The Last Judgement, painted when Michelangelo was in his 60s, which García is fast approaching, the film's subject takes shape as the relationship between the artist's work and his own mortality. García's future attempts are much more rushed and frantic as he struggles to compete with the weather, the fleeting sun and the rotting and weighed down fruit in maintaining his vision.

Participants

• Antonio López García
• Marina Moreno
• Enrique Gran
• María López
• Carmen López
• Elisa Ruiz
• José Carretero
• Amalia Aria
• Lucio Muñoz
• Esperanza Parada
• Julio López Hernández
• Fan Xiao Ming
• Yan Sheng Dong
• Janusz Pietrzkiak
• Marek Domagala

Reception

Janet Maslin wrote that "the purity and breadth of this meticulous study are all the more gratifying in view of its unprepossessing style."

Awards

At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival the film won the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize.

External links

• Dream of Light at IMDb
• Dream of Light at AllMovie