Eye of a needle | Vincent Madison

One of my first films, shot in Super 8mm in Beaconsfield, QC in 1975. The opening shot was achieved by placing the camera on the tracks and the end result was exactly what I was hoping for. "Eye of a Needle" is a film examining the wealth of suburban Montreal from the perspective of a poor hobo, who jumps off a freight train in the hopes of finding warm shelter or food. Instead, the hobo only sees a world where he neither belongs or is welcome. As he jumps back on a train to travel somewhere else, we are presented with the message that just because we have material things, does not mean we are better than those that do not - in fact the reverse may be true. In 1975 Montreal, 16-year old high school student Douglas Brown became fascinated with film-making and produced three short films. The technology of the mid-1970's was crude compared to today. The films were shot on Kodak Super 8mm color motion picture film with no sound. Sound was recorded in studio on reel-to-reel tape and was only added to the films when they were converted to digital media in 2007/2008.