Today, wildfires are scorching the Western United States and it has put in me in mind of a film I made almost 15 years ago.

On November 2, 1993, a fire broke out near Old Topanga Road between Malibu and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. It was a hot, windy day and soon the fire was out of control.

I remember seeing the smoke and sensing that it was much worse than any fire we had recently seen. Hugo Schoener and I put out a timelapse camera near PCH in Pacific Palisades, and within 12 hours the fire had traveled over 5 miles—making it all the way to the ocean.

Three days later the fire was finally out and we developed the film. It was so beautifully terrible and transfixing that I decided that the found object — the film we got out of the camera— WAS the film. And so what you see is quite raw, but quite real as a result.

The film was first shown in Topanga, at an exhibition of art that came from the fire—we donated a portion of th proceeds to Fire Relief. (Today, learn more about the Red Cross and donate to them as they are often the first line of defense for refugees). Be as generous as THIS community.)