The Sire of Sires was a nickname for Northern Dancer, the first Canadian race horse to win the Kentucky Derby, who would later sire today’s dominant lineage of thoroughbred horses. His most famous (and equally successful) colt was Nijinsky—named after the 20th-century ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

This film loosely adapts Nijinsky’s ballet The Afternoon of a Faun, itself a reproduction of a reproduction from the original poem by Malarme and later song by Debussy. The Faun is played in part by the filmmaker’s father and shot on location at Windfields Farm—where Northern Dancer and Nijinsky were born and laid to rest.

Today, the pastures of the once prestigious horse breeding facility are being redeveloped into a sprawling suburban community. Meanwhile, its original buildings lay vacant awaiting eventual demolition by their present owners (The Department of Infrastructure and Sustainability at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology)—who have no functional use for them.

Credits:
Direction, Filming, Sound, and Edit: Jordan Elliott Prosser
Young Faun: Benjamin DeBoer
Old Faun: Michael R. Prosser
Thanks to: Chris Mendoza, Hannah Keating, Lelia Timmins,
The Robert Mclaughin Gallery staff, Diane Stephen.