film

recent short films include ayler, our ordinary map (chekhov), stealing brecht, sz, and the terror we create.

these films have received screenings to date in aarau (switzerland), athens (greece), baia mare (romania), birmingham, canterbury, cardiff, darlington, falmouth, gateshead, hereford, hull, kalamata (greece), lancaster, liverpool, london, manchester, munich, newcastle, stroud, sunderland, sway, tabor (czech republic), thessaloniki (greece) and vasteras (sweden). they have also been streamed as part of the streaming festival organised in the hague. 

you can request dvds (ntsc or pal) ov these films for screening at your events.                        (contact details are given on the home page)

ayler.   7'. 2007

albert ayler was at the forefront ov free improvisation/jazz in the 1960s - an extraordinary flowering - fresh, subversive & above all celebratory, defiantly alive. misunderstood in his time especially by american audiences, tho more accepted in europe - his approach to noise was extraordinary and liberating - as if he was playing for future audiences.  his untimely death and his brothers incarceration in a psychiatric institution brought this fragile flowering to an abrupt end, though his recordings mean he is not silenced. in my response – both as text-based soundwork & layered and animated digital print i have tried to capture something ov the essence ov him, his time, his politics, his sheer otherness. to me he represents a zenith ov culture. my prose-poem text places him in response to what was a nadir ov that same culture – the u.s. funding ov the american contras and the consequent attempt at a destruction ov a peoples, the nicaraguans, via an illegal and immoral war in the 1980's.  we need to remember some ov the people who actively supported the terrorist acts ov the contras are now actively engaged in the current american administration and its war on terror.  my film ayler contrasts/juxtaposes these two sides ov a culture and asks where justice lies

our ordinary map (chekhov). 2’22’’. 2006, revised 2008

illness hospitalised me, made me homeless; on discharge i was placed in temporary accommodations.  to stay well i created art reflecting my experiences; chekhov references how the arts / finding commonalities with other artists and not a physical building / structure are my true home.  the film uses visual cut-ups animated in an act ov art-brut that parallels the poetry and soundwork forming the aural track.  our ordinary map (chekhov) reclaims / reworks / subverts existing material that tries insisting we buy into narratives i dont recognise.

sz. 4’10’’.  2006.

 a foundmap ov budapest in text/visuals/sound, all utilising cut-ups ov original material documented in budapest in 2005.   it is part ov an ongoing reclamation ov languages (visual/textual/sonic), ov the streets, ov vernacular.   we are surrounded, often defined by languages, yet we use it to free ourselves.  powers that be cant pin it down – language lives. remix / mash up / create / recreate yr own

stealing brecht.  3’43’’. 2004

stealing brecht explores rituals ov healing and asks how we can create moments ov hope and compassion in the face ov oppression.  i remember first engaging with human rights when i was around 13. this was via a series ov short films featuring specific cases ov human rights abuses from across countries and cultures highlighted by amnesty international.  what brought it home more was that due to chronic mental-ill health which first manifested itself around then i was taken to an adolescent psychiatric unit & detained there, building a bridge between my own oppression and others. i have always created work as an escape route but found myself so oppressed by recent detention under the mental health system that i could not.  these last 5 years have been a journey for me and i am now emerging again and re-engaging artistically with the world.  the film was created thanks to a medialab pva residency and has received many screenings around europe.  

the terror we create. 4’26’’. 2006. 

a triptych ov text-based brief experimental films also using soundwork / animated digital art/photography to explore boundaries and freedoms, rights & responsibilities, particularly relating to the current geopolitical climate.  creating work for me is an act ov staying well; i make art because i have to; my work is about giving voice, allowing the silent/silenced to speak and giving voice sonically/visually/textually to these silenced, these creative alternatives, these strategies for survival.