A revision of the Aba Women’s War, the first major anti-colonial uprising in Nigeria, using embodiment, gesture and the archive.
The film is structured around the repurposing of archival films from the British propaganda arm, The Colonial Film Unit, cut against a gestural evocation of the women’s testimonies. 'Her Name in My Mouth' invokes the artist's own female ancestors in this filmic revocation of the Aba Women’s War that privileges the body as a site of knowledge.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - International premiere
Told entirely using projected animation onto polystyrene film sets, the film follows the story of a mother and her infant child who are forced to leave their home when mysterious, dark shadows envelop the light in which they exist.
A poetic and evocative visual study, taking the viewer on a journey into the world of a pigeon flying high above the bustling and crowded streets of Old Delhi.
Official Selection Telluride Film Festival 2017 - World premiere
A short film exploring the life and work of prolific artist Faith Ringgold by eschewing linear narrative and drawing connections within her collection of works, in order to hint at a larger narrative at work.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - Create Strand - World premiere
A modern day silent film - a city symphony - offering a poetic journey through the city of London. A cultural snapshot of London as it stands, and a celebration of the city's diversity.
Stunning visuals are combined with James McWilliam’s stirring music, to take the viewer on a poetic journey through London, exploring its rich diversity of culture, architecture and religion. It is a meditative and blissful film that celebrates a vibrant and visually stunning city.
Edinburgh International FIlm Festival 2017 - World premiere
A 60 minute 66 second feature film inspired by a walk from Waltham Abbey in Essex via Battle Abbey to St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex. The film documents a pilgrimage in memory of Edith Swan Neck.
Bits of King Harold's body were brought to Waltham for burial near the High Altar after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and his hand fast wife Edith Swan Neck is seen cradling him in a remarkable sculpture at Grosvenor Gardens on the sea front in St Leonards. The film re-connects the lovers after 950 years of separation.
The 108 mile journey, as the crow flies, allows the audience to reflect upon all things Edith. A conversation in Northampton between Alan Moore, Iain Sinclair and Edith Swan Neck also is a key ingredient to the unfolding ‘story’.
With images shot using digital super 8 iPhone apps and sound recorded using a specially constructed music box with a boom microphone, the film unfolds chronologically but in a completely unpredictable way. The numerous encounters and impromptu performances en route are proof, that the angels of happenstance were to looking down, with EDITH as their hallucination.
A woman with mild agoraphobia lives her life in a high rise apartment as she experiences various moments of environmental aggression, trauma and psychosis.
'52 Portraits' is an epic love song written to an art form. Dance.
'52 Portraits' is a series of moving image portraits of dancers accompanied by sung autobiographies. It captures the profound, funny and surprising power of their subjects, revealing the stories, thoughts and struggles of dancers in an unexpected way.
Conceived by choreographer Jonathan Burrows, composer Matteo Fargion and video maker Hugo Glendinning. The idea behind the project was to catch both the individual and unexpected brilliance of individual performers, but also the larger collective concerns of dance artists, which accumulate over the course of the 52 films. Originally conceived as a digital project, it began with ideas of the familiar; the common; the shared technological situation. These short gestural portraits were released online every week over a year. These videos now form the chapters of this film.
What emerges in this film is a political and sociological gesture, interrogating the numerous ways artists are subject to hierarchies, stereotypes and marginalisation of any kind. The result is a hugely varied and personal story of what it means to be a dancer.
Dead. Tissue. Love. is an intimate experimental documentary exploring the character of a female necrophile, as she recounts her life experiences and sexual awakening.
A 360 experience (for 2 people) which explores the power of human connection.
Put aside your inhibitions and let strangers guide you through their impromptu, unconventional and intense moments of intimacy.
‘Moulding Exclusivities’ anatomises a series of sculptures utilising the remnants of prosthetic manufacture. The camera renders plastic leftovers from the fabrication of wearable braces for spinal adjustment. Arens surveys with part-organic part-animated movement the disservice of standardised office and living environments for the human body.
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018 - International premiere
