British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

a river holds a perfect memory

Synopsis

Bodies of water are intervened upon, moved, disrupted and exploited. Labouring bodies experience similar pressures from the same forces of power and extraction. Distant communities – Northern England and Jamaica – share similar histories of manipulation and oppression whose record is kept in the living memory of its waterways. But water, like people, can find a way to exert its own will.
Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2025 - World premiere

Details

Year
2024
Type of project
Shorts
Running time
17 min 18 sec
Format
16mm, archival, lidar
Director
Hope Pearl Strickland
Producer
Nuria López de la Oliva Mena, Elizabeth Benjamin
Editor
Hope Pearl Strickland, Jennifer Lauren Martin
Sound
Felix Taylor
Composer
Felix Taylor

Genre

Experimental Climate / Environment Black Science

Categories

Documentary Artist Project and Video / Experimental

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

UK, Jamaica co-production

Film and Video Umbrella

35-47 Bethnal Green Road
London
E1 6LA

Hope Strickland

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

A Distant Call A Distant Call

Director: Andrea Suwito

Year: 2026

In the ancient Bugis way of life in Indonesia, gender non-binary ‘bissu’ were once revered spiritual leaders. Eka, one of the last remaining bissu, decides to leave behind their identity, searching for belonging in a world that insists on definitions.

Asian
Solstice on Grímsey Island Nation

Director: Nikolai Galitzine

Year: 2026

When a church burns down in a storm, a remote arctic community come together to preserve their identity as they face an uncertain future.

Climate / Environment
A reality TV presenter speaks to the camera, looking directly into the lens. Tops

Director: Ames Pennington

Year: 2024

A fun pastiche of chaotic, brash, self-deprecating and clueless 1990s/2000s British reality TV, TOPS sees self-proclaimed future award-winning filmmaker Ames Pennington present their landmark faux-documentary. Casting themselves as an invasive TV presenter, Ames goes on a satirical odyssey through the lives and homes of four unique individuals, exploring the crucial question that defines the transmasc experience: “What TOP did you want to wear after TOP surgery?” Official Selection BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival 2024 - World premiere Official Selection Kashish Pride Film Festival 2024 - International premiere

Comedy Docufiction LGBTQIA+