Project Detail

The Republics

Synopsis

A b&w 16mm artists' essay film, drawn from the book ‘Republic Of Dogs / Republic Of Birds' by the poet Stephen Watts, exploring landscape, history, memory and the power of words to celebrate and resist.

“For four decades, poet, translator and activist Stephen Watts has been the quietly urgent, profoundly committed voice of the marginalised and the overlooked, whether person or place. He understands that the true ethical centre that matters lies at the edge, whether in the pull of outpost islands or the common ground of migrant streets. Now he has found his collaborative equal in the engaged 16mm filmmaker Huw Wahl, who has translated the text of Watt’s book-length prose poem Republic Of Dogs / Republic Of Birds into a luminous feature-length documentary essay of remarkable beauty and spirited attention. THE REPUBLICS moves from the early 1980s to the present, and from London’s Isle of Dogs and Scotland’s Western Isles to the mountains of Northern Italy. It is one of the most impressive artists’ films of recent years, whose own poetry speaks as honestly and eloquently as that of the writer it portrays.” (Gareth Evans, Moving Image Curator, Whitechapel Gallery)

Details

Year
2020
Type of project
Features
Running time
83 min
Format
16mm
Director
Huw Wahl
Producer
Huw Wahl
Editor
Huw Wahl
Screenwriter
Stephen Watts (original prose poem)
Director of Photography
Huw Wahl
Sound
Simon Connor; Sound Assistant: Giorgio Carlino
Supported using public funding by
Arts Council England

Production Status

Production Company

Caspar Pictures

Huw Wahl
203 Slade Lane
Manchester M19 2AE

Sales Company

Caspar Pictures

Huw Wahl
203 Slade Lane
Manchester M19 2AE

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