The Whalebone Box
Synopsis
The box was given to Iain Sinclair almost thirty years ago by Steve Dilworth, a sculptor based on the Island of Harris. It was always intended to be an active thing, kill or cure. An animal battery. And part of the power of the crafted box comes from its lack of signature. At best this object has the anonymity and moral authority of tribal art, of a fetish, a relic or an accidental survivor. It is dangerous. What is inside might produce good magic or it might produce bad magic but like the box that contained Schrödinger’s Cat it must never to be opened.
In 2018 the box was taken on an 800 mile reverse pilgrimage from London back to the Isle of Harris, in the company of the filmmaker Andrew Kötting, the photographer Anonymous Bosch and the writer Iain Sinclair. There was unwellness on the island and they hoped that the box might help, however little did they know the delirium that they would unleash.
And all the while Eden Kötting narrates the story, working as both muse and soothsayer. She tries to make sense of the journey as it unfolds, sometimes awake and sometimes in deep sleep. Ultimately the whalebone box is finally buried in the sand on the very beach from which it came all those ever-so-many years ago BUT something happens at the very end of the film after the credits have finished rolling, something extraordinary and miraculous….
Official Selection FID Marseilles 2019 - World premiere
Details
- Year
- 2019
- Type of film
- Features
- Running time
- 84 mins
- Format
- Super 8 16mm HD
- Director
-
Andrew Kotting
- Producer
- Andrew Kotting
- Executive Producer
- Jason Wood
- Editor
- Andrew Kotting
- Screenwriter
- Andrew Kotting
- Director of Photography
- Anonymous Bosch - Nick Gordon Smith
- Production Designer
- Andrew Kotting
- Sound
- Andrew Kotting
- Music
- David Bloor, Ollie Cherer, MacGillivray
- Principal cast
- Eden Kotting, Iain Sinclair, Philip Hoare, MacGillivray
- Animations
- Isabel Skinner
- Pinhole Photographs
- Anonymous Bosch
Genre
Production Status
Production Company
Andrew Kotting
45 Sensing RoadSt Leonards on Sea
East Sussex
TN38 0HE
Page updates
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See also
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The Memory Blocks
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Year: 2025
An experimental feature film that dives into the murky waters of memory. The filmmaker's daughter Eden, dressed as Dorothy, walks a path of recollection but she does not walk alone. On her journey she is accompanied by workers from a factory that produces memory.
Hope Holds Up Her Head and Hopes
Director: Andrew Kotting
Year: 2025
A film that hovers above the make-believe world of hope. Eden Kotting, dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz takes us on a journey from The Factory to The Silent Valley. Accompanied by a gaggle of folkloricists and workers in white coats the journey ends in The Toilet of Hope.
Their Rancid Words Stagnate Our Ponds
Director: Andrew Kotting
Year: 2018
In a hinterland within the 'elsewhere', a lone character meanders in search of meaning and understanding. Hither and dither doth he wander reflecting upon all things that came before and all things hereafter. <br /> This work is a companion piece to Andrew Kotting's feature film LEK AND THE DOGS and was shot in the Atacama desert in Chile. Produced to run on a loop in a gallery 'space' the film exemplifies Kotting's ability to take an idea and run with it until it spills over into the expanded cinematic 'elsewhere'. <br /> With the beguiling presence of French performance artist Xavier Tchili and sublime cinematography by Nick Gordon-Smith the work is designed to be experienced within the pitch black and the sound up high.