Date: 26 October 2008 | Season: London Film Festival 2008 | Tags: London Film Festival
BEN RIVERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Sunday 26 October 2008, at 9pm
London BFI Southbank NFT3
An intrepid explorer, Ben Rivers toys with ethnographic tropes whilst roaming free from documentary truth. Encountering those who choose to live apart from society, his nonjudgmental approach presents ‘real life, or something close to it.’ The Edge of the World features several recent works with other films of his choice.
Ben Rivers, Ah Liberty!, UK, 2008, 19 min
In the wilderness of a highland farm, a bunch of tearaways joyride, smash up, tinker and terrorize the way that only children can. Assimilating landscape and livestock, this poetic study contrasts the languid setting with the youngster’s restless energy.
Alexandra Cuesta, Recordando El Ayer, USA, 2007, 9 min
In the shadow of an elevated subway line in Queens, New York, the residents, streets and stores of a Latino community evoke a sense of transience and displacement.
Ben Rivers, Astika, UK-Denmark, 2007, 8 min
Danish recluse Astika has allowed nature to run wild, overgrowing his own habitat to the point that he has no option but to move away. The film is a hazy arrangement in green and gold, all rich textures and lush foliage.
Luther Price, Singing Biscuits, USA, 2007, 4 min
A gospel cry rings out across the decades, disrupted in space and time, fading but resilient.
Ben Rivers, “New Surprise Film”, UK, 2008, c.7 min
A little anticipation never did anyone any harm; you’ll have to be there to find out what it is.
Ben Rivers, Origin of the Species, UK, 2008, 17 min
‘A 70-year old man living in a remote part of Scotland has been obsessed with ‘trying to really understand’ Darwin’s book for many years. Alongside this passion, he’s been constantly working on small inventions for making his life easier. The film investigates someone profoundly interested in human beings, but who has decided to live separately from the majority of them.’ (Ben Rivers)
PROGRAMME NOTES
BEN RIVERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
AH LIBERTY!
Ben Rivers, UK, 2008, 16mm-on-video, b/w, sound, 19 min
A family’s place in the wilderness, outside of time; free-range animals and children, junk and nature, all within the most sublime landscape. The work aims at an idea of freedom, which is reflected in the hand-processed Scope format, but is undercut with a sense of foreboding. There’s no particular story; beginning, middle or end, just fragments of lives lived, rituals performed. (Ben Rivers)
SINGING BISCUITS
Luther Price, USA, 2007, 16mm, colour, sound, 4 min
Not a gospel vamp not quite ostinato catatonia but a lost and found of looks that sound and return to look again, a choral interlude from the continuing Biscuits/Biscotts series. (Mark McElhatten, New York Film Festival Views from the Avant-Garde)
RECORDANDO EL AYER
Alexandra Cuesta, USA, 2007, 16mm, colour, sound, 9 min
Memory and identity are observed through textures of everyday life in a portrait of Jackson Heights, home to a large Latin American immigrant population. Images of streets, people, and daily rituals render the passing of time in a neighbourhood that becomes a mirror not just of another place, but also of the past. The landscape visually reflects the space as a creation of a new home while revealing displacement within the new condition. The meaning of home is explored and build upon collective reflection. (Alexandra Cuesta)
ASTIKA
Ben Rivers, UK-Denmark, 2007, 16mm, colour, sound, 8 min
A portrait of Astika, who lives on an island in Denmark. He has lived in a run down farmhouse for 15 years and his project has been to let the land around him grow unchecked, but now he has been forced to move out by people who prefer more pristine neighbours. (Ben Rivers)
A WORLD RATTLED OF HABIT
Ben Rivers, UK, 2008, 16mm-on-video, colour, sound, 10 min
A day trip to Suffolk, to see my friend Ben and his dad Oleg. (Ben Rivers)
ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES
Ben Rivers, UK, 2008, 16mm, colour, sound, 17 min
The film is a portrait of ‘S’, a 70 year old man living in a remote part of Scotland, who has been obsessed with ‘trying to really understand’ Darwin’s book for many years. Alongside this passion, there has been constant work on small inventions for making his life easier. His house is miles down a dirt track and has a grass roof. This film will investigate someone profoundly interested in human beings, but who has decided to live separately from the majority of them. (Ben Rivers)
‘Ah Liberty!’ is being projected on film in the exhibition ‘Wild Shapes’ at Cell Project Space, 258 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9DA, until 16th November. www.cell.org.uk
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