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BEN RIVERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD 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 \u2018real life, or something close to it.\u2019 The Edge of the World features several recent works with other films of his choice.<\/p>\n Ben Rivers, Ah Liberty!, UK, 2008, 19 min Alexandra Cuesta, Recordando El Ayer, USA, 2007, 9 min Ben Rivers, Astika, UK-Denmark, 2007, 8 min Luther Price, Singing Biscuits, USA, 2007, 4 min Ben Rivers, \u201cNew Surprise Film\u201d, UK, 2008, c.7 min Ben Rivers, Origin of the Species, UK, 2008, 17 min BEN RIVERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n AH LIBERTY! SINGING BISCUITS RECORDANDO EL AYER ASTIKA A WORLD RATTLED OF HABIT ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES \u2018Ah Liberty!\u2019 is being projected on film in the exhibition \u2018Wild Shapes\u2019 at Cell Project Space, 258 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9DA, until 16th November. www.cell.org.uk<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Sunday 26 October 2008, at 9pm
\nLondon BFI Southbank NFT3<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>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\u2019s restless energy.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>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.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>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.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>A gospel cry rings out across the decades, disrupted in space and time, fading but resilient.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>A little anticipation never did anyone any harm; you\u2019ll have to be there to find out what it is.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u2018A 70-year old man living in a remote part of Scotland has been obsessed with \u2018trying to really understand\u2019 Darwin\u2019s book for many years. Alongside this passion, he\u2019s 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.\u2019 (Ben Rivers)<\/p>\nPROGRAMME NOTES<\/a>
\nBen Rivers, UK, 2008, 16mm-on-video, b\/w, sound, 19 min
\n<\/strong>A family\u2019s 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\u2019s no particular story; beginning, middle or end, just fragments of lives lived, rituals performed. (Ben Rivers)<\/p>\n
\nLuther Price, USA, 2007, <\/strong>16mm, colour, sound, <\/strong>4 min
\n<\/strong>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<\/em> series. (Mark McElhatten, New York Film Festival Views from the Avant-Garde)<\/p>\n
\nAlexandra Cuesta, USA, 2007, 16mm, colour, sound, 9 min
\n<\/strong>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)<\/p>\n
\nBen Rivers, UK-Denmark, 2007, 16mm, colour, sound<\/strong>, <\/strong>8 min
\n<\/strong>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)<\/p>\n
\nBen Rivers, UK, 2008, <\/strong>16mm-on-video, colour, sound, <\/strong>10 min
\n<\/strong>A day trip to Suffolk, to see my friend Ben and his dad Oleg. (Ben Rivers)<\/p>\n
\nBen Rivers, UK, 2008, <\/strong>16mm, colour, sound, <\/strong>17 min
\n<\/strong>The film is a portrait of \u2018S\u2019, a 70 year old man living in a remote part of Scotland, who has been obsessed with \u2018trying to really understand\u2019 Darwin\u2019s 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)<\/p>\n