Director
"Fabula" is an experimental film by Jordan Baseman that asks questions about our dreams and dream experiences during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. The film is narrated by the Harvard Medical School Dream Researcher, Dr. Deirdre Barrett. We hear Dr. Barrett discuss various dreams that she has collected through her research into Pandemic Dreams, their collective commonality, their significance and meanings, and their relevance to our times. Dr. Barrett also comments on the uniqueness of the Pandemic and the unusual dreams that have arisen as a result. The film was recorded entirely in London during Lockdown, using 16mm film and 6k digital film cameras. Time-lapse footage of clouds, are super-imposed with footage of the Thames and threaded through, layered with various shots lit by infra-red light. Fabula muses on our relationships with ourselves, one another, our environments and the meanings of our dreams while living with Covid-19.
Director
Commissioned by The Art Galleries at TCU, "gendersick" was made in collaboration with a current TCU student. Using interview audio and 16mm film shot around Fort Worth, Baseman presents a personal account that provides a brief glimpse into the life of one asexual and agender person. The film is both affective and provocative, as the personal narrative of the student's experiences reveals daily challenges and encourages empathy and understanding.
Director
DisObey is made as a direct result of a Leverhulme Trust and Arts Council England funded residency at the University of Lincoln School of Law and College of Social Science, in celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. DisObey explores thinking around human rights, politics, activism, terrorism, youth crime and prevention, anti-social behavior, crime and deviance, social inclusion/exclusion, participation and representation. DisObey attempts to expand (and contract) definitions and interpretations of The Law. DisObey features Jason Warr, a criminologist from the University of Lincoln. Jason calls for a re-ordering of society: a recognition that we need to change our thinking and behavior radically in order to create a society that is truly fair and just for all. Jason also discusses his personal relationship with The Law as someone who has served 13 years in prison: Jason was imprisoned at the age of 17.
Director
Blackout is a film about time: specifically, the loss of time as experienced by a recently sober, 23 year-old person. The anonymous narrator of the film discusses her history of experiencing blackouts through drinking; covering a five-year time period that culminated in an entire three-day time-loss, her last bender. She also discusses levels of sobriety and her desire to continue to explore various recreational drugs. The narrator declares her intention to live her life alcohol-free, while simultaneously not wanting her identity to be defined through her problematic relationship with alcohol. The narrative is open, stark and direct: a dark insight, flecked with humor. Visually, the work stutters through black moments, punctuated by originally recorded, hand-processed 16mm color film, deploying multiple exposure and other in-camera, experimental techniques.
Director
La La La La is the result of a collaboration with the NHS psychiatrist and leading Dementia specialist, Professor Julian Hughes, University of Bristol, RICE Professor of Old Age Psychiatry. La La La La asks questions about the rights of elderly individuals with dementia, living in care: What does it mean to be a citizen if you are dependent and living in care? How can people authentically and without prejudice express themselves while suffering from dementia and/or Alzheimers? What role does artmaking play within the care home environment? Many hours of audio interviews were conducted by myself and Dr. Mabel Lie, ethnographer attached to the project, to carry out this research. La La La La features five residents, who live in a care home for people with dementia. The hours of interviews and recordings have been collaged together to present multiple narratives simultaneously. Fragmentation, overlapping: a conflux of information, visually and aurally, collide in this work.
Director
Tokyo = Fukushima is a time-lapse, stop-frame animation film of the city of Tokyo, six months after the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima. The film depicts Tokyo as throbbing with life and (nuclear) electricity despite the crisis and constant radioactive threat. Recorded over a two-month period, using a Bolex Super 16mm wind-up camera on the streets of Tokyo, the film acts as a love letter to an anxious friend. The city is trying to return to normal, although paranoia and anxiety are found everywhere due to minor earthquakes, aftershocks and government untruths. This beautiful and dark film is propelled by electronic music recorded by the filmmaker in Tokyo.
Director
An event in the village 2010, features amateur filmmaker Frank Rigby. Frank shot footage of the Bickershaw festival in 1972. This footage serves as the visual foundations for the film, An event in the village. We see Frank’s original footage as we hear him describing the recording of the event 35 years after it happened. The Bickershaw festival was the last 3 day festival in the north west of England. The Kinks, Captain Beefheart and the Grateful Dead all played during the weekend. This work investigates memory and documentary - the gaps between event, actuality, recording and memory. Frank speaks with great fondness about his village and its takeover by Hippies over a long weekend in May 1972.
Director
Under The Blood 2003, is a 13-minute film which investigates belief, faith, trust, religion, god, power, responsibility, authority, love, life, surgery, death and blood. The soundtrack is based on an adapted sermon from the evangelical minister Billy Graham and is combined with intimate footage of open-heart surgery. A horror film. Under The Blood is a scary and intense work, the result of an Arts Council England residency at Papworth Hospital Heart and Lung Transplant Unit, commissioned by Wysing Arts. In 2007 Under The Blood, was featured in the inaugural exhibition Heart at the Wellcome Collection.
Director
Narrated by Alan Wakeman, an early member of the Gay Liberation Front, discussing the connection between the GLF and LSD as an essential part of becoming.
