My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure
Programme Eight
Programme duration 45 min
Programme:
The Stoas, USA 1991-97, 22 min
The title refers to the colonnades that led to the shady groves of the ancient Lyceum, here remembered in shots of industrial
arcades, bathed in golden morning light, as quietly empty of human figures as Atget’s survey photos. The rest of the film
presents luscious shots of a wooded stream and hazy glen, portrayed with the careful composition of nineteenth-century landscape
painting. An ineffable, unnameable immanence flows through the images of The Stoas, a kind of presence of the human soul expressed through the sympathetic absence of the human figure. (Ed Halter, New York Press)
The Ground, USA 1993 2001, 20 min
What lives in the space between the stones, in the space cupped between my hand and my chest? Filmmaker/stonemason. A tower
or ruin of remembrance. With each swing of the hammer I cut into the image and the sound rises from the chisel. A rhythm,
marked by repetition, and animated by variation; strokes of hammer and fist, resounding in dialogue. In this space which the
film creates, emptiness gains a contour strong enough for the spectator to see more than the image – a space permitting vision
in addition to sight. (Robert Beavers)
£5, booking recommended
