2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the London Film-makers’ Co-op (LFMC), a ground-breaking organisation that inaugurated a tradition for the production, distribution, and exhibition of artists’ moving image in the United Kingdom that remains vibrant today. To mark this anniversary Tate Britain and LUX will present a monthly series of screenings and artists’ conversations revisiting the legacy of the London Film-makers’ Co-op and its significance today.
Since the 1970s, Lis Rhodes (UK, 1942) has been making radical and experimental films that challenge the viewer to reconsider film as a medium of communication and presentation of image, language, and sound. A key figure at the London Film-makers Co-operative, where she was the cinema programmer, she was also a founding member of Circles: Women’s Work in Distribution – the first British organisation to distribute film and video by women artists. In her work – be it film, performance, photography, writing or political analysis – she explores the impact of language on perceptions, interactions and social relationships. Also based in London, Miranda Pennell (UK, 1963) originally trained in contemporary dance, and later studied visual anthropology. In recent films such as Why Colonel Bunny Was Killed or The Host she investigates the contemporary legacy of colonial politics. Working with archival material, she explores the tensions between still and moving images as a contribution towards a new approach to historical representation of the colonial imaginary.
A selection of works by Lis Rhodes and Miranda Pennell will be screened, followed by a conversation between the artists.