The Afterlight

Now this is an event movie: we are lucky enough to be one of the venues for The Afterlight’s tour of the UK and beyond, exclusively as one single 35mm print. That’s it, the only copy of the film is physical, and thus degrading with every outing; so see it here, as fresh as it will ever look! (No pressure, projectionists...)

Charlie Shackleton’s The Afterlight is a project of curation as much as filmmaking–a collage of clips from an extensive range of cinema traditions. The binding factor is that each sequence only features actors who have since passed away, and thus their legacy and memory is preserved on screen. It reflects on the haunting quality of cinema, something that was at its most mystical when physical film stock was the industry standard (and thus its format for our screening is crucial), as well as the beautiful poignancy of a star’s image trapped in these moments

You could compare this film to…

The Clock (2010) – Christian Marclay’s installation piece is another cine-collage of clips. However, as the name suggests, it runs like a clock – taking moments where clocks feature in the frame and piecing them together into a chronological 24-hour journey through film history. This toured internationally around art galleries, but wonderfully would always be synced with the local time!

Paint Drying (2016) – one of Charlie Shackleton’s previous works, and probably his most hefty at 607 minutes. A joke with a point, this really is 10 unedited hours of white paint drying on a brick wall, created as a protest against the BBFC’s fee to submit films for rating – a requirement for UK distribution. It was funded on Kickstarter, ending up with nearly £6000; the BBFC cost increased with film length, so more donations meant a longer film. (I’ll let you in on a spoiler – it was rated U.)

Max King