Into the Mothlight Podcast

In 2021 Andrew was the recipient of the Margaret Tait Award, this is Scotland’s most prestigious moving image prize for artists, and inspired by the pioneering Orcadian filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait.

The film that Andrew made from the award was On Clogger Lane, and this is the focus of this Episode of Into the Mothlight Podcast.

Links and images on our website at www.intothemothlight.com

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With Steve Polta, Artistic Director of San Francisco Cinematheque and co-founder and current curator of Cinematheque’s annual Crossroads film festival. We chat about his journey into experimental film, the alternative film and video scene in San Francisco in the 1990's, his approach to curating Crossroads and the significance of artist-run film labs.

Images and links on the website at www.intothemothlight.com

This time, an interview with artist filmmaker Julia Parks.

Julia’s practice encompasses film, animation and photography, often using series of photographs and projected 16mm film. Through this medium, she explores the different relationships between landscape, place and people, often focusing on the west-coast of Cumbria.

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Julia is currently living in Hawick as part of a 6-month residency with Alchemy Film & Arts as part of their The Teviot, the Flag and the Rich, Rich Soil programme.

In our chat we discuss Julia’s love for exploring the geography, industry and history of a place through the people who live there. We talk about her time at St. Martins College and hours spent in the darkroom. We also talk about her 2021 film ‘Seaweed’ and how she came to be interviewed about hand processing film in seaweed on the television programme ‘Countryfile’ - which - as the name suggests, is all about the British Countryside.

In our first face to face interview in a long time, we talk to New York based filmmaker Mark Street.

In his artist statement Mark says, “My work ranges from abstract hand-manipulated pieces to work that involves found footage, to feature length improvised narratives. Each film attempts to investigate new terrain, and avoids being confined by a specific look or mood.”

The idea of not being confined was a recurring theme in our chat, we also discuss working with found footage, his adventures using Super 8mm film, and of course, Stan Brakhage who you will hear from at the top of this episode.

Information, images and links on our website here. https://www.intothemothlight.com/home/ep33-mark-street

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Since the 1980s, Lynne Sachs has created cinematic works that defy genre through the use of hybrid forms and collaboration, incorporating elements of the essay film, collage, performance, documentary and poetry. Her films explore the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences.

Her latest feature ‘Film about a Father Who’ is being screened on the Criterion Channel along with seven other short films.

We chat about 'Film About a Father Who', her approach to experimental documentary making and living and working in San Francisco in 80's.

Information, images and links on our website here. https://www.intothemothlight.com/home/ep32-lynne-sachs

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This time on Into the Mothlight Podcast an in-depth interview with the London based artist filmmaker Sarah Pucill. Her films have been shown in galleries and won awards at Festivals internationally. The majority of her films take place within the confinements of domestic space, where the grounded reality of the house itself becomes a portal to a complex and multi layered psychical realm. In her explorations of the animate and inanimate, her work probes a journey between mirror and surface, in which questions of representation are negotiated.

Click on our website for more information, links and images.

https://www.intothemothlight.com/home/ep31-sarah-pucill

Thank you to our patrons at The Film and Video Poetry Society for their ongoing support.

Our guest on this episode is the American filmmaker Nathanial Dorsky, a prolific and poetic filmmaker who has been making short experimental films since the mid 1960’s. His book Devotional Cinema is essential reading for anyone interested in the transformative nature of film. We discuss shooting the light on a plant, his approach to open form editing and why he only shows work at 18 fps. We also talk about his relationship with Stan Brakhage, who of course, we named this podcast after.

Thank you to Graeme Hogg (aka Hogge)for recording his own 16mm projector running at 18 fps for this episode.

This episode of Into the Mothlight is sponsored by The Film and Video Poetry Society

We are delighted that The Film and Video Poetry Society, host to the annual Film and Video Poetry Symposium, has become the principle financial sponsor to Into The Mothlight Podcast. As we exceeds ten thousand listens, and prepare to release our 30th episode, we look back at the last three years, and hear from Jesse Russell Brooks, Managing Director of The Film and Video Poetry Society.

The Artists’ Moving Image Festival (AMIF) was established in 2012 to provide a platform for the discussion and presentation of artists’ moving image, showcasing forms of production and research alongside screenings and discursive events. This year the festival has been co-programmed by artists and writers Tako Taal and Adam Benmakhlouf and includes a series of screenings and events scheduled to follow the lunar calendar across the rest of 2021. The event is hosted by Lux Scotland in partnership with the international art-space Tramway in Glasgow.

In this episode we hear from Lux Scotland Director Kitty Anderson on the artists' moving image scene in Scotland and how Lux have supported artist over the last year. Tako and Adam share their experience and approach to programming the festival and reflect on one of the works they have selected.

LUX is an international arts agency that supports and promotes artists’ moving image practices and the ideas that surround them. Founded in 2002 the organisation builds on a long lineage of predecessors including The London Film-Makers’ Co-operative, London Video Arts and The Lux Centre.

Benjamin Cook is the founder director of LUX and LUX Scotland. He has been professionally involved in the independent film and visual art sector in the UK for the past 25 years as a curator, archivist, producer, writer and lecturer.

In this episode of Into the Mothlight we’ll be looking at the role of Lux and how they support artists working in the moving image. In my chat with Benjamin Cook we touch on the history of the organisation, the collection of works they look after and the importance of being able to