Western Silence - Davis Film TP 2019

Lichtenfels, Alex; Zibell, John; Powell, Teddy; Churchill, Joe

Abstract

Contextual statement:

Western Silence is the result of two week-long devised filmmaking workshops between 2018 and 2020 based in London and California. The film connects the materiality of memory to the materiality of ecology, in particular asking how artists can deal with and represent materials that are gone, when there is an important gap in our memory, or when, in this case, the landscape has been burned by fire. Through a process of devised filmmaking, a group of 11 collaborators, devised methods to connect with these lost materials, not by representing them directly, but by circumscribing their contours by representing what remains, which will always contain traces of what has been lost. As such, the film invites audiences to discover these traces through their viewing practice. The connection of the ecology and memory, also serves to place the personal in the context of wider global issues, such as climate change.

The film draws on a devising tradition developed by John Zibell, originating in theatrical processes developed by Konstantin Stanislavski and Paul Sills. This tradition has been further developed as a cinematic practice by Zibell, Alex Lichtenfels, Joe Churchill and Teddy Powell in a series of ongoing workshops, which also aim to bring more traditionally technical roles – such as camera operators, into the devising process. Rather than starting with a script, the themes and structure emerge from ‘moment work’, a method that involves devising short performative moments in response to particular prompts. When an array of moments have been created as a group, this array is then used to generate thematic and narrative threads between moments, allowing the whole piece a larger structure.

The piece connects to my own article, ‘Materiality of Nothingness: Inspiration, Collaboration and Craft in Devised Filmmaking’, which describes the process and the workshop in more detail. It should be noted however, that this film as an element of the workshop, is not discussed in detail.

Role – Producer and collaborator

Citation

Lichtenfels, A., Zibell, J., Powell, T., & Churchill, J. Western Silence - Davis Film TP 2019. [Film]

• Digital Artefact Type: Video
• Deposit Date: Nov 8, 2023