The Death of a King

Q. Which Yoko piece(s) are you responding to and how?

A. I am responding to the Film Script No. 4 “ASK THE AUDIENCE TO STARE AT THE SCREEN UNTIL IT BECOMES BLACK.”

I decided to assemble material shot in Cambodia in 2013 during the Cambodia King-Father Norodom Sihanouk’s funeral- a week long period of national mourning in which millions of Cambodians swarmed to Phnom Penh to grieve for the loss of their beloved leader. The profoundly overwhelming nature of this mass grieving seemed to resonate with the notion of an audience literally collectively willing an image out of existence. I chose to read the action of the screen turning black as being due to the audiences collective will rather than something imposed on an audience by the filmmaker/artist.

Q. If we imagine a spectrum in which predetermined structures, scores, instructions sit at one end and  spontaneity, intuition, improvisation at the other – where does your work sit in that spectrum? Or is that spectrum faulty to begin with?

In terms of the spectrum between predetermined structure and organic improvisation, my work is borne of a constant oscillation between both extremes at different stages of the process.

What lies at the heart of the development and production methodology of my short films, installation work, feature length documentaries (Bastardy, Chasing Buddha) and dramatic feature films (Hail, Ruin) is establishing a working method in which rigorous planning, pre-production and rehearsal processes lay the groundwork for a flexibility while shooting that makes truly inventive collaboration possible.

This meticulous crafting of a highly orchestrated series of potential thematic triggers is then ideally utilised in all areas of the craft while shooting either fiction or documentary and can include performance, camera work, mis en scene etc- thereby allowing creative instincts to be automatically infused with the underlying thematics of the work.

The editing process then necessarily funnels this open field of play and chance back into a series of schematics that are then once again imploded along the way to attain a form that hopefully transcends the works initial structural intentions.

The tension of this constant tumble between structure and intuition injects a unique vitality and authenticity to the material that is ultimately the life blood of my work.

Directed by Amiel Courtin-Wilson
Soundtrack by Steve Benwell
Cinematography by Giovanni C Lorusso and Alex Cardy