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The Ten Commandments of Love

An impassioned embrace on an ocean pier to 'The Ten Commandments of Love'.

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 4 mins

Overview

Two people in an impassioned embrace on an ocean pier as Harvey and the Moonglows start singing “The Ten Commandments of Love”. “In the autumn of 1979 I was looking through a stack of old film stills in a secondhand record shop. I found a still from King Creole and decided that I would make a film from it. I had 10 new prints made from the still and hand tinted all of them. I seem to recall that at the time the image of 1950’s love on the waterfront was irresistible, although with hindsight the film looks like an exercise in formalism” (Cordelia Swann)

Founded in 1966, the London Film-Makers’ Co-operative started life at Better Books, a counter-culture bookshop on Charing Cross Road, where a group led by poet Bob Cobbing and filmmakers Stephen Dwoskin and Jeff Keen met to screen films. Initially inspired by the activities of the New American Cinema Group in New York, the London Co-op grew into a pioneering organisation that incorporated a film workshop, cinema space and distribution office. During its four-decade history, the Co-op played a crucial role in establishing film as an art form in the UK and participated in a vibrant international film scene. This BFI Player collection brings together new scans of films distributed by and/or produced at the London Co-op.