Variant

“I intend my films to jump out at you from their dark spaces, their gaps, their elisions, to vibrate in your whole being in the very manner and rhythm of felt experience” (John Du Cane) In Variant, objects and spaces (trees, ships in the harbour, a teapot and cups on the table, grassy fields) do appear to jump out at the spectators, moving rapidly towards them. The film’s speed suggests the idea of an impermanent flux, attempting to create a transient, felt experience. Variant “pushes to experiential and formal extremes the deployment of schematic and repetitive structures.” (Federico Windhausen)

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.