This film is part of Rentals
A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness
Visual artists Ben Rivers and Ben Russell’s mesmerising film follows an unnamed character through three phases of alternative existence, from rural commune to a black metal rock concert.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2013 98 mins
Director: Ben Rivers
Overview
This mesmerising collaboration between visual artists Ben Rivers and Ben Russell follows an unnamed character through three seemingly disparate moments in his life: idyllic collective living on an Estonian island, in isolation in the majestic wilderness of Northern Finland; and during a concert as the singer of a black metal band in Norway.
Starring musician Robert AA Lowe (better known by his stage name Lichens), this captivating journey experiments with conventions of narrative and form, falling somewhere between fiction and non-fiction. While very much a product of the artists’ film scene, A Spell has won wide acclaim and will appeal to all admirers of alternative and transporting cinematic experiences.
Contains infrequent strong sex referencesRelated
Animation & Artists Moving Image
Behindert Behindert
Documentary 1974 98 mins Director: Stephen Dwoskin
The account of a close, personal relationship as experienced by a disabled man.
Trying to Kiss the Moon Trying to Kiss the Moon
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1994 96 mins Director: Stephen Dwoskin
Autobiographical film by the veteran disabled experimental filmmaker, Steve Dwoskin.
Tehran Taboo Tehran Taboo
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2016 96 mins Director: Ali Soozandeh
In this gorgeously animated drama, the lives of several strong-willed women and a young musician intersect in contemporary Iran.
Early Man Early Man
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2018 89 mins Director: Nick Park
In Aardman’s latest animated adventure, Caveman Dug and his pet hog, Hognog, must unite their tribe if they're are to survive the threat of pompous tyrant Lord Nooth.
This Unnameable Little Broom This Unnameable Little Broom
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1985 11 mins Director: Brothers Quay
The Brothers Quay take on the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, presenting the character as a childlike figure who sets a series of vicious traps to catch Enkidu, the guileless forest creature.
In Absentia In Absentia
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2000 20 mins Director: Brothers Quay
The Brothers Quay's visualisation of a piece by Karlheinz Stockhausen. A woman alone in a room repeatedly writes a letter with tiny broken off pieces of pencil lead. Outside her window, vistas of ever-changing light register her every emotion.
Discoveries
A Woman's Life A Woman's Life
Drama 2016 119 mins Director: Stéphane Brizé
Judith Chemla shines in this Guy de Maupassant adaptation, a tale spanning 20 years of a woman’s life.
Journeyman Journeyman
Drama 2016 92 mins Director: Paddy Considine
Paddy Considine directs and stars with Jodie Whittaker in this emotional knockout - the story of a boxer rebuilding his life after a near-fatal injury.
Custody Custody
Drama 2016 94 mins Director: Xavier Legrand
Myriam (Drucker) has recently left husband Antoine (Ménochet). She doesn’t want her youngest, Julien (Gioria), to see a father she claims is violent. But the judge rules otherwise, and the boy becomes a pawn in a bitter parental conflict…
Reinventing Marvin Reinventing Marvin
Drama 2017 114 mins Director: Anne Fontaine
A young gay man (Finnegan Oldfield ) flourishes under the tutelage of Isabelle Huppert's drama teacher, in this stirring drama from director Anne Fontaine (The Innocents).
Mandy Mandy
Horror 2017 121 mins Director: Panos Cosmatos
Nicolas Cage wreaks revenge at the fiery gates of hell in Panos Cosmatos’ follow-up to Beyond the Black Rainbow.
Nancy Nancy
Drama 2017 86 mins Director: Christina Choe
Andrea Riseborough is extraordinary in this disquieting drama about a woman convinced that she was kidnapped as a child and might have found her real parents.
Directed by Ben Rivers
Krabi, 2562 Krabi, 2562
Drama-documentary 2019 90 mins Director: Ben Rivers
Observing locals and visitors creates a highly original portrait of the Thai tourist town of Krabi in this collaboration between award-winning directors Anocha Suwichakornpong and Ben Rivers.
The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2015 95 mins Director: Ben Rivers
Britain’s brilliant experimental filmmaker Ben Rivers (Two Years at Sea) presents this haunting desert parable which follows a filmmaker’s abduction and ritual humiliation.
Two Years at Sea Two Years at Sea
Documentary 2011 90 mins Director: Ben Rivers
The unconventional life of Jake Williams who lives in isolation in the Cairngorms, Aberdeenshire.
New
Undergods Undergods
Fantasy 2020 92 mins Director: Chino Moya
A series of intense and increasingly disturbing allegories about humanity's darker instincts culminates in a grotesque and compelling debut feature from Chino Moya.
Charlatan Charlatan
Drama 2020 118 mins Director: Agnieszka Holland
Agnieszka Holland’s fascinating biopic of Jan Mikolášek, a 20th century Czech herbalist whose great success masked the grimmest of secrets.
Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation
Documentary 2021 86 mins Director: Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Creative dual-portrait documentary of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, two of the greatest figures in 20th Century American Literature.
Aviva Aviva
Romance 2020 116 mins Director: Boaz Yakin
Incorporating expressive and exultant dance sequences, Aviva is a restless modern love story that explores the complexities of gender dynamics.
Black Bear Black Bear
Comedy 2020 106 mins Director: Lawrence Michael Levine
At a remote lake house, a filmmaker plays a calculated game of desire and jealousy in the pursuit of a work of art that blurs the boundaries between autobiography and invention.
Sisters with Transistors Sisters with Transistors
Documentary 2020 86 mins Director: Lisa Rovner
The remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers, who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to transform how we produce and listen to music today.