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About Now MMX
A probing snapshot of the capital as the camera scans London's skyline.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2010 26 mins Not rated
Director: William Raban
Overview
Shot at various times of day and night, and alternating between time-lapse and standard speed, William Raban's last film to be shot on 35mm explores the residue and reaction to the 2008 financial crash. From the perspective of the top floor of the Balfron Tower, a 26-story building in Poplar, small signs of resistance and protest make their mark, while Canary Wharf and other buildings - representing the ominous forces of capital and the City - tower over the area like gothic cathedrals.
Artist filmmaker William Raban began by making expanded cinema and landscape-based works, frequently focusing on the formal properties of 16mm film. Since the mid-1980s he has explored the economic and social topography of the capital city, often producing images according to a specific conceptual constraint. This film uses views from the Balfron Tower to interrogate the landscape and explore the material impact of time. The ascending and descending moon and the almost omniscient views allow for an unexpected esoteric reading of the piece, for which Raban's collaborator David Cunningham provided the soundscape.
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