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Ben Rivers on his recent film, Two Years at Sea
Listen to filmmaker Ben Rivers in conversation with ICA Associate Curator of Artists' Film and Moving Image, Steven Cairns, on his recent film Two Years at Sea.
1 Jul 2012
Listen to filmmaker Ben Rivers in conversation with ICA Associate Curator of Artists' Film and Moving Image, Steven Cairns, on his recent film Two Years at Sea.
An extension of Ben Rivers' short film This Is My Land, Two Years At Sea is a long-form portrait of a man named Jake Williams, who lives a life of solitude in a dilapidated house in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. Following this unlikely real life subject through the seasons, Rivers uses old 16mm cameras and monochrome stock to accentuate the antiquity of the curios that adorn Jake’s humble abode. This hermitic existence is something alien; Jake is entirely at one with his environs and has no desire to seek out human contact. In approaching his subject without prejudice or a clear narrative agenda, Rivers has created one of the most intimate studies of the human condition you are ever likely to see.
In another video interview, above, Rivers talks more about his work, and the support he has recieved from Arts Council England.
Ben Rivers curated a series of artists film for this year's inaugural LUX / ICA Biennial of Moving Images, a new four-day celebration of contemporary artists' moving image.
