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London Film-Makers' Co-op

Celebrating 50 years of the LFMC (now Lux), the ground-breaking production and distribution cooperative for artists’ moving image.

The London Film-Makers Co-op was begun in October 1966 by a group of film enthusiasts that met in the basement of the Better Books shop on Charing Cross Road, with founder members including Ray Durgnat, Simon Hartog and Stephen Dwoskin. Inspired by the activities of Jonas Mekas and the New American Cinema Group in New York, the LFMC was initially established as a non-profit distribution cooperative. But with the arrival of a new generation of members, including Malcolm Le Grice, Fred Drummond and David Curtis, the LFMC expanded into organisation that incorporated a film workshop, cinema space and distribution office. Through the 70s, 80s and 90s, the LFMC was the UK’s principle hub for experimental and independent film culture. Following its demise, a new organisation LUX was formed in 2002, which continues to be the UK’s leading agency for the support and promotion of artists’ moving image. This selection of films from the first 25 years of the LFMC have been newly digitised by LUX as part of the LFMC’s 50th anniversary commemorations.

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FociiFocii

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1975 9 minsSilent

A female dancer performs in front of what appears to be a wall of mirrors until her reflection takes on a life of its own.

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Guerillere TalksGuerillere Talks

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1978 24 mins

Six film portraits of women associated with the punk music scene in 1970s New York.

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Tea LeafTea Leaf

Documentary 1988 8 mins

An intimate account of frustration and disarray in 1980s Britain from the point of view of a young woman.

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Spot the MicrodotSpot the Microdot

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1969 8 mins

An unprintable film, handmade by punching holes into an opaque 16mm strip.

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Emily (Third Party Speculation)Emily (Third Party Speculation)

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 62 mins

Filmed in a closed domestic environment, this film investigates the question of identification and point of view in cinema.

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Blind White DurationBlind White Duration

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 13 minsSilent

Interaction between a blank white screen and filmed snow.

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Colours of This TimeColours of This Time

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1972 2 minsSilent

A time-lapse study of a London park during the course of a summer day

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BreathBreath

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1974 13 mins

Three people with cameras converge on a remote location near Hay Toor in Dartmoor.

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Angles of IncidenceAngles of Incidence

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 8 mins

The view through the filmmaker’s window opens up the flat surface of the film screen.

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Real TimeReal Time

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1971 33 mins

As she recollects her childhood, the filmmaker reflects on time, family and ageing.

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Muybridge FilmMuybridge Film

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1975 4 minsSilent

Anne Rees-Mogg pays tribute to Muybridge’s studies of human motion with this portrait of filmmaker Renny Croft.

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A Length of TimeA Length of Time

1970 22 mins

A documentary on life, filmic time and stock car racing.

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Welcome/AdieuWelcome/Adieu

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1983 3 mins

Victorian lantern slides and a β€˜patriotic’ rendering of God Save the Queen

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Sentimental JourneySentimental Journey

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1977 34 mins

A poetic tutorial about how to make an experimental film

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Nothing Is SomethingNothing Is Something

1966 9 mins

The delicate everyday beauty of soap bubbles, moving water and rainbow reflections.

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Living MemoryLiving Memory

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 39 mins

The filmmaker revisits the landscape of her youth and her memory of it

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Grandfather's FootstepsGrandfather's Footsteps

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1983 36 mins

The filmmaker re-evokes the presence of her great-grandfather, Henry Stiles Savory, a Victorian clergyman, photographer and scientist.

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TransmogrificationTransmogrification

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 9 mins

Two girls become 18th century ladies in this short film about the assumption of roles.

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Film No. 1Film No. 1

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1971 10 mins

Film No. 1 emphasizes the material process of film printing through repetition, seriality and permutations of colour

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Serpent RiverSerpent River

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1989 32 mins

An anti-nuclear film on a community living in proximity to uranium mines in Canada.

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The Man with a Movie CameraThe Man with a Movie Camera

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 9 minsSilent

A carefully controlled reflection on the process of filmmaking, playfully demonstrating the camera as a tool for constructing a filmed image.

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EerieEerie

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1992 1 mins

A vertiginous lesbian kiss in a mountain cablecar inspired by German expressionism.

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Lady LazarusLady Lazarus

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1991 24 mins

A cinematographic response to Sylvia Plath’s Lady Lazarus with Plath’s own readings of her poetry

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TerminalsTerminals

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1985 20 mins

A filmic exploration of the working conditions of female nuclear workers.

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ArrowsArrows

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1984 16 mins

A first-person essay on the experience of anorexia and its cultural causes

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Uranium HexUranium Hex

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1987 12 mins

Uranium mining in Canada and the destruction of the environment

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Plutonium BlondePlutonium Blonde

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1986 16 mins

A fractured narrative on a female worker at a plutonium terminal

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Gloucester Road GrooveGloucester Road Groove

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1969 2 minsSilent

An exuberant night out in buzzing 1960s Gloucester Road.

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One Million Unemployed in Winter 1971One Million Unemployed in Winter 1971

Documentary 1971 7 mins

A film on unemployment, which was made to be shown at Claimants Union meetings.

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Close UpClose Up

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1983 71 mins

A radical, anti-representational film set against the backdrop of the Nicaraguan revolution

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Silent PartnerSilent Partner

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1977 33 mins

Domestic interiors are interrogated by a restless camera in this radical, anti-narrative film.

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HallHall

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 11 mins

A static shot of a hallway, demystified and disrupted by quick cuts and an alarm ringing.

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Condition of IllusionCondition of Illusion

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1975 32 minsSilent

A problematisation of the relation between spectator and photographic image.

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KeyKey

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 10 mins

A photograph of Nico is abstracted beyond recognition through a zoom.

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C/O/N/S/T/R/U/C/TC/O/N/S/T/R/U/C/T

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1974 14 minsSilent

Five layers of optical superimposition demonstrate film as a construct.

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8mm film-notes on 16mm8mm film-notes on 16mm

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1971 19 mins

A structuralist collage emphasizing the difference between 8mm and 16mm film gauges

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NowNow

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1969 8 minsSilent

A film by an early British pioneer of computer generated filmmaking.

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Not to See AgainNot to See Again

1981 14 mins

An anti-montage film hovering on the line between abstraction and representation

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GuessworkGuesswork

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 11 mins

Details, fragments, transformations and shadows of a confined space.

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The Ten Commandments of LoveThe Ten Commandments of Love

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 4 mins

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

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She SaidShe Said

1983 27 mins

A film on the theme of women’s work and free time

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GG

1979 5 mins

A reflection on the relationship between language and work

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ReturningReturning

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 7 mins

Looking outside and looking back in the same moment; the collision of memory and reluctance.

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JourneyJourney

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1976 4 mins

Reveries during a train journey are suggested though montage

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TracksTracks

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1989 28 mins

A feminist collage/essay film that takes a critical look at certain feminist theories.

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The Pecking OrderThe Pecking Order

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1989 5 mins

A beautifully painted animated critique of modern intensive farming methods

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UnfoldingUnfolding

1987 15 mins

A council launderette as a site of oppression and possible resistance

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Fatima's LetterFatima's Letter

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1992 20 mins

A woman remembers her past while travelling on the London Underground

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SwanSwan

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1986 3 minsSilent

Close-up images of a white swan as it prepares for flight

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Three PacesThree Paces

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1989 14 mins

An urban fairy tale where myth and reality constantly collide

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Durga (A Ritual)Durga (A Ritual)

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1986 23 mins

Meaning is built through repetition in this filmic meditation of sexuality, loss and rebirth.

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Still LifeStill Life

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1976 5 minsSilent

A traditional β€˜still life’ serves as subject for a film on colour transformation

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FireworksFireworks

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1976 3 minsSilent

Images of fireworks superimposed in the camera and in the optical printer

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CloudsClouds

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1975 3 minsSilent

Clouds filmed from a moving car producing the illusion of space within the frame

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Light MusicLight Music

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 31 mins

Classic expanded cinema work that proposes a direct relationship between the sonic and the visual.

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Mechanical BalletMechanical Ballet

1975 9 minsSilent

Double-screen found-footage film in which car crash tests take a sinister and humorous quality.

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FootstepsFootsteps

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1974 6 mins

Actor and cameraman engage in a game of β€˜grandmother’s footsteps’ in a playfully delightful film.

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Some FriendsSome Friends

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 5 mins

Polaroid portraits of the filmmaker’s friends are filmed against various backdrops

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Cezanne's EyeCezanne's Eye

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 23 mins

An experiential journey through the landscape of Cezanne’s Provence.

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The Red SeaThe Red Sea

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1992 21 mins

A tragic journey of self-discovery through land, sea and the body

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ChameleonChameleon

1990 5 mins

A woman searches through an interior landscape, where she is both trapped and contained

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A NosegayA Nosegay

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1986 17 mins

A homoerotic homage to Genet and LautrΓ©amont with an angel and a hermaphrodite.

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L'Ange FrΓ©nΓ©tiqueL'Ange FrΓ©nΓ©tique

1986 5 mins

A study of frustration and insolence featuring an epicene angel played by Cerith Wyn Evans

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AloneAlone

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1963 13 mins

A girl alone in her room, smoking, putting on make-up, masturbating.

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Chinese CheckersChinese Checkers

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1965 13 mins

Two masked women make love while playing the board game.

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NaissantNaissant

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1964 13 mins

A woman in a bedroom, alone with her own thoughts .

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The Cat and the Woman, A Cautionary TaleThe Cat and the Woman, A Cautionary Tale

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1987 2 mins

A woman loses her head to a cat in return for a man.

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Thinking TwiceThinking Twice

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1997 10 mins

A film which attempts to reflect the rigour of the music featuring pianist Katharina Wolpe.

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Free ShowFree Show

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 17 mins

Three potentially violent domestic activities performed by a woman.

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The Garden of EatingThe Garden of Eating

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1986 3 mins

A stop-motion collage film that constructs a garden out of flowers, candles, plastic cellophane and food

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SnigSnig

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 5 mins

A young woman shakes eels out from between the sheets of a bed.

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Shower ProofShower Proof

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 9 minsSilent

A quotidian yet abstract bathroom sequence, printed on high-contrast negative film.

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Looking for the MoonLooking for the Moon

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1987 5 minsSilent

Tentative gestures of hands and body become symbolic of trust and the need to escape

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ImaginaryImaginary

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1989 16 mins

A film in three parts shot in varying intimate and personal environments.

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Hide & SeekHide & Seek

1987 15 mins

A metaphorical and lyrical journey of discovery through childhood memories

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Yes No Maybe NotYes No Maybe Not

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1967 8 minsSilent

Black and white images of lapping water are juxtaposed with and superimposed upon Battersea Power Station in this double-screen film.

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Soul in a White RoomSoul in a White Room

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 3 mins

An intimate encounter suggested by two pairs of hands

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Milk and GlassMilk and Glass

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1993 9 mins

Boundaries are blurred as images of a woman’s body are projected onto domestic objects

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WindowframeWindowframe

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1975 7 mins

A domestic scene with a man and woman, as seen through a window

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That’s Entertainment/The Conjuror’s AssistantsThat’s Entertainment/The Conjuror’s Assistants

Documentary 1978 23 mins

Frame by frame analysis of documentary footage taken at a children’s Christmas party.

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LenselessLenseless

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1971 4 mins

The lens is removed from the camera resulting in a complex interplay of light patterns

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VariantVariant

Documentary 1973 17 mins

A film that attempts to create the rhythm and transience of felt experience.

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CrossCross

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1974 42 minsSilent

Instinctive yet formal, a film that takes a drawing of a cross as a score.

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SignSign

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1974 43 mins

An experiential film that captures the filmmaker’s flux-like process of being in a room, filming.

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Stabat MaterStabat Mater

Drama 1990 8 mins

An exultant journey through the emotional landscape of the filmmaker’s native Gibraltar.

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Close to HomeClose to Home

Documentary 1985 28 mins

An image of freedom and the melancholy of parting in this film about Gibraltar

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"Now I Am Yours""Now I Am Yours"

Documentary 1993 33 mins

Extreme state of religious and sexual ecstasy in this film on the figure of Saint Teresa

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RepertoryRepertory

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 9 mins

The camera circles the exterior of an empty theatre while a voice describes β€˜imaginary presentations’ inside.

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The InstitutionThe Institution

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1978 54 mins

A critique of the institution of mental health care that questions β€˜normal’ viewing habits.

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SheetSheet

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1970 22 mins

A white linen sheet is filmed in a series of locations as focal point

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Shepherd's BushShepherd's Bush

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1972 15 mins

A quintessential Co-op film made using the contact printer

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Tender KissesTender Kisses

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1972 11 mins

This film questions the convincing illusion produced by the two great illusionists: Television and Cinema.

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VistasoundVistasound

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 45 mins

A film that raises questions about the associations between song lyrics and particular places.

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SheepwomanSheepwoman

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1970 12 mins

A self-reflexive film in which a woman reads a text about shearing to camera.

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Red + Green + BlueRed + Green + Blue

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1970 10 minsSilent

In this structural-materialist film, colour is generated by landscape: from the sky, the grass and berries

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MothfightMothfight

1985 7 mins

A hand-scratched film on light, dark, insects and cinema

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SoliloquySoliloquy

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1967 9 mins

A girl broods over a failed love affair while the camera roves over her.

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Jesus BloodJesus Blood

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 30 mins

A man walks towards the camera to the sound of 'Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet'.

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C-FilmC-Film

Documentary 1970 14 mins

Two women in a swinging London living room in a film that questions acting.

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Light Occupations: Lens and Mirror FilmLight Occupations: Lens and Mirror Film

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 3 mins

Playful investigation of the filmic equipment, particularly camera and projector

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DeckDeck

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1971 14 mins

A reel of 8mm film undergoes a mysterious transformation through refilming, colour changing and printing

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Lens Hand FootLens Hand Foot

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 3 minsSilent

The filmmaker explores the relationship of her own body to the filmmaking apparatus

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MysteriesMysteries

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 7 minsSilent

A photomontage film that offers an interpretation of the mystery of the harvest.

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Red SeaRed Sea

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 6 minsSilent

Spring tides and menstrual cycles at the full and new moon

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PersistingPersisting

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1978 9 mins

An image of the Yangtse bridge is re-filmed with a soundtrack of popular Chinese music.

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At the AcademyAt the Academy

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1974 5 mins

A found-footage film made entirely from the countdown leader that is normally used to cue the start of films.

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CyclesCycles

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1972 5 mins

A circular form fluctuates in rhythms of light and sound in this hand-made film.

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Salt WaterSalt Water

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1986 19 mins

Reflections in fish tanks in the windows of restaurants in Chinatown, San Francisco.