Imaginary

Imaginary is a film in three parts (From Today, Touched and One) shot in varying intimate and personal environments. Fleeting images are re-filmed and stylised in an unsentimental manner. “Moira Sweeney also uses the optical printer in her dream-like film Imaginary, in which shots of a cottage window-sill and the view of the coast beyond are slowed to about one fifth of their normal speed. This treatment imparts a gentle rocking motion to the camera movements, and renders grain sharply visible in the coastal views so that they acquire a kind of pointillist flatness. Sweeney's constant use of the printer sometimes takes her work towards a vapid formalism, but Imaginary is redeemed by a tender melancholy which unifies the rustic window and the deserted landscape beyond.” (Nicky Hamlyn)

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.