The Afterlight, Britain 2021

This is a compilation film of film fragments on a 35mm black and white and academy ratio print. There are hundreds of brief sequences: some repeated: some silent: some with sound: in fourteen or so different languages: mostly with English subtitles: and featuring stars and actors from nearly all the substantive cinemas. It runs 82 minutes. This is the only 35mm print, so it will gradually acquire the scars of projection; there are no other prints or alternative versions.

This is the idea of Charlie Shackleton, who researched, produced, directed and edited the film. His earlier titles include Beyond Clueless (2014) which features over 200 extracts from ‘teen movies’ and the extremely unusual Paint Drying (2023), a ten hour salvo at the BBFC. Robbie Ryan contributed on cinematography and Jeremy Warmsley provided a musical accompaniment. To date there have been 44 screenings. Nitrate and safety film stock have a shelf life of over a hundred years; far longer than more recent moving image formats. But the screenings have taken place in numerous and different venues. So the screening may have acquired some of the familiar features of older 35mm prints, such as scratches and other marks. But the print will retain the characteristics of the original format of the films featured.

The extracts in the film range across nearly all the territories of world cinema. They include familiar faces and rather rarer characters. All the extracts are from earlier than 1960, so all the visible participants are dead. The extracts are arranged by genres, themes and tropes.

Viewing the film is rather like a visit to a museum, perhaps a set of ghostly encounters, or an elegiac journey through cinema. Many of the extracts are recognisable but some will likely only be recognised by cinephiles with a extensive range of international film viewing. One can puzzle over the extracts, their order and their sources. One can watch the changing palettes with some extracts in pretty good condition and some showing the wear and tear of long screening journeys.

Whichever response this is a welcome and impressive selection. It is constantly of interest and pleasure and occasional mystery. Since the print will gradually  succumb to age and running through various projectors it is worth seeing at the earliest opportunity. Happily in West Yorkshire it screens at the Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds on May 12th, with the director present.