Mole on a wire

AKA Borderline was shown for the first time at UNN for the Northernness conference last week.
There was a small but committed audience for the session which included Anne Vibeke Moe and Tim Brennan both talking about their more recent work, and myself presenting Borderline. Malcolm Gee was the moderator.
I was very pleased with the feedback I felt that some had really got what I was trying to convey with the film without using text or language to nevertheless drive a narrative.
A friend came and she was very supportive which I much appreciated. It is always so good to sit down with someone sympatico afterwards for a reality check.
I met a few new people from Brighton and Hongkong and Chester which I enjoyed too. They found it poetic and memorable.
I shall look forward to sharing it on facebook and on vimeo and youtube as well.
The conference was very interesting and there were many papers ad presentations plus an exhibition which I went to see before returning to the valley.
For me the main thing was perhaps after all showing work that is very much mine and not only the work I do with Bloodaxe Books, which is also mine of course but in a different way.
Thanks and kudos to Ysanne Holt and Paul Usherwood.

Skyspace

Another very special Midsummer Solstice tradition is going to James Turrells' Skyspace up at Kielder. An extraordinary place to look at changing light and feel that one with the cosmos feeling.
Skyspace is always open but especially effective at either dawn or dusk. The new observatory is also a must visit when in this part of the world, where the nights are dark and there is no light pollution.

New Moon post Midsummer Solstice

The solstice passed in a quiet and calm way. I took a late night walk as the light was fading and listened to the sounds of the valley.
Still busy with the Borderline film, I have so much great footage from this area and at diffferent times, it is hard to choose.
Today is a perfect summer day, warm and sunny the cats are happily strolling about the garden and going up the lane in search of snacks.
It is really peaceful around here it is almost weird. It can be so very silent with only faint sounds like birdsong and lambs.
Then all hell brakes loose and timberwagons thunder by, motorbikes at full speed and no mufflers, explosions at the Otterburn range can be heard all the way here and the jet fighters scaring the living light out of the cats especially as they zoom through the sky far too low for comfort.
Now I am listening to a fly in the room and about to post this image of a cage.

Ord Word

Ord Words

In the time I have been involved in making Borderline several words have emerged in my thoughts especially in the evening when I am trying to fall asleep. Trying too hard I fear.
These words float up, keep making themselves known to me.
Swedish is my Mother tongue and English my Father tongue.

Mullvad Mole
Ekorre Squirrel
Duva Dove
Katt Cat
Kanin Bunny
Hund Dog
Skata Magpie

Mur Wall
Stuga Cottage
Vatten Water
Luft Air
Motorcykel Motorbike
Mygga Midge
Blommor Flowers

Tyst Quiet
Stor Large
Himmel Sky
Buller Thunder
Oljud Noise
Sommar Summer
Regn Rain

Northernness

In ten days time this symposium starts and I for one am looking forward to it! I think there will be some very interesting presentations thanks to Ysanne Holt the organiser. Also I think I will get a chance to re-connect with my Scandinavian roots as it were. That will be very good since I do feel cut off from many of the people and places that mean a great deal to me.
I am presenting a film Borderline on the Friday before lunch. This is a film in process. Since I moved to this part of the world, Northumberland, I have been responding to it through my metier. Film. I hope to continue working on Borderline throughout my living here. That is what I mean by process. As I learn more about this environment and more about my relation to it or response the film will grow and evolve and become sometimes more and sometimes less e.g. from one screen to several, an installation to a simple video etc. It will reflect the very place itself in that way.
I hope that if you can make it to Northernness you will say hallo to me!

Wolf-less

This is Wolf on the fells in Tarset. He is so lovely, so beautiful, lean and fit and has the kindest brown eyes. We love him.
We had some gorgeous walks with him. Sadly we had to part. He and the cats did not find harmony together. Au contraire.

Back from Dublin Writers Festival

It has been a lively time since the return from Dublin so I have not had time to write about it as yet. Here goes...
The first evening I was there Anne Michaels read from her new book The Winter Vault. You may know her previous book Fugitive Pieces: a Novel, which is now a film due out any day.
I was stunned. Anne M had just arrived from the airport in Dublin from Canada, she lives in Toronto, nevertheless she was sharp and an excellent reader. Focussed, thoughtful, wise and humane. The kind of person I would love to be and to have as a friend!
It was such a special treat to be abe to go to here reading first thing.
The next day it was work time...I filmed a poet in Dalkey who lived in a wonderfully quirky house up a lane which looked like it could have been in the country in France. She had some lovely cats, a huge feline family; grandmother, uncles, mother and kittens all together...She also prepared an amazingly delicious lunch complete with strawberries and cream. The filming went very well at the top of the house with views from the windows of Dublin Bay.
Taking the DART to Booterstown afterwards we spent the afternoon visiting friends there. They live in a light filled house which looks like an ordinary suburban domecile from the outside but once you step inside it is transformed. A Japanese feeling pervades with an inner courtyard of rocks and green plantings which is somehow also internal. Windows to see through to the green garden from rooms through rooms. It is a house where inside and outside interface and the light fills it up and plants can be seen from every point. There is also a wonderful art collection to enjoy. They are lovely people and it was such a pleasure to be able to spend some real time with them.
The following day it rained cats and dogs all day long and it was really quite cold.
On the Sunday Brendan Kennelly was going to launch his latest book Reservoir Voices and give a reading chaired by Micheal O'Siadhiall at the Abbey Theatre. It was the highlight of the festival at least for me. He got a standing ovation!
I was filming it and it came out well and I am very glad for that.
Friends from England were also there and Brendans' family and close friends too. All in all it was a splendid event and I feel very grateful that I could be there. He is marvellous!