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Durga (A Ritual)
Meaning is built through repetition in this filmic meditation of sexuality, loss and rebirth.
Overview
A filmic meditation of sexuality, loss and rebirth, in which meaning is built through association, repetition and pace. As with Unfolding and Swan this film was made whilst Syed was still a student at University of East London. The film was structured entirely through the process of exploring 16mm printing techniques; the pace of the film being stipulated by the time it took to fade from a saturated dense black to a ghostly white in which the memory of an image more than the actual image is perceived.
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.
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