Description
Book SynopsisThis book provides almost the only published material on the work of Marc Karlin. On his death in 1999, Karlin was commemorated as one of the visionaries of independent British film culture, with its roots in the seventies and its expansion in the first decades of Channel 4 television. This edited collection will profile his films and ideas, drawing exclusively on documents and correspondence from his recently recovered archive. It includes appraisals both from his collaborators and eminent film theorists, and is an illuminating addition to the sparse but rapidly expanding field of independent cinema studies. Marc Karlin was an incisive, witty man and a passionate advocate for an inclusive cultural space. He filmed his way through three decades of huge change, wrestling with the challenges of Thatcher’s free market economics; the demise of manufacturing; the imagining of socialist ways forward after the fall of the Berlin Wall; the role of art in society and the shape-shifting impact of digital technologies: all key concerns relevant to our world today. The book is structured through four contextualizing essays followed by twelve chapters expressing the focus and aesthetic of his documentaries and cultural politics. It combines academic analysis with memoir, and includes a recorded discussion on Karlin’s creative practice, his unpublished writings on cinema and over 150 images from his films. With a foreword by UK’s celebrated film director, Sally Potter MBE, this book presents the reader with an illustrated mosaic of encounters engaging with the spirit of this remarkable man, and will ensure that his work is restored to the canon of British cinema.
Table of ContentsForeword - Sally Potter Preface - Holly Aylett CONTEXTS What Holds All This Together - Sukhdev Sandhu Common Endeavours - Mike Chanan Alive Between Times - Holly Aylett Illumination and the Tyranny of Memory - John Akomfrah Working With Marc Roundtable - edited by Andy Robson FOR MEMORY In the Tracks of a Fellow Traveller - John Gianvito Diary and Notebook Letter: Don Macpherson to Marc Karlin Letter: Marc Karlin to Hermione Harris Notebook Email: Don Macpherson to Andy Robson Letter: Barry Gavin to Peter Sainsbury (BFI) FILMS A Dream from the Bath Nicaragua Close-up on Revolution - Monica Henríquez A Shared Experience - Hermione Harris Marc Karlin's Gaze - Carlos Fernando Chamorro Letters: Marc Karlin to Susan Meiselas, circa 1982 Letters: Danial Martinez to Marc Karlin Letter: Marc Karlin to Alan Fountain Postcards: Stephen Rea to Marc Karlin Utopias Working with Marc Preview: John Little, CIty Limits Preview: Stephen Pope, The Independent Between Times Thinking and Actingwith Film - Steve Sprung The British Left: Between Times in the 1990s - Sheila Rowbotham Now I Know Why I Did It! - Alan Fountain Letter: Jonathan Bloom to Marc Karlin Letter: Marc Karlin to Jonathan Bloom Preview: Time Out Letter: Marc Karlin to Alan Fountain Outrage Working with Marc Letter: Marc Karlin to John Wyver Notebook Letter: Marc Karlin to John Wyver Notebook Draft Screenplay Letter: James Leashy to Marc Karlin Letter: Michael Kustow to John Wyver Preview, Time Out The Serpent Postcard: Fiona Shaw to Marc Karlin Feature: Rob Brown, The Independent Preview: Lisa Mullen, Time Out The Haircut Working with Marc Letter: Heathcote Williams to Marc Karlin Preview: Beth Twiston Davies, Daily Telegraph Preview: Tim Allen, The Observer UNFINISHED STORIES The Last Man Left - Michael Eaton A Walk through the Strange Museum - Andy Robson Faxes: Marc Karlin and Michael Eaton An Aspiration, Last Man Left Letter: Ben Gibson (BFI) to Marc Karlin Letter: Marc Karlin to Michael Eaton Synopsis: Milton Storyboard: Milton ACTIVIST AND ADVOCATE By Example - Gareth Evans Vertigo editorial: Marc Karlin Vertigo editorial: Marc Karlin Interview: Patrick Wright with Marc Karlin Independent Film-Making in the 70s Channel 4 and Independence Feature: Hall of Mirrors, Marc Karlin BIOGRAPHY A Memory of Friendship - Hugh Brody Tribute: Dad, Alexis Karlin Tribute: Seamus Heaney poem, chosen by Anna Karlin Filmography Contributors Further Reading Photo Acknowledgments Index
