From Cinema Rediscovered 2023 Film Critics’ Workshop, It takes time to build castles by Steph Francis-Shanahan is a video essay commission in response to the 7th edition of the festival.

Steph Francis-Shanahan is a writer, filmmaker and musician from London. Her practice focuses on the presence of catharsis within the acts of making and thinking. She is interested in the intersection between visual, audio and language as a vessel to explore emotion. She is a self-publisher and creates a wide range of her own artist books and zines which are sold within independent bookshops and book fairs in the U.K. She completed an MA from Central Saint Martins in 2020 and is a current member of the School of The Damned. Her interests also encompass working class representation within the arts and how the myriad of this culture has been depicted on screen. The intersections of the arts and how to build links between different works are of great importance to her and she finds a lot of enjoyment in bringing new audiences to pieces they may feel are not for them.

“‘It takes time to build castles’ is a collage film, which uses a selection of the Cinema Rediscovered 2023 programme to investigate and evoke the emotional experience of being trapped in domestic spaces. This can be from familial oppression seen in The Virgin Suicides, (1999), abusive romantic relationships in Millenium Mambo (2001), or the effects and monotony of seeking financial stability in Drylongso (1998), Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Jeanne Dielman (1975). The film aims to replicate the malaise and relentlessness of this sensation and the longing for home to be where the heart really is. The collage style speeds up and slows down footage as time becomes dizzying and the score uses clips from the films and original music I have made whilst watching the edits. The piece ends with a photograph from my own past to remember it is possible to take time and build castles.” Steph Francis-Shanahan
 
Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-6uL6PWpms