Phantoms

"A single shot, taken from Douglas Sirk's film ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955), in which we see the camera pull out from Jane Wyman's tearful face as she looks out of her window at snow falling, is slowed down, repeated and blown up in different permutations on three screens to portray a sense of kitsch or overblown, yet authentic, loss. Edited to the length of Brahm's 'Winter Journey in the Hartz Mountains'." - C.S.

"'Passion Triptych' makes use of three different sequences from the then popular television police series 'Hill Street Blues' recorded on VHS tape. Swann re-filmed the sequences frame by frame on Super-8, creating a three screen semi-abstracted, colour-saturated triptych. The images depict men and women in ambiguous situations of embrace or violence, creating a frieze of charged scenes whose effect is heightened by overlaying the original soundtracks with the wailing of police sirens and other sound effects." - Sotiris Kyriacou

Two people in an impassioned embrace on an ocean pier as Harvey and the Moonglows start singing “The Ten Commandments of Love”. “In the autumn of 1979 I was looking through a stack of old film stills in a secondhand record shop. I found a still from King Creole and decided that I would make a film from it. I had 10 new prints made from the still and hand tinted all of them. I seem to recall that at the time the image of 1950’s love on the waterfront was irresistible, although with hindsight the film looks like an exercise in formalism” (Cordelia Swann)

‘Once there was a woman who lived alone in a fairly prosperous citadel. If the weather was fine, a rare and precious occurence, she would go out and explore, or she would do the shopping…’ Inspired by the tragedy of Dido and the fall of Carthage, with references to the stoning of Mary Magdalene and the execution of others, The Citadel documents the perceptions, actions and dreams of a woman as she experiences, or rather, doesn’t experience, national and world events. Using a range of stunning imagery within an allegorical structure, The Citadel follows the imaginary journey of a woman through a city of beauty and desolation. Shot in lyrical documentary tradition, akin to the work of Humphrey Jennings, the piece weaves together a subjective narrative with an idiosyncratic vision of London. [NFT programme notes- LEA presents Cordelia Swann]Narration Maria PerryCamera Cordelia SwannProducer/Edit Cordelia Swann/Marek BudzynskiFeaturing Asha Rao

Some years ago a friend’s mother couldn’t remember my name and referred to me as Deliria. One afternoon, years later, the film That Hamilton Woman was broadcast on Channel 4 while the other analogue channels were showing the twin towers being hit – with the result that if you changed the channels (as you did) Vivien Leigh’s ethereal face was intercut with images of the disaster. Eventually the broadcast of the film was interrupted – with apologies. Presumably, due to popular demand, the film was shown in its entirety two or three weeks later. By taking a single scene from That Hamilton Woman and overlaying it three times, using delays and changes to density, the result is a musical and visual round exposing the over heightened emotions of Vivien Leigh as she at first whispers for her lover’s return and then runs to him across an ersatz palace and terrace with a barely visible Bay of Naples and Mt Vesuvius smouldering in the background.

Looking back at 2003, a year when Britain went to war, we see scenes filmed in central London of public processions, ceremonies and demonstrations. Alongside the familiar unexpected spectrums of pageantry, mood and allegiance are revealed as the camera scrutinises faces, banners and events. Among scenes of sadness, anguish and anger, there are also more than one or two comic moments.

A woman dressed in armour sleeps on the floor of a dark, sunlit room. As she sleeps dreams and memoires unravel in her head. In the final light of day she wakes herself and prepares for ‘battle’… A Call to Arms is an allegory of the emotional and practical struggles of the artist. It also aims to overcome this turmoil with a new mythopoetic legend, differing in purpose and conclusion from those traditionally offered. It pillages a number of tales and images of conflict which form part of our collective memory, and challenges these by placing women as central and powerful figures. Pageantry, flourishing banners and other emblems of war persist but an unusual serenity and poise underlies these suggestions of aggression and battle.