Scott Barley


Scott Barley is a British filmmaker and artist. His work has been associated with the Remodernist and Slow cinema movements, and are primarily concerned with the anthropocene, nature, darkness, cosmology, phenomenology, and mysticism. His filmmaking methods have been compared to David Lynch, Stan Brakhage, Philippe Grandrieux, Béla Tarr, Alexander Sokurov, Maya Deren and Jean Epstein.
Since early 2015, Barley has almost exclusively shot his films on an iPhone. He is most well known for the 2017 experimental film, Sleep Has Her House.

Style and themes

Barley's approach to filmmaking is similar to that of "personal" and poetic avant-garde filmmakers, Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Nathaniel Dorsky and Peter Hutton, but the post-production process is unique to both mainstream and avant-garde filmmaking praxes.
"I always begin a film almost like one would keep a diary. I have no idea, or agenda to make a film. I simply document. I shoot what attracts me, random things, animals, variances in light, the water, the stars; simply what draws me in on different days, different nights, in different places. Once I have built up a body of footage, I start to see connections. These pieces of footage could be taken months or even years apart – and miles apart too. then invisibly stitch together into one larger shot or sequence. But these connections between different pieces of footage all happen organically. I never force these connections. I never force a film when it doesn’t come. The films find me – not the other way round All my films have been made this way. Some happen quicker than others. Once these connections are established, a narrative - through images - begins to germinate."
Barley's films are low-budget or no budget, and have been shot on iPhone since 2015.

Filmography

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