Continental Drift

'Continental Drift' is a land and sea-scape film drawn from rich sources of imagery: specifically the constantly changing appearance of the sea reflecting the tidal and weather conditions acting upon it and to the distinctly different shorelines of Kent and the Pas de Calais. The 21 miles of water separating the UK from France is the gulf that defines both the “island race” and English hostility towards a wider integration within Europe.

Filmed in the Dover Straits, 'Continental Drift' extends an interest in filming the sea that began with ‘Thames Film’ and ‘From 60 Degrees North’. The sea is the elemental dynamic force giving the film its primary rhythm. The physical and visual elements of the medium are foregrounded in order to counterbalance the prevailing tendency towards a literal interpretation of cinema. This includes: framing, perspective (dependent on the focal length of the lens) movement of the camera, movement within the frame, dark and light, colour and contrast. All these things are central to the formation of the kinetic and sonic structure that underlies the visual construction and production of meaning.

Continental Drift was premiered on 16 March 2005 at the UGC Cinema, West India Quay, London as part of the Island Arts Festival, supported by Film London. This enabled the film to be projected under optimum 35mm viewing conditions and Dobly surround-sound. The film received its international premiere at the Media Arts Festival in Osnabruck in April 2005. In November 2005 Continental Drift was featured in the INTERVAL 1 Symposium at SUNY, Buffalo and in the Experimental Film Festival Bangkok. A further screening took place at the John Haysard Gallery in 2007.