Stigmata

From the collection of

Launched in 2000, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive spans from 1897 to the present day and currently contains an ever-expanding catalogue of 13,000 items. It comprises material from a variety of depositors including feature films, sport, documentaries, animation, amateur footage, light entertainment, and a significant proportion of broadcast material from the UTV Archive.

Stigmata

Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive
1970
Sound
22m

A man loses everything he has day-dreaming his way through life

Adam Darius plays an impoverished traveller making his way through an Irish and inner landscape. Against this background he re-enacts stages of his past life and comes to see himself as a kind of harlequin Christ figure. But will he find that the sufferings of the world fall on his own shoulders accordingly? Immerse yourself in his expressive gestures as you follow the ecstasies and agonies of his journey set to Stellan Benson's electronic sound track.

Anthony Keane with Adam Darius developed this scenario without words. If you find Kate Bush pops into your mind during this film that might be because she used the sizable advance for her first record from EMI to train in mime with Adam Darius. Expressive mime is certainly an unusual spectacle in this landscape however it is part of a rich on-going tradition of experimental performance occupying public space through art and theatre in Northern Ireland. Darius's topless dancing may have passed without controversy when filmed in 1968 however in 2011 Alan Graham, farmer and county Down DUP councillor, put a stop to pop star Rihanna filming her music video in his barley field when he saw her dancing topless.

Amateur Auteurs

Ever dreamed of shooting your own movie? These pre-digital cine-enthusiasts did - with all the passion and devotion of the true auteur.

These low- (or no-) budget creations reach beyond simple point-and-shoot, back-garden efforts towards something more ambitious and skilful, revealing their authors' passion for film and their often astonishing ingenuity with limited resources. No desktop editing software or digital special effects for these amateur auteurs. The films include fiction and documentary, competition prizewinners and private labours of love. They may be the work of cine-clubbers or individual enthusiasts. But they all show a devotion to filmmaking that far transcends hobbyism. So look out for the delightful handmade intertitles, table-top special effects and library soundtracks which decorate many of the quirky stories, ultra-local documentaries and painstakingly composed home movies featured here.