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Unseen: The Lives of Looking

Artist Dryden Goodwin’s first feature-length film explores different scales, forms and reasons for looking. Focused on an international eye surgeon, a NASA planetary explorer, a leading human rights lawyer and the artist/filmmaker himself the film exposes a kinship between those who live by the sensory rules of observation. Goodwin’s closely observed drawings, camera work and original soundtrack reveal the dexterity of the surgeon working with the human eye; the quest of the planetary explorer to find evidence of life on Mars; and the lawyer’s scrutiny of the British government in extraordinary rendition, drone attack and mass-surveillance cases. soundtrack. He reveals the empathy and dexterity of an international Eye Surgeon, working with the fragility of the human eye; the quest of a NASA Planetary Explorer to decode the cosmos and find evidence of life on Mars; and the scrutiny, of the British government, by a leading Human Rights Lawyer, in extraordinary rendition, drone attack and mass surveillance cases. Bound together by Goodwin’s exploratory gaze, the film explores different scales, forms and reasons for looking, in a poetic and metaphysically charged journey. The film’s perspectives range from minute details to panoramic expanses, building an atmospheric and sensual matrix around its subjects. Goodwin includes fleeting vignettes of strangers and a brief focus on his father and son, highlighting the tension in his work between intimacy and anonymity. The film considers both the physical act of looking and our perception of the world around us: how we contemplate the personal and the remote and the imaginative leaps taken to reveal what might be concealed or out of sight.

  • Dryden Goodwin
    Director
  • Dryden Goodwin
    Writer
  • Jo Cole
    Producer
  • Sarah Caddy
    Producer
  • Gareth Evans
    Producer
  • Prof Sir Peng Tee Khaw
    Key Cast
  • Prof Sanjeev Gupta
    Key Cast
  • Rosa Curling
    Key Cast
  • Jeffrey Goodwin
    Key Cast
  • Fynn Cole-Goodwin
    Key Cast
  • Dryden Goodwin
    Editor
  • Jo Cole
    Editor
  • Dryden Goodwin
    Composer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Feature, Other
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    120,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4K Canon 1DC
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • CPH:DOX 2015
    Copenhagen
    Denmark
    November 3, 2015
    World Premiere
    Nominated for DOX:Award
  • International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016
    Rotterdam
    Netherlands
    January 31, 2016
    Netherlands Premiere
    Official selection
  • Alchemy Film Festival 2016
    Hawick Scottish Borders
    United Kingdom
    April 16, 2016
    Scottish Premiere
  • Docs Against Gravity 2016
    Warsaw
    Poland
    May 14, 2016
    Polish Premiere
    In competition Fiction-Non-Fiction
  • Camerimage 2016
    Bydgoszcz
    Poland
    November 14, 2016
    Cinematography Documentary Feature Competition
  • Flaherty Film Series at Anthology Film Archives
    New York
    United States
    January 17, 2017
    USA Premiere
  • FIFA Montreal
    Montreal
    Canada
    March 26, 2017
    Canadian Premiere
  • KraftaDoc 2017
    Glasgow, Scotland UK
    United Kingdom
    Winner of The Big Smoke competition
Distribution Information
  • Grasshopper Film
    Country: United States
    Rights: Internet, Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Hotel, Airline, Ship, Video / Disc, Free TV, Paid TV, Console / Handheld Device
Director Biography - Dryden Goodwin

British contemporary artist Dryden Goodwin's work incorporates drawing, often in combination with photography and video, he creates gallery installations, short films, projects in public space, works on-line and soundtracks. His work has been shown extensively nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, The Photographers' Gallery, London, The National Portrait Gallery, London, the Venice Biennale and the Hasselblad Foundation. His work is in major collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Tate Collection and The National Portrait Gallery, London. His short films have been broadcast on Channel 4, MTV, RAI and SWR and shown in many international festivals since 1995.

'Unseen: The Lives of Looking' (2015) is Goodwin's first feature length essay documentary, premiered at the Queen's House, Royal Museums Greenwich, London, alongside a solo exhibition. Through his intense observational drawing and detailed camera work, Goodwin's implicit gaze focuses on three individuals with a distinct relationship to looking. He reveals the empathy and dexterity of an international Eye Surgeon, working with the fragility of the human eye; the quest of a NASA Planetary Explorer to find evidence of life on Mars; and the scrutiny, by a leading Human Rights Lawyer, of the British government in extraordinary rendition, drone attack and mass surveillance cases. The film explores different scales, forms and reasons for looking, in a poetic and metaphysically charged journey. 

Recent other projects include 'Breathe' (2012), a large scale night projection opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, animating over 1,300 pencil drawings of Goodwin's 5-year-old son breathing, commissioned by Invisible Dust; 'Poised' (2012) a film and soundtrack exploring the physical and emotional dynamics of a group of young female divers, commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella and 'Linear' (2010–2012) a series of 60 drawn and filmed portraits of individuals with different working roles on the Jubilee line, displayed on poster sites, digital screens and exhibitions sites across the London Underground, commissioned by Art on the Underground. He is a Reader at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London. www.drydengoodwin.com

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