Private Project

A Place About 50 Miles West of Nowhere

A Place About 50 Miles West of Nowhere is an abstract documentary made in modern day New York. It is a film inspired by the abstract expressionist and surrealist movements around the mid 20th century.

The approach on location was to improvise on the spot invoking the past masters of photography and film. All of the multiple exposure effects were created in camera with no additional manipulation other than the occasional emphasis of colour or extra black and white tonal silver effects

  • Mark Nelson
    Director
  • Mark Nelson
    Writer
  • Andromeda Godfrey
    Key Cast
    The Crown, Bridgeton, The Deluge
  • Mark Nelson
    Producer
  • Phil Roberts
    Score
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Genres:
    Abstract, Documentary
  • Runtime:
    48 minutes 26 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16.9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Brighton Rocks International Film Festival
    Brighton
    United Kingdom
    June 21, 2023
    Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Mark Nelson

Mark Nelson is an award-winning film writer, director and producer based in Brighton UK. His talents in filmmaking have come from over 40 years working as an artist and photographer exhibiting and shooting all over the world whilst managing The First Light Gallery in the UK.

His work has been screened at the BIFA qualifying festival Brighton Rocks and Mark is the owner and editor of The Imaginary Project - an online gallery and cinema constructed from photography taken from around the world which features work by Mark himself alongside many others.

Mark very much centers his work around the ethos of The Imaginary Project and feels drawn to “a new way of looking at experiencing art, photography, music, film & the written word”. His films invite you to lose yourself in their hypnotic images, profound words and narration and a pervasive allegorical explorations of his chosen themes.

He is currently developing a cinematic exhibition series which will launch in the Autumn of 2024.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

A Place About 50 Miles West of Nowhere is a documentary made in modern day New York inspired by the abstract expressionist and surrealist movements around the 20th Century. At that time there appeared works by photographers in Europe and the USA, who mirrored that new groundbreaking approach to modern Art.

My approach on location was to improvise on the spot, invoking the past masters of photography and film. All of the multiple exposure effects were created in camera with no additional digital manipulation other than the occasional emphasis of colour or extra black and white silver tonal effects.

A Buddhist teaching in allegory in film: "The so called place about 50 miles of nowhere may be found at the heart of abstraction. It is here that our hidden seeds of emotion await their turn to appear, bathed in darkness of light.