Apparitions
A haunting journey through Horton Cemetery in Epsom, where thousands of pauper patients, mostly women, from five nearby Victorian mental asylums were buried. It is now an abandoned, derelict, and overgrown site, where all grave markers have been removed, except one.
The footage is overlaid with words drawn from the medical case notes of some of the patients buried there. Written by the medical and nursing staff, the words describe the patients’ occupations, behaviour, mental states, and diagnoses. They offer a glimpse into what was known about mental illness and attitudes towards pauper patients in Victorian times.
The film is also overlaid with images of a diaphanous, disembodied dress, which has been recreated by a seamstress in the style of the standard-issue dresses that were made, mended and worn by female patients in Victorian asylums. It alludes to the many absent women who have now merged with the soil in the woodland.
The accompanying music, specially commissioned and inspired by a visit to the Cemetery, is elegiac and spectral. It seeks to give voice to those who were voiceless, and to serve as a requiem to the long forgotten.
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Eric FongDirector
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Eric FongProducer
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Stewart LaneComposer
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Gabi NorlandCinematographer
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Charlotte GinsborgEditor
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Project Type:Experimental
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Runtime:6 minutes 28 seconds
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Completion Date:October 11, 2024
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Shooting Format:Digital 4K
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Black & White
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Cine Paris Film FestivalParis
France
Award Winner: Artist film, short -
Berlin Kiez Film FestivalBerlin
Germany
January 11, 2025
Award Winner: Best Health and Medicine Film -
London Independent Film AwardsLondon
United Kingdom
Winner: Best Experimental Short Award -
London International Short Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
January 11, 2025
Official Selection: Experimental Short -
London Global Film AwardsLondon
United Kingdom
Official Selection: Best Experimental Short
Eric Fong is a multimedia artist working primarily in film and photography.
His experimental films have won awards at the London International Short Film Festival, Cine Paris Film Festival, Berlin Kiez Film Festival and London Independent Film Awards. They have also been screened at numerous film festivals, including East End Film Festival, Brief Encounters (DepicT!), Strangelove moving image festival, Saltburn Film Festival, Buffalo 07 Black & Asian Film Festival, Future Shorts , Cinecity and Brighton Film Festival in the UK, Clare Valley Film Festival, Australia; Time is Love International Video Art Exhibition (touring); Video Art screening, Art-Claims-Impulse Gallery, Berlin, Germany; Gstaadfilm Festival, Switzerland; 700IS International Experimental Film & Video Festival, Egilsstadir, Iceland; VAD Video and Digital Arts International Festival, Girona, Spain; Imaginaria International Short Film Festival, Conversano, Italy; Simultan International Video/sound Festival, Timisoara, Romania; and Saison Video, Lille, France.
One of Fong’s films is held in the Arts Council England Collection.