Eye of the moon
From his vantage point in the night sky the ‘eye of the moon’ witnesses the symmetrical unfolding of a polarised world.
Mountains slide apart to reveal the mirrored village of Bethesda; a place of light & shadow, of angels & miracles, the mythical Queen of the Lake and leading to Mam’s incarceration in Denbigh Asylum.
The film is a response to the iconic Welsh novel ‘Un Nos Ola Leuad’ by Caradog Prichard.
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Jo LawrenceDirector
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Jo LawrenceWriter
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Jo LawrenceProducer
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Tomasz EdwardsComposer
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Project Title (Original Language):Llygad y Lleuad
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Project Type:Animation, Experimental, Music Video, Short
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Runtime:7 minutes 47 seconds
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Completion Date:January 1, 2022
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Production Budget:3,400 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:Welsh
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Shooting Format:digital
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Aspect Ratio:16.9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Jo Lawrence is an artist/filmmaker whose work integrates mixed media collage, film, pixilation, puppetry and animation. Jo’s films have been broadcast, screened in galleries and shown widely at international film festivals. Her residencies at the V&A (London), National Media Museum (Bradford), Four Corners Gallery (London), Lightworks (Blackpool) and her many commissions including films for Channel 4, Tate Britain (Max Reinhardt for Tate Late) and Animate Projects have all presented oppportunities for development of a highly personal approach. Llygad y Lleuad is her most recent film installation for Pontio Gallery, Bangor.
The film is a response to Llygad y Leuad by Caradog Prichard and commissioned by Pontio Gallery, Bangor.
During lockdown, the commission for Llygad y Lleuad was cancelled, and as all my film work evaporated, I focused instead on experimenting with materials, printmaking, casting, collage, resin, singing knee puppets, ceramics, and finally, I turned to playing around with Rorschachs where i assembled images made from randomised symmetrical inkblots.
When the film commission was re-activated in April 2021 I rethought all my ideas through the lens of the Rorschachs and visually everything fell into place. I imagined a sequence of visual ideas of mirrored symmetries. The Rorshach ink blots also had something slightly disturbing in their texture which caught the quality that matched the books atmosphere, captured loss, grief, introspection, observation, madness.
I kept returning to the idea of a mirrored world, the author Caradog Prichard contemplating his inner world, his memories, his sadness, joy and guilt. As the author he could see everything, could peer into peoples homes. As the child he could access his thoughts of magic and miracles, and as the adult he could reflect on his life more objectively. The personification of Caradog as the eye of the moon seemed like the perfect embodiment. As the moon he could view the world below him dispassionately, through the dual lens of himself… as both author/adult, and through the perspective of his child’s eye.
Later, I discovered that Rorschach never intended the inkblots to be used as a general personality test, but developed them as a tool for the diagnosis of schizophrenia, the Rorschach tests reached peak popularity in the 1960s perfectly timed as Un Nos Ola Leuad was published then too (in 1961)