The Disco, a portrait of Simon Eilbeck
The Disco is a nonfiction experimental documentary portrait of Queer d/Deaf DJ Simon Eilbeck formed from a collection of 16mm film and location sound recordings encountering members of the queer, trans, alternative and non-binary communities who gather at his monthly disco Hot Mess at The Poetry Club, in Glasgow, Scotland. Encounters include artist and academic Conal McStravick, who responds to the film’s footage alongside their ongoing research on the filmmaker and AIDS activist Stuart Marshall, Trans femme artist Nat Walpole in her studio and interview with Leyre Mann Vadillo, who has attended the disco since its inception. The Disco considers the contingencies, intimacies and tensions of encounter, between filmmaker and subject, recorded at a time of precarity, austerity and crisis but contain illuminations on radical forms of assembly, queer dreaming, hapticality, care and consent; and the infectiousness of joy. The film references Hours for Jerome by Nathaniel Dorsky, Wittgenstein by Derek Jarman and the biography and works of Belgian experimental composer Henri Pousseur. Note: sound mix complete 17 January 2025, grade 17 January 2025 and Open Captions 31 January 2025.
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Alexander HetheringtonDirector
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Catherine StreetWriter
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Luke FowlerSound
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Benjamin OwenSound
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Harry RitchieSound
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Neil SimpsonSound
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Mark VernonSound
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Luke FowlerCamera
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Alexander HetheringtonCamera
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David ToopMusic
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Oliver CoatesMusic
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Henri PousseurMusic
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Daniel HughesGrade
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James GinzburgSound mixing
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Luke FowlerSound mixing
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Project Type:Documentary, Experimental
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Runtime:45 minutes
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Completion Date:December 31, 2024
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Production Budget:20,000 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:16mm
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Aspect Ratio:4:3
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Film Color:Black & White and Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Alex Hetherington is a visual artist who works with 16mm film. Recent exhibitions include SEEN AND NOT SEEN, with Scott Caruth, CCA, Glasgow, June-July 2022. Recent films include The Disco (2024 WiP), Hybrids (2023), Ilam Actual (2023) with Luke Fowler for Arts&Heritage, Sister Films (2023) for CCA Annex and Women's Studies (2021) developed during a Creative Lab, CCA, Glasgow, August 2021. DP credits include Hiraeth (2024), Femme Disturbance (2024), Withens Within (2024), On Volya (2023), Are You Going My Way? (2023), Dear F… (2022), rough cut botanical (2022), Family Fugue (2022), Castorocene (2021) and Departures (2021).
The Disco, a portrait of Simon Eilbeck is his first work for cinema. Funded by Creative Scotland and CCA, Glasgow