To remember / 记得

Short synopsis (50 words):
Experimental documentary on analogue film celebrating the life and work of Martin Thomas (1974–2022), researcher in multimodal translation. Mirroring the non-linear, fragmentary experience of grieving - where presence is felt through absence - the film is a poetic (and often humorous) act of remembrance by friends: multisensory, collaborative, and deeply alive.

Long synopsis (200 words)
Experimental documentary celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Thomas (1974-2022), researcher in Chinese-English multimodal translation. Shot entirely on celluloid, the film was shaped by Martin’s interests in psychogeography and street photography, and evolved through collaboration and conversations with his friends and colleagues at the University of Leeds.

The soundtrack centres people's experiences of Martin, via field recordings made during group 'derives' or drifts through places and spaces that held shared meanings and memories. Animated sequences were created through darkroom experimentation with Martin's physical archive of East Asian toothpaste packaging and his handwritten Chinese vocabulary books, contact printed onto 16mm film.

Mirroring the non-linear, fragmentary experience of grieving, the film attempts to embody the emotional textures of memory. Sound and image often drift apart, with presence felt through absence. Animals encountered while walking in Martin’s footsteps guide us on our journey, as we explore the porous boundaries between the past and the present; between this life and what comes after.

Martin is evoked in glimpses: in reminiscences of friends; sentimental objects; his notebooks read aloud; the tactile imprints of his handwriting. The film is a poetic (and often humorous) act of remembrance: multisensory, collaborative, and deeply alive.

  • Alice Gilmour
    Sound and Original Music
  • Joanna Byrne
    Director
  • Joanna Byrne
    Sound Design
  • Joanna Byrne
    Editing
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Experimental documentary, Artist's film, Psychogeography, Tactile cinema, Material cinema, Filmmedicine
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 31, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    16mm, super 8mm and 35mm (still)
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Joanna Byrne


Joanna Byrne is a UK-based artist-filmmaker who takes material, collaborative and sustainable approaches to making moving image. In her socially-engaged practice she uses filmmaking as a tool to connect with individuals and communities by sharing experiences and co-creating stories. Byrne works with analogue film in a tactile way using alternative photographic processes, creating work for cinema, gallery and non-traditional contexts. In 2025 she was commissioned by Yorkshire Contemporary to produce an audio-visual installation for Bradford UK City of Culture, which explored the rewilding of a local urban waste ground over the course of a year. Her work has been screened internationally at film festivals such as Flatpack (UK), CROSSROADS (US), 25FPS (Croatia) and Analogica (Italy).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

To remember / 记得 is an experimental documentary grounded in analogue filmmaking, collaborative authorship, psychogeography and site-specific memory work.

Developed over the course of a year, I engaged in a process of discovery in collaboration with Martin’s friends and colleagues. As well as celebrating Martin’s life and work, I also wanted to explore how grief and remembrance can be experienced and expressed through experimental cinematic form. Framed within what I term filmmedicine, the work seeks to create a space for therapeutic and transformative engagement.

Key to this journey was the use of analogue film, particularly in the direct printing of Martin’s handwritten Chinese vocabulary books onto the filmstrip. This tactile engagement with the material allowed for an embodied form of (multimodal) translation. I hoped to create traces of his presence: alive in motion and in gesture.

This humanist film invites reflection on how we hold others through language, place, and acts of making, and in doing so embraces imperfections and chance encounters. The film’s structure emerged organically, assembling itself through dérive, conversations, poetic voiceover, and associative montage: foregrounding dynamic experiences of living, being, and remembering.