Within, without

'Within, without' follows a fictional character who is unable to live how she would like to in a place that has become unfamiliar. Layering of images, shafts of light, and streaming shadows combine to articulate the beauty in her everyday. Details of ordinary corners of her flat, light and composition construct a world of dreams and interiors. A couple of moments take on unexpected significance and offer her hope. One involving a Bee establishes itself as the residing metaphor in the context of the story. As much as the protagonist is attempting to find peace, her ability to do so is continually hampered by restrictions that are in and outside of herself. Through her difficulties, she shows that something can be gained from a different type of engagement, even if the path and outcome is not without its problems.

  • Ben Crawford
    Director
    Untitled (2014), Hoo (2015)
  • Ben Crawford
    Writer
    Untitled (2014), Hoo (2015)
  • Ben Crawford
    Producer
    Untitled (2014), Hoo (2015)
  • Franzi Krautter
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 39 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of Birmingham
  • Locked Down - Oddball Space Gallery

    United Kingdom
    August 10, 2020
    Official selection
  • Dark to Light - Exploding Cinema
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 7, 2020
    Official selection
Director Biography - Ben Crawford

Ben Crawford is an emerging Filmmaker based in Birmingham, UK, working at the intersection of contemporary moving-image, narrative and non-fiction cinema practices. His work uses film to understand why things came to be the way they are. He utilises the gap between documentary and fiction to create work that broadly explores the murky nature of identity and place.

Ben's films have been shown internationally in a variety of gallery and cinema contexts. His degree show films earnt him a short-listing for the Platform Graduate Award, where films ‘Hoo’ and ‘Untitled’, were screened at the Turner Contemporary, Margate. As part of 51Zero’s Voyager Festival, ‘Untitled’ was also screened at MAC (La Maison de l'Art et de la Communication), Lens, France. ‘Hoo’ has been shown in local community spaces that the film centred on.

He has a background in visual art, having received a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of Kent (2015). During this programme, he also studied for a year at Marmara University, Istanbul, as an Erasmus student. He is currently completing a part-time MA in Film and Television: Research and Production at the University of Birmingham, for which his next major work will be finished in August 2021.

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