dreamwork.

A hauntological exploration of the lost futures of the 20th century using archive footage. Examining the psychological effect of living through late stage capitalism, different levels of consciousness unveil how these futures Manifest as dreamwork, through overlapping imagery of the american dream and its actual reality.

  • Oliver Saunders
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 4 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 27, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    50 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Shooting Format:
    8mm, Archive
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Falmouth University
Director Biography - Oliver Saunders

Oliver Saunders is a experimental filmmaker and artist currently working out of Cornwall, originally from Somerset, they primarily work with archival footage. Having started to explore means of expressing themselves at secondary school through collage, they countiunted find new ways of exploring recontextualization, now through the concept of 'remix art'. Heavily inspired by the new perspectives introduced by cubism, their work visually uses overlapping images to create new meaning from the combination, utilising archival footage to criticise historical and contemporary issues usually around capitalism. They are about to graduate from BA Film at Falmouth University, but plan on moving on, continuing their studies at a postgraduate level. Their current film 'dreamwork.' is being shown as in installation at the Fish Factory in Penryn, they are a finalist in the Porthleven Prize and are about to return to complete an artist residency.

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Director Statement

My work is created through the manipulation and recontextualization of archive footage which is often framed through my reading of socialist political theory, usually my reading of the theory gives life to the practise. My fascination with repurposing work began with my exploration of collage art as a teenager, my transition into moving image allowed me to create a better fluidity to the work and to introduce soundscapes. Since introducing sound into my art I love to create soundscapes through synthesizers and distorted samples that are drenched in reverb and delay, urrupting in moments of distorted chaos.

My past work has included manipulating vintage porn films to decay the male gaze. I am interested in exploring textures and overlaying different images together, with these techniques I hope to invite viewers to look more deeply at the images they see and break through the layer of abstraction. My work usually occupies a dreamlike state that is inspired from my insomnia which I have had since childhood. This concept of dreamwork has been extremely important for my recent work, which explores what capital as dreamwork means in our contemporary late-stage capitalist society. During the creation of dreamwork. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and theory came less important for the piece instead just letting play happen with the footage.