The film, produced by Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing and Shackleton, and distributed by their studio Loop,[3] consists of scenes of actors from old films who are no longer alive.[4] The only copy of the Afterlight exists on a single 35mm film print,[5] so that every time the film plays it will gradually erode until eventually it will diminish entirely and become a lost film.[6] Featuring cinematography from Robbie Ryan and composed of films from the 1960s or before,[7][8][4] the film is entirely in black and white.[9]
Jonathan Romney, writing for the British Film Institute, gave a positive review of the Afterlight, stating that "placed together, the images evoke a post-death existence, perfect, poetic and yet irreducibly desolate," and favourably compared the film to the 2010 supercut art installationThe Clock.[11] Adrian Hui of the Michigan Daily gave a more mixed review, praising its concept and "seamless [editing] between shots from different films as if they were the same film and pieces of dialogue from different films," but stated that as an experimental film, the Afterlight was "not experimental enough," arguing that the film was "not quite bold enough in pushing the boundaries" of its source material.[12]
After its screening at the Hyde Park Picture House, the 35mm print disappeared in transit to Lisbon, where it was due to be screened at the Cinemateca Portuguesa.[13] Shackleton initially declared the film lost in a post on X,[14] but announced two weeks later that the print had arrived in Lisbon.[15]
See also
Bill Morrison - American experimental filmmaker similar in content
