Light and Dark Water

On the canal banks at the heart of the city of Birmingham, England, a young woman wanders and meets a solitary poet. A drama begins about the intrusion of a new and intimate relationship into the life of a recluse, just when a chance encounter also brings back a hidden and dangerous past. The thrust of the film is psychological, but it also has a lyrical, poetic aim using imagery of empty waterways and thistles to suggest fragility.

The film was made to a storyline of the director's, but left unwritten and realised in a deliberately collaborative approach with the cast themselves before being shot on a DV camcorder with a crew of just two. Actual filming took six days, but the editing was much more prolonged using fourteen sessions over some weeks to give proper attention to the pacing and the music. A scripted 'inner voice' narration was then added.