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TAKING THE MICHAEL
HD video, 78 mins
2012
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'Taking The Michael' is a crowdfunded artist's documentary following one man's unlikely odyssey through ancient and modern Albion.
The film follows the reunion of the artist/filmmaker with an enigmatic but puzzling former acquaintance. The film starts at the point of their reunion and traces their subsequent faltering progress down the St Michael's Ley Line through South West England - from Avebury in Wiltshire to St Michael's Mount in Cornwall. Travelling in a pedal-powered 1968 Bond Ranger on ancient byways and green lanes, the pair's curious pilgrimage is a surreal post-peak oil exploration of this green and pleasant land.
Using a combination of pure documentary, anecdotal oral history, and total myth, the film is, among other things, a field investigation of the rich and varied pagan, Christian and mystical heritage of Britain, a search for new ways of considering our collective future, and a vigorous testing of the relationship between documentary maker and subject.
Completed in late Autumn 2012, the film was screened across the country in a wide range of venues throughout 2013, from commercial cinemas and galleries to post-industrial warehouses, converted barns and willow living structures. It was selected for Sheffield Doc/Fest Videotheque 2013.
It is currently available for screening and is available on DVD for £12 plus p+p or to download for £5. Email info@outsidefilm.org.uk for details.
A trailer can be viewed here and a review by Wayne Burrows for Nottingham Visual Arts read here.
