Artist Film of the Month

Blight

Dir: John Smith | 1994-6 | 14mins | 16mm to video

Distributor | LUX

Blight was made in collaboration with the composer Jocelyn Pook. It revolves around the building of the M11 Link Road in East London, using images and sounds of demolition and road building in conjunction with the spoken words of local residents.

"A stunning montage depicts the destruction of a London street to make way for new roads. The rhythmic, emotive soundtrack is partly musical and partly a collage of the residents' voices. Shots and sounds echo and cross-link in the film's 14 minutes to reinvent a radical documentary tradition." A.L. Rees A History of Experimental Film and Video 1999, British Film Institute.

Watch the video here…

Artist: John Smith

Since 1972 John Smith has made more than 30 film, video and installation works. His films have been widely shown internationally in cinemas, art galleries and on television, and awarded major prizes at film festivals in Oberhausen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Cork, Palermo, Graz, Uppsala, Bangkok and Chicago. Recent screenings and exhibitions include one-person shows at the Pearl-Gallery, London and the Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool and retrospectives at film festivals in Cork, Oberhausen, Uppsala and Tampere. John Smith is Professor of Fine Art at the University of East London.