Julia Parks is an artist filmmaker exploring the different relationships between landscapes, plants, people and industry. She works with experimental documentary forms often using 16mm film, archival footage, poetry and song.
As a recipient of the Film London Artist Moving Image FLAMIN Fellowship in 2020/21, Julia made Seaweed, a short film that explores the relationship between people and seaweed in Northern Scotland. Funded by Arts Council England, the film premiered at Alchemy Film Festival in April 2022, screening alongside Julia’s previous films Haaf (2020), Workington Red (2019), and Solway Steel and Cyclamen (2019).
Julia recently took part in a 6-month residency with Alchemy Film & Arts in Hawick as part of their The Teviot, the Flag and the Rich, Rich Soil programme where she created four new shorts exploring themes around ecology, plants and people.
Robert & the butterfly – In this short personal & poetic documentary, the filmmaker follows her dad in his quest to help the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly survive in its farthest north outpost in North Yorkshire. As he makes the difficult decision to retire from this work, he dreams of flying through the air with a glider – an activity he did as a young man. The relationships between flying, fragility, hope and care are explored in a film which meditates the butterflies’ decline and the parallel human ageing process.
UPDATE September 2023:
Julias’ project is technically the most demanding, shooting on super 16 mm film. She is currently wading through footage and sound files to navigate how she wants her film to work. Having seen some footage, it looks very beautiful and engaging.We will keep you posted.
One Small Barking Dog Media Charity
