The film, produced by Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing and Shackleton, and distributed by their studio Loop,[3] consisted of
scenes of actors from old films who are no longer alive.[4] The only copy of the Afterlight existed on a single
35mm film print,[5] so that every time the film played it would gradually erode until eventually it would 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 was 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]
Release
The Afterlight had its
world premiere at the
BFI London Film Festival on 15 October 2021.[4] Before its disappearance, the film screened publicly 56 times according to its official website:
Screenings
15 October 2021: BFI London Film Festival,
London, England
17 October 2021: BFI London Film Festival, London, England
6 November 2021: The Brighton Film Festival,
Brighton, England
After its screening at the Hyde Park Picture House, the film was due to be screened at the
Cinemateca Portuguesa in
Lisbon.[13] However, on June 14, 2024, Shackleton posted on
X that the 35mm print had disappeared in transit between Leeds and Lisbon, and that he now considered the film lost.[14]
See also
Bill Morrison - American experimental filmmaker similar in content