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• Films of the Sea in 16mm (Promenade)

Films of the Sea in 16mm (Promenade)

An evening of 16mm films from Ivan Morison and members of artist collective Bristol Experimental Expanded Film.

• 16mm workshop screening

View film created during the afternoon workshop on a 16mm projector, alongside films created by the artists. 

• Matt Davies: Grit (2021), 16mm B&W film with optical sound

Grit documents an 18 mile walk along Chesil Beach in Dorset, in which the film- maker takes a single frame every 12 steps in order to capture the entirety of the walk/beach within a 100ft roll of 16mm film. 

• Vicky Smith: Deliquesce (2022)

Made on Southsea beach, the artist uses visual metaphor to explore concerns about coastal pollution. The film is part of a series of self portraits in which the artist represents her body as unruly. In this case, the sea is a medium that entangles Smith in seaweed, bubbles and reflections of sunlight, and as described by the title, the artist’s body and hair becomes somewhat liquid. Commissioned by Aspex with support from Victorious Festival. 

• Ivan Morison: White Horses (2025)

A new 16mm film portrait of the sea and the nation’s coast, bringing together six diverse locations, each linked by the lifeboat station at the centre of their community. Produced through a series of visits to lifeboat stations and seaside towns around the coastline, and in close collaboration with those who hold a deep connection to the water, the work explores the sea’s innate duality as a place of wonder and peril, and the myriad roles it plays for coastal communities.

• Laura Phillips: Gull Yellers and Noise Dwellers (2025)

16mm film commission in response to Birnbeck Pier

A reimagining of Birnbeck Island’s acoustic past—gull cries, crashing waves, sudden bangs, dodgers and wheezers. A powerful collision of history, sound, and image.

A newly commissioned expanded film performance inspired by Birnbeck Island, early cinema (biocopes), and the experimental technologies once tested in Weston-super-Mare and across the Bristol Channel. This immersive experience delivers a visceral, audiovisual exploration of the region’s layered history.

Crafted using hand-processed 16mm film, the performance combines live manipulation of lenses, light, and media with a live experimental soundtrack—comprising noise, field recordings, and radiowaves.

Phillips draws influence from the island’s lesser-known industrial and military past—far beyond the pleasure cruises. This includes the “gull yellers,” who were once employed to ward off birds from sprat fishing nets, and the clandestine research chronicled in The Wheezers and Dodgers: The Inside Story of Clandestine Weapon Development in World War II by Gerald Pawle. During WWII, Birnbeck Pier served as a secret site for the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development.

The performance is further informed by Birnbeck island’s view of Flat Holm Island (Ynys Echni), a site of historical military and technological significance. In 1897, Guglielmo Marconi made history here by transmitting the world’s first wireless message over open sea—“Are you ready?”—to Lavernock Point, 3.7 miles away, with the help of engineer George Kemp.

This performance contains live sound and visuals, loud noise and flashing imagery.

Please note, we have a limited number of chairs and some standing room and will admit the audience on a first come, first served basis.

Please see our dedicated access page HERE

Lead image credit Matt Davies Grit