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STREAM via AMAZONA Year in a Field
A quiet film by Christopher Morris
The story of one Cornish field told over one climatic year.
Winter Solstice 2020: with his camera and tripod, BAFTA winning documentary filmmaker Christopher Morris began filming each day in a field near his home.
“I’ve never glued my hand to a road, or strapped myself to a tree and I’ve never been on a climate protest march but once in a lifetime natural disasters are happening more than once in my lifetime and I’ve got to do something...”
A quiet, unnoticed, one-man vigil, a direct-action of stillness.
He stopped filming on Winter Solstice 2021: a year that UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said was “make or break” for humanity to confront the climate crisis.
“I struggle to comprehend what I am being told.”
A Year In A Field is not made by a climate scientist. It is a local, lo-fi, low-impact film - in contrast to the overblown, blue-chip, carbon-generating film productions that fly the globe in pursuit of unfamiliar wonders to address the climate emergency through tech-driven cinematic dazzle - more akin to science fiction.
“How do we respond to such monumental and remote stories?”
BAFTA-winning documentarian Christopher Morris invites us to slow down, as he films for a year in a West Cornwall field; to immerse ourselves in this quiet, direct-action of stillness, to take a breath and reflect on the planetary impacts of our brief human existence, under the watchful gaze of the Longstone, an ancient monolith that predominates this elemental landscape.
From Winter Solstice 2020 to Winter Solstice 2021, a string of unprecedented worldwide climate disasters, met by weak global political resolve, are revealed as just fleeting moments, under the ever-present unflinching granite gaze of the Longstone.
There are no interviews or experts in this film. In fact, there are no human beings at all; instead, an unassuming Cornish field near Land’s End takes centre stage, and a crop of spring barley forms the centre of an unfolding, compelling and beautiful narrative.
The field is extraordinary in one respect - at its centre is the Longstone, a 4000-year-old standing stone, carved, and thrust into the soil at a time when humans first began on an industrial scale to adversely affect the planet. This pillar of granite has stood silent sentinel to everything we have done and continue to do to our planet. The ominous stone figure forms the central protagonist in this sublimely unique film – it points to where we have come from and perhaps where we are headed.
A cultivated field, an ancient monolith, and a transitory human observer. This film is a record of their brief interaction.
“As I got closer and closer to the field, my view grew wider and wider, until finally, looking at the same small field, I began to see the universe.”
Past Screenings
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Curzon, Sheffield
Thursday, December 21st
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Curzon Oxford
Thursday, December 21st
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Curzon Knutsford
Thursday, December 21st
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Curzon Colchester
Thursday, December 21st
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Curzon, Canterbury Westgate
Thursday, December 21st
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Curzon London Cinemas
Thursday, 21st December
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Curzon Soho + in person Q&A with director Christopher Morris
Wednesday, December 20th
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Plymouth Arts Cinema
From Friday, December 15th
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Magic Lantern Cinema, Tywyn, Wales
Sunday, December 10th
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Picturehouses UK
For World Soil Day - across the whole Picturehouse network - Tuesday, November 5th
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KinoKulture, Owestry
Wednesday, 29th November
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The Poly Arts Centre, Falmouth
Weds, 21st November
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Electric Palace Cinema, Wotton
20th & 23rd, November
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Pontio Arts Centre, Bangor
Sunday, November 19th
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Kendall Mountain Festival, The Lakes
18th & 19th November
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Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Bruton
Friday, November 17th
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WTW Regal CInema, Wadebridge
Wednesday, November 1st
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WTW White River Cinema, St Austell
October 1st & 2nd
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Newlyn Filmhouse, Newlyn
September 22nd - November 2nd
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Electric Palace, Hastings DEAR FUTURE Film Festival
Saturday, October 28th
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An Lanntair, Stornoway
Saturday, October 21st
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Folkestone Documentary Festival
Saturday, October 21st, 3PM
& Q&A with director Christopher Morris and Producer Denzil Monk
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Dartington Barn
October 18th-20th
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Home, Manchester
Wednesday, October 18th
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Dukes Cinema, Lancaster
October 17th & 18
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Totnes Cinema, Devon
Wednesday, October 11th
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The Social, London
Monday, October 9th
& Q&A with director Christopher Morris & Producer Denzil Monk
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Sett Cinema, Edinburgh
Sunday, October 8th
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Savoy Cinema, Penzance
Sunday, October 1st, 7:30PM
& Q&A with director Christopher Morris
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QFT, Belfast
September 29th & October 1st
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Hyde Park, Leeds
Thursday, September 28th, 6PM
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Tyneside, Newcastle
Wednesday, September 27th, 6PM
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GFT, Glasgow
Tuesday, September 26th, 8:20PM
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FACT, Liverpool
Monday, September 25th, 7PM
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Phoenix, Exeter
Sunday, September 24th, 5PM
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Bertha Dochouse, London
Sunday, September 24th, 4PM
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Watershed, Bristol
Saturday, September 23rd, 6PM
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BFI Southbank, London
September 22nd-25th
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Truro Plaza, Cornwall
September 22nd-27th
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Derby Quad
September 22nd-28th
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Chapter Arts, Cardiff
September 22nd-28th
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Lewes Depot
Thursday, September 21st