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A 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.

“Ive never glued my hand to a road, or strapped myself to a tree and Ive 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

  • Curzon, Sheffield

    Thursday, December 21st

  • Curzon Oxford

    Thursday, December 21st

  • Curzon Knutsford

    Thursday, December 21st

  • Curzon Colchester

    Thursday, December 21st

  • Curzon, Canterbury Westgate

    Thursday, December 21st

  • Curzon London Cinemas

    Thursday, 21st December

  • Curzon Soho + in person Q&A with director Christopher Morris

    Wednesday, December 20th

  • Plymouth Arts Cinema

    From Friday, December 15th

  • Magic Lantern Cinema, Tywyn, Wales

    Sunday, December 10th

  • Picturehouses UK

    For World Soil Day - across the whole Picturehouse network - Tuesday, November 5th

  • KinoKulture, Owestry

    Wednesday, 29th November

  • The Poly Arts Centre, Falmouth

    Weds, 21st November

  • Electric Palace Cinema, Wotton

    20th & 23rd, November

  • Pontio Arts Centre, Bangor

    Sunday, November 19th

  • Kendall Mountain Festival, The Lakes

    18th & 19th November

  • Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Bruton

    Friday, November 17th

  • WTW Regal CInema, Wadebridge

    Wednesday, November 1st

  • WTW White River Cinema, St Austell

    October 1st & 2nd

  • Newlyn Filmhouse, Newlyn

    September 22nd - November 2nd

  • Electric Palace, Hastings DEAR FUTURE Film Festival

    Saturday, October 28th

  • An Lanntair, Stornoway

    Saturday, October 21st

  • Folkestone Documentary Festival

    Saturday, October 21st, 3PM

    & Q&A with director Christopher Morris and Producer Denzil Monk

  • Dartington Barn

    October 18th-20th

  • Home, Manchester

    Wednesday, October 18th

  • Dukes Cinema, Lancaster

    October 17th & 18

  • Totnes Cinema, Devon

    Wednesday, October 11th

  • The Social, London

    Monday, October 9th

    & Q&A with director Christopher Morris & Producer Denzil Monk

  • Sett Cinema, Edinburgh

    Sunday, October 8th

  • Savoy Cinema, Penzance

    Sunday, October 1st, 7:30PM

    & Q&A with director Christopher Morris

  • QFT, Belfast

    September 29th & October 1st

  • Hyde Park, Leeds

    Thursday, September 28th, 6PM

  • Tyneside, Newcastle

    Wednesday, September 27th, 6PM

  • GFT, Glasgow

    Tuesday, September 26th, 8:20PM

  • FACT, Liverpool

    Monday, September 25th, 7PM

  • Phoenix, Exeter

    Sunday, September 24th, 5PM

  • Bertha Dochouse, London

    Sunday, September 24th, 4PM

  • Watershed, Bristol

    Saturday, September 23rd, 6PM

  • BFI Southbank, London

    September 22nd-25th

  • Truro Plaza, Cornwall

    September 22nd-27th

  • Derby Quad

    September 22nd-28th

  • Chapter Arts, Cardiff

    September 22nd-28th

  • Lewes Depot

    Thursday, September 21st