Rod Stoneman on Artistic Forms of Thought

For the latest episode we are honoured to share a recent talk at Falmouth University's School of Film & Television by Rod Stoneman titled 'Amongst Artistic Forms of Thought'. Rod's talk discussed different and often radical uses of film form to move the art form and audience thinking into different, not literal, not factual, non information-driven places. To illustrate his talk he drew on a number of filmic examples including two different engagements with Hitchcock's work.

To close the talk Rod discussed the work of his late friend Malcolm Le Grice, who had a deep association with the UK South West, as does Rod, and shared some examples of Malcolm's work to illustrate how radical, experimental and artistic (and prolific) he was, right up until his death late 2024. Here is a list of clips used, with links to more information and where possible, links to see the works - 

The Phoenix Tapes (1999) dir. Matthias Muller, Christoph Girardet.

Section 4, Why Don’t You Love Me? (25 mins, 50 secs)

It Felt Like A Kiss (2009) dir. Adam Curtis

Opening 5 minutes, and the section on Enos the Chimp (from 19 mins, 25 secs)

The Edge of Dreaming (2009) dir. Amy Hardie

Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) dir. Jean-Luc Godard

Berlin Horse (1970) dir. Malcolm Le Grice

Catch The Sun (2000)

Abstract Cinema (1993) dir. Keith Griffiths

Intro, with Stan Brakhage and then Malcolm Le Grice interview (34mins in)

Finiti (2010) dir. Malcolm Le Grice

Dark Trees (2019) dir. Malcolm Le Grice

Elsewhere in the episode Dario and Neil discuss the role and place of radical forms of cinema in film culture and reflect on Rod's talk and his thinking around different ways of engaging as audiences and filmmakers with thought, form and subjectivities. 

Rod Stoneman is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Galway. He was the Director of the Huston School of Film & Digital Media from 2003-15 and Chief Executive of Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board from 1993-2003. Previously a Deputy Commissioning Editor in the Independent Film and Video Department at Channel 4 Television from 1983-93. He has made a number of documentaries, including Ireland: The Silent Voices, Italy: the Image Business, Between Object and Image. He is the author of Chávez: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Seeing is Believing: The Politics of the Visual and Educating Filmmakers with Duncan Petrie. Following Malcolm Le Grice's death Rod wrote this obituary for The Guardian.

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