David Austen : London Dreams (2020)
A film by Ben Stockley
London Dreams
I was returning to the studio after eight weeks away
It felt strange, like entering a dark tomb
The shutters opened and let the light in
Who is this person who made these odd works, these sheaves of drawings and watercolours
And read all these piles of books
I was nervous of making anything or continuing the half-finished works on the
walls that now seemed frozen in time, as if by another’s hand.
I asked my friend, the photographer Ben Stockley who’s studio is just above
mine in Bow, if he would like to make a little film.
Ben likes photographing artist’s studios and has often done so in mine. He
especially loves the fall and play of light, the jetsam and flotsam of images
and objects that accumulate in an artist’s studio.
We felt it would be interesting to make a fictional story, recreating a return to
the studio but almost as if in a dream or half remembered thing.
In a way I became an actor, though the role is myself, in a just passed
moment in time.
– David Austen
London Dreams
A film by Ben Stockley
Director of Photography Tom Turley
Music Composed by Sylvain Chauveau
Performed by Melaine Dalibert
Editor Angus Berryman
Colourist Dave Ludlam
JamVFX
© David Austen 2020
© Ben Stockley 2020