SLEEP HAS HER HOUSE

Synopsis

“The shadows of screams climb beyond the hills. It has happened before. But this will be the last time. The last few sense it, withdrawing deep into the forest. They cry out into the black, as the shadows pass away, into the ground.” In a world seemingly devoid of human beings and inhabited by only a select few animals, an undefined presence manifests, embodied as the wind. It passes through the valley, lake, and the woods, leaving only mysterious deaths in its wake. As the night creeps in, the supernatural forces at work transcend into the natural, with apocalyptic consequences. Through long static takes, the film develops a contemplative, hypnotic experience, akin to paintings that move, mixing live action and still photography (shot on iPhone) and hand-drawn images. The film is dedicated to the late French filmmaker and friend, Philippe Cote, who passed way in 2016.

Director Biography

Scott Barley is an artist filmmaker from Newport, South Wales. His work has been screened across Europe and The Americas, including The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA London), BFI Southbank, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Doclisboa, EYE Filmmuseum, Vancouver International Film Centre, and Fronteira International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival. His work has been associated with the Remodernist film and slow cinema movements, and more recently anthropocenic, cosmological, and phenomenological cinema. His films have often been compared with the sensibilities of Stan Brakhage, Philippe Grandrieux, Béla Tarr, Maya Deren, and Jean Epstein.