From Time to Time at Sea

In ‘From Time to Time at Sea’ the sea is always present. It is the medium which holds the boat and camera, a constantly changing surface hiding unknown depths, and the backdrop to the lives of the islands’ inhabitants. The voices of poets, musicians, fishermen, farmers, scientists, anthropologists and engineers, twitchers and rangers in conversation, poetry and song, overlap with the noise of boats, bird calls, wind and sea to produce a polyphony. Meanwhile the islanders’ relations with the sea are changing, from sailing, exploring and fishing, to wave and tidal power extraction. However, the film draws attention to the sea, not as a resource, but as a condition for all life. The presence of humans seems much more fleeting. The film juxtaposes different scales of time, from deep geological time, to the traces of early human settlements, to present and future threats to island life. Throughout the film the rhythms of waves, tides, voices, night and day, and the movement of the camera create a visceral and physical experience of time. Filmed and recorded in Caithness, Orkney, Fair Isle, and on boats, between 2012-15 Languages: English and Old Norn