Sleep Has Her House

There are no performers in this film, no dialogue and no events. It opens on a waterfall; as the camera slowly pulls back, an enormous landscape emerges around the water. Then the light goes and the film enters darkness. Sky, trees, the silhouettes of animals, and the loss of light; that is the whole of it. Scott Barley wrote, directed, edited and scored it alone. He works in long takes, the longest of which watches the sun set for eleven minutes. Live action, still photography and hand-drawn images are used together, so that some frames look like paintings that move. The director requires that it be watched in complete darkness; the smallest light around the screen erases most of the image. The film was cited in Sight and Sound's lists for 2017. Who it's for: Viewers who like experimental cinema, slow cinema, and visual experience without narrative. Who it's not for: For most viewers this is not a film but an installation. Anyone arriving expecting plot, character or dialogue will get nothing.