FILM LONDON LODESTARS: Julia Parks
"Seaweed is a beautiful art film documentary, really accomplished. I never knew I would find seaweed so fascinating. The poetic approach, with a perfect mix of contemporary voices vs archival footage kept me hooked."
Chris Rawcliffe (Artistic Director, Forma Arts)
Julia Parks
Julia Parks is an artist filmmaker exploring the different relationships between landscapes, plants, people and industry. She works with experimental documentary forms often using 16mm film, archival footage, poetry and song.
As a recipient of the FLAMIN Fellowship in 2020/21, Julia made Seaweed, a short film that explores the relationship between people and seaweed in Northern Scotland. Funded by Arts Council England, the film premiered at Alchemy Film Festival in April 2022, screening alongside Julia’s previous films Haaf (2020), Workington Red (2019), and Solway Steel and Cyclamen (2019).
Julia’s thoughtful eye and expressive visual language led to Film London commissioning her to make one of six short films for A Vocabulary for the Future, part of London Book Fair 2022’s Spotlight on Catalan Culture. The film, Desig (Desire), a response to a text by Moroccan-Spanish author Najat El Hachmi, premiered online in April 2022. The same month, Julia started a six-month full-time residency programme with Alchemy Film and Arts in Hawick, Scotland, where she’ll make a film in response to their programme The Teviot, the Flag and the Rich Rich Soil.
Heather Andrews Barry Turner and John Warrick at Annan Haaf Net Fishing. Photograph by Julia Parks