[EFF18P1] Prelude 1: Stephen Dwoskin
Cite as:
Temple, Michael and Barrington, Matthew
(2023):
[EFF18P1] Prelude 1: Stephen Dwoskin.
Birkbeck College, University of London.
Description
10 February 2018, 13:00, Birkbeck Cinema
Soundcloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-952189740/essay-film-festival-prelude-1-the-cinema-of-stephen-dwoskin-and-trying-to-kiss-the-moonwma
This screening and discussion provided an introduction to the work of Stephen Dwoskin through his autobiographical montage-film Trying to Kiss the Moon (1994) and Anna Ambrose’s portrait The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin (1984).
Films: Trying to Kiss the Moon, Stephen Dwoskin, UK, 1994, digital, 95 minutes, English
Telling Dwoskin’s story from his childhood in 1940s New York through to his adventures in the “international free cinema” of the 1960s and 1970s, and reflecting on the experience of disability, Trying to Kiss the Moon, wrote his friend Laura Mulvey, “tells the double story of memory, bringing together the beauty of its documents and the sadness of its elusiveness”. Since Dwoskin’s death in 2012, and in the context of those documents’ technological obsolescence, it has taken on new meanings.
The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin, Anna Ambrose, UK, 1984, digital, 60 minutes, English
Produced for Channel 4 in its adventurous heyday, The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin was directed by Anna Ambrose, who began her career as a prizewinning experimental filmmaker while studying at the Royal College of Art in the 1970s. She died in 1985, shortly after making her first feature Honour, Profit and Pleasure. Featuring interviews with Laura Mulvey and Raymond Durgnat, among others, The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin was shot by Roger Deakins, latterly famous for his work with the Coen brothers.
The films were introduced and discussed by a panel including Rachel Garfield (University of Reading), Jenny Chamarette (Queen Mary University of London), Darragh O’Donoghue (University of Reading), and Henry K. Miller (Slade School of Fine Art), with Alison Butler (University of Reading) as Chair.
In collaboration with Reading School of Art
Soundcloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-952189740/essay-film-festival-prelude-1-the-cinema-of-stephen-dwoskin-and-trying-to-kiss-the-moonwma
This screening and discussion provided an introduction to the work of Stephen Dwoskin through his autobiographical montage-film Trying to Kiss the Moon (1994) and Anna Ambrose’s portrait The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin (1984).
Films: Trying to Kiss the Moon, Stephen Dwoskin, UK, 1994, digital, 95 minutes, English
Telling Dwoskin’s story from his childhood in 1940s New York through to his adventures in the “international free cinema” of the 1960s and 1970s, and reflecting on the experience of disability, Trying to Kiss the Moon, wrote his friend Laura Mulvey, “tells the double story of memory, bringing together the beauty of its documents and the sadness of its elusiveness”. Since Dwoskin’s death in 2012, and in the context of those documents’ technological obsolescence, it has taken on new meanings.
The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin, Anna Ambrose, UK, 1984, digital, 60 minutes, English
Produced for Channel 4 in its adventurous heyday, The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin was directed by Anna Ambrose, who began her career as a prizewinning experimental filmmaker while studying at the Royal College of Art in the 1970s. She died in 1985, shortly after making her first feature Honour, Profit and Pleasure. Featuring interviews with Laura Mulvey and Raymond Durgnat, among others, The Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin was shot by Roger Deakins, latterly famous for his work with the Coen brothers.
The films were introduced and discussed by a panel including Rachel Garfield (University of Reading), Jenny Chamarette (Queen Mary University of London), Darragh O’Donoghue (University of Reading), and Henry K. Miller (Slade School of Fine Art), with Alison Butler (University of Reading) as Chair.
In collaboration with Reading School of Art
Previews
1 - EFF18P1 Discussion (EFF18P1 Cinema of Stephen Dwoskin and Trying to Kiss the Moon (discussion).WMA)
Collection Method
The Essay Film Festival, active since 2015, presents a global range of contemporary and restored essayistic works. The events are now archived here for research purposes.
Data Objects
Offline / Analogue Data Records
There are no offline / analogue datasets associated with this recordExternal Data Records
There are no external datasets associated with this recordDigital Data Downloads
To download and items from this dataset, you must agree to abide by the licence attached to the individual items. If you make use of any item you download, you must also cite it in any publication or outputs of your own.
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact us at researchdata@bbk.ac.uk.
Metadata
| Dataset Title: | [EFF18P1] Prelude 1: Stephen Dwoskin |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators: | Temple, Michael and Barrington, Matthew |
||||||||||||
| Dataset Contributors: |
|
||||||||||||
| Subjects: | |||||||||||||
| Data collection method: | The Essay Film Festival, active since 2015, presents a global range of contemporary and restored essayistic works. The events are now archived here for research purposes. |
||||||||||||
| Collection period: |
|
||||||||||||
| Statement on legal, ethical, and access issues: | All film stills were provided by participating artists. |
||||||||||||
| Depositing User: | Emma Yapp | ||||||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 19 Aug 2026 10:22 | ||||||||||||
| Last Modified: | 19 Aug 2026 10:22 | ||||||||||||
| Publisher: | Birkbeck College, University of London |
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2916-9876Impact & Reach
Downloads
Activity Overview
6 month trend
6 month trend
Additional statistics for this dataset are available via IRStats2.