Illuminating the Wilderness (2019), a film by Project Art Works, conceived and directed by Kate Adams and Tim Corrigan and filmed on location with Ben Rivers, Margaret Salmon and neurodiverse artists and makers, families and carers.
This 40-minute film follows the investigation of a remote Scottish glen over several days and reveals the pleasures and challenges of neurodiverse responses to nature and shared experience. Shot from multiple viewpoints and cameras, the film is unscripted and reveals the subtle fluidity of roles and interactions between this unique and itinerant community away from the practical, attitudinal and social barriers that they face in their everyday lives. Moments of humour and tender consideration for each other unfold in and around the landscape and weather systems of the mountains. The remoteness, scale and indifference of the landscape provides a rare sense of freedom and belonging for everyone involved.
Download the booklet that accompany’s the film here.
In 2021 Sonia Boué wrote a blog post about the film which you can read here.
Illuminating the Wilderness has been screened at BFI, 2022; Nottingham Castle, 2022; Ex-is Festival in Hong Kong, 2022; Radical Landscapes, Tate Liverpool 2022; Leeds Film Festival, 2022; Glasgow Film Festival, 2020; Earth Photo, Royal Geographical Society, 2022; The Lie of the Land, MK Gallery, 2019.
This film was made as part of the EXPLORERS project which is supported by the Arts Council Ambition for Excellence Programme and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.