An Illustrated Guide to Lighthouse Spotting represents an experimental investigation of the application and intermingling of documentary modes and historical and imaginary realities. Ostensibly about the demise of the contemporary lighthouse in the face of economic constraints and advancements in navigational technologies, the film forgoes the development of a coherent expository account, being waylaid by digressions into temporality and whimsy to the extent that the notion of aboutness is itself in doubt. Shot in quasi-anthropological style, the film’s dogged insistence on a compositional formalism constructed from geometric elements of the environment calls into question the role of documentary participants as narrative characters. Regarding their psychologies and motivations, more is concealed than revealed by the documentary, and the human figure is reduced to that of a tourist or flaneur, idly entering and exiting a series of flattened and monochrome – yet natural - soundstages.

Made with the generous support of Cork Institute of Technology RÍSAM Scholarship Programme and Cork City Council Arts Office.

Rencontres Internationales Paris

Rencontres Internationales Berlin

IndieCork

Dingle International Film Festival