Alchemy Film & Arts
Using film as a way to come together, have conversations and strengthen community.
THE WOOL ALIENS
The Wool Aliens was a residency project undertaken with Alchemy Film & Arts by Julia Parks between April and October 2022. Four films resulting from Julia’s residency, plus an accompanying publication, were unveiled at the thirteenth edition of Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival.
Encompassing research, sound recordings, analogue filmmaking and community engagement, the project investigates the relationship between plants, people, animals and textiles making along the Teviot and Tweed Rivers, with specific interest in wool aliens and the stories of migration they tell.
Julia’s residency was part of The Teviot, the Flag and the Rich, Rich Soil, Alchemy Film & Arts’ residencies programme exploring the borders, boundaries and lines of Hawick and the Scottish Borders.
If you’d like to screen any of these films, please get in touch.
JULIA PARKS
Julia Parks is a Cumbrian artist filmmaker exploring the interrelationships between landscapes, plants, people and industry. She works with experimental documentary forms often using 16mm film, archival footage, poetry and song.
Julia’s six-month residency with Alchemy Film & Arts in 2022 encompassed collaborative research, sound recordings, analogue filmmaking and community engagement, investigating the relationship between plants, people, animals and textiles making along the Teviot and Tweed Rivers, with specific interest in wool aliens and the stories of migration they tell.
Julia is currently based in Hawick.
Artist portrait: Sandro Araujo
THE WOOL ALIENS AT ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL
The Wool Aliens received its international premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2024.
‘In her masterful 16mm ethnographic essay, Julia Parks investigates the story of an early twentieth century botanist Ida Hayward, who discovered peculiar connections between sheep’s wool, migratory plant seeds and the River Tweed in Scotland. An extremely well made film about a surprising confluence of themes – the global wool industry, colonialism, the fraught interconnectedness of fauna and the region in which it is set.’ – Ivan Ramljak
Image: Julia with Alchemy Directors Rachael Disbury and Michael Pattison, by Kelvin Lam
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
The Wool Aliens
Seoul Animal Film Festival (17 – 23 October)
Science New Wave XVII (18 – 25 October)
Tell Me About the Burryman
OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival (8 – 15 November)
Previous screenings include Edinburgh International Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, Hamburg Short Film Festival, Braziers International Film Festival and National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC).
Image: Sanne Gault
PRESS
‘Each film, shot on 16mm, is a beautiful piece of work in its own right, but taken together they’re a fascinating document of the culture and mores of this particular part of the world.’
Read an interview with Julia and a review of the four films by The Skinny here.
PRESS
‘The gala Saturday night screening was the world premiere of a quartet of films Parks made around the Borders, exploring themes of nature, industry, folk traditions and community. All four are wonderfully evocative and gorgeous thanks to Parks’ tactile 16mm photography.’
Read a review of the films’ world premiere in The Skinny here.
PRESS
‘In Julia Parks’ Burnfoot Grows, Alchemy’s 2022 artist in residence documents the revitalising work being done by volunteers and staff at the eponymous community garden. Parks’ work with several nearby communities was evident across the four films she presented.’
Charity Number: SC042142
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