Scott Barley
- 2017Sleep Has Her House
- 2017Womb
- 2016Hinterlands
He shoots alone on an iPhone, layering hills, water and night into long, wordless films about darkness.
Barley was born in Cardiff and started out as a painter. He studied at Kingston University, the University of South Wales and Cardiff Metropolitan University, and works as a filmmaker, drone musician and writer. He teaches at Edinburgh College of Art and Falmouth University.
Since 2015 he has shot almost entirely on iPhone, usually alone, handling camera, sound, editing and distribution himself. He gathers footage over long periods and builds dense sequences from many layered shots, mixing live action with still photographs and his own paintings and drawings. Nature, darkness, absence and cosmology run through the work.
His first feature, Sleep Has Her House (2017), won best film at the Fronteira festival in Brazil and received votes in Sight and Sound's 2022 poll of the greatest films of all time. His films have screened at BFI Southbank, Karlovy Vary, Doclisboa and the Venice Biennale. A second feature, The Sea Behind Her Head, is in production with BFI support.
Films
Where to start with Scott Barley, in the order they were made. Runtimes are approximate.
Hinterlands
A short horror film about something coming down from the sky, built from footage shot from a car's passenger seat. Barley drew on a recurring nightmare.
Sleep Has Her House
A wordless landscape film with no people in it, shot in Scotland and Wales. An unseen presence passes through a valley, a lake and woods as night falls. Its longest take is an eleven-minute sunset.
Womb
Human bodies float in a black void among stars.