g39 ‘Soft Split the Stone’ Press:

 

“Machynys Forgets Itself is a film, installation and AI-generated image research project by Tom Cardew. It explores collective memory, social class dynamics and the anachronistic collapse of linear history through collective myth-making and the digital. Machynys is a place that was once an island, but is no longer built up above sea levels. It was a place of underground tunnels and, later, of industrial factories, burning furnaces and terrace rows. Now, the site of a centuries old, self-serving community has become a luxury golf course, the only remnant of its past found below, down underneath, through the golf course hole.

 

At g39, the film work is the central element, which is the result of extensive research into Machynys’ history. Tom worked as writer/director with a group of Welsh actors and film crew in an attempt to reimagine Machynys’ significant historical moments: from a 10th century monastery and possible network of secret tunnels, to its 19th and early 20th Century height of industrial and communal, working-class life, to its 1970’s derelict, and soon-to-be demolished, form, and finally it's unrecognisable present day. The film incorporates live action, archival footage, AI generated images and lip-sync interludes. It is housed within a tin sheet storehouse: an anachronistic portal into Machynys’ industrial past. Lastly, a series of AI generated images explore Machynys’ blurred histories and anecdotal records from one of its previous inhabitants.”

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Machynys Forgets Itself is written, directed & edited by Tom Cardew

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Cinematography

Roger Graham

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Sound

Chloe Blissett + Tim Bromage

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Performers

Tom Wills

Callum Humphreys

Roisin Bonar

Celeste Turnbull

Brooke Thomas

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