The Afterlight (on 35mm)

A spellbinding cinematic collage of hundreds of films from around the world brings together an ensemble cast of actors with one thing in common: each is no longer alive. Together, they contend with a fragile existence lived solely through these traces of their work. The Afterlight itself exists as a single 35mm film print, further eroding every time it screens, a poignant reminder of the ephemeral power of cinema. LIFF presents a unique chance to see this mesmerising film before it eventually disappears entirely.

‘For as long as there have been films, there have been lost films. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of them – and not just unloved obscurities but key works by Hitchcock, Ozu and Warhol, all left to decay in their canisters, burned up in archive fires, or simply misplaced and never recovered. One day my new film, The Afterlight, will be among them… The film exists as a single 35mm print, with no digital copies whatsoever: no DVD, no Blu-ray, no streaming. Every time it screens, that lone print will further erode: a living record of its own life in circulation. Eventually it will deteriorate to nothing.’

Charlie Shackleton, Director