52 Films by Women Vol 2. 39. LIGHT YEARS (Director: Esther May Campbell)
It is almost two years since self-taught photographer and filmmaker Esther May Campbell (born 1972) debuted her film Light Years at the Venice Film Festival (2015), one year since it was released in UK cinemas (September 2016) and a couple of days ago since I caught up with it at the Flagey Arts Venue in Brussels, Belgium. It is a British film that bravely and boldly applies a metaphor to a dramatic situation. The image that we see of the sun is not an accurate reflection of its current state. We see the sun, or any number of stars in the sky, as they existed before their image travelled for years through space to be perceived by us. We see that past image without being able to know what the true state of the sun is. It could be dead or dying. All we have, to guide us at sea, to light up the night, is the image of stars that may be gone forever. Campbell applies this profundity to the lives of a family afflicted by mental illness. Moira (singer-songwriter Beth Orton) is in a c...