Cinema isn’t plain entertainment. Movies are a powerful engagement and transformational tool. They can change the way your see the world, the way how you relate to others. They also can bring about collective change, allowing communities to reassert their identify, and even political systems to legitimise their ideology, and to improve their social and economic strength. Everyone of us have experienced the power of cinema, one way or the other.

But not everyone of us has gone behind the camera to capture the world and we see it and then transmit it to others: your loves ones, your friends, but also strangers. The recent advent of digital technology and democratisation of the internet allows us to reach one to people of all ages and virtually everywhere on the planet. Experimental filmmakers are sharing their gaze and baring their soul for everyone to see.

These people deserve a suitably dirty platform for their word. That’s why DMovies is launching an experimental film platform, where experimental filmmakers can showcase their work and connect with new audiences. Our first subject is Philip Brocklehurst, a 26-year-old independent author, screenwriter, producer and director from Birmingham, with his short film compilation entitled Silence is Golden.

We asked Philip a few questions about his inspiration, his feeling and emotions, and why silence is so important to him. His words might help to elucidate his work, but in the end of the day it’s silence that speaks louder!

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DMovies – What does cinema mean to you?

Philip Brocklehurst – Cinema means everything to me, it’s my whole world, I have such a love and admiration for the art of movies, it’s like watching a living, breathing, moving canvas projected right before your eyes. It holds the great power to do such amazing and extraordinary things, it can make you laugh, cry, scared. It can entertain you or open your eyes to the world around you, make you stop and think about life and see things you never thought was possible.

DM – Where did your love for cinema begin?

PB – My love for cinema began when I was a boy, there were several movies that stood out to me and made me fall in love with the magic of movies. Alien, Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic, it is such a magnificent movie that is both beautiful and horrifying, it is a work of visual art. Halloween, John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic, this was the first time I had experienced real fear and terror watching a movie, the music, the shots, the tone, it’s so eerie, creepy and frightening. RoboCop, Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi masterpiece is a perfect satire with an emotional depth to it as well with Murphy’s search for the soul to regain his humanity. And last but not least, The Terminator, James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi masterpiece.

DM – What feelings and emotions do you have being behind the camera? For example, do you feel empowered?

PB – It is very empowering to be behind the camera, having the power to create anything that the lens can see, having to control the elements to make the best film you can make. I always feel excited to be taking the ideas and images in my head and bringing them to life on film. When I make a film, I always like the camera to be alive and part of the film, taking every fine detail in. I hope to make bigger and broader short films, and then one day have the chance to move into feature films to show the world my visions. I believe filmmaking is art in motion, the camera is the brush and the world is the canvas, and as an artist I relish creating various moving works of art of every kind for ones viewing pleasure.

DM – What is the meaning of silence to you? How do you communicate in silence?

PB – Silence can speak louder than any words ever can. There is a clarity with silence. there are no words to distract, cloud the truth or alter the facts laid out in a bareness that only silence brings. Without any words, you can focus on what is presented and see it with your own eyes and feel your own feelings without having it told to you. Silence is interesting, you can interpret it in many diverse ways. Your own self creates the words to go with it. And so, in silence, you communicate through the soul, the heart and the mind, and that is translated through the imagery, you speak to the audience with what they can see and feel in the actions and the facial expressions and take what they want from it. There’s no right or wrong way of understanding silence, you understand it in your own way, because silence is always different and personal for everyone, we all have our own silence and in that silence we see things through our own diverse eyes.

I have been accustomed to silence for so long, it’s kindred to me. And so I wanted to translate that in my film: Silence is Golden. It’s a unique experience, a silent collection of experimental short films that will open the eyes and the mind to a world of depth, beauty and visual art. All subconsciously telling the story of one young man’s quest for freedom and self expression. There is no dialogue, and sometimes there is only music, ambiance or complete silence to convey the message behind the shorts.

The film is a very personal one to me, all the short films are representations of my life, views, feelings, thoughts, heart, even my fears and deepest emotions, all expressed into the living, breathing, moving art of film. It is my form of expressing myself and sharing a piece of who and what I am to the world. It is a way of showing that even though I am obscured by the vastness of the world, I still do exist in my own diverse way.

I may not have a voice that can be heard, but I can speak out to the world with this film, it’s my silence communicated to all.

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Now it’s up to you to put the pieces together, and gradually to work out the artist behind it – just like you would with a cubist painting. Go ahead, you might even recognise some fragments of yourself!

Free: Philip’s first short film is about the yearning to break free from the constraints that holds one back, to no longer be locked away behind a closed door, sealed inside a prison made by oneself. It takes much courage and much determination to take the brave step outside, but in doing so you are no longer imprisoned behind four walls, you are truly free in the vast world beyond where the sky is the limit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehRLcgeoToQ

A New Start: Watch Philip’s short film on change and how sometimes we all need to reinvent, remake and reboot ourselves for a much needed new start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7soY9ULUhBA

Narcissus: This short movie is based on a modern day variation of the great ancient Greek mythological character Narcissus that takes the meaning of narcissism to a whole new degree in a bold and passionate way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV2Pt3OAzk8

Windows to the Soul: A short film on the gateways into one’s own being, the passage that leads into the world within: the eyes, the windows to the very soul that defines the individual bound to the flesh encased around it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjJd6hTYte8

Hands: This short film captures the most two important tools every human being in this world has: hands. In those palms, contained in those fingers is a means to do great good in this world, to create such wonderful things to inspire, amaze and move the masses. Such power that if used right, can make the world a better and beautiful place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG3DQFIoB78

Summer Breeze: Experience the absolute beauty and absolute wonder of a summer day graced with a gentle and strong breeze which has the power to bring the entire garden alive in a great spectacle of nature. So relaxing and captivating for all the senses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cevcqFrIkM

Rain and Shine: This movie focuses on the pure beauty of rain falling during the sheer radiance of the sunlight. Rain and shine, two contrasting opposites meeting together as one, basked in the wonder and grace of nature, the glorious gift of life shining right outside our humble window.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw2ZaU-JHjo

The Cloud: In this short film, nature is highly symbolic. Sometimes we all have a dark cloud hanging so big overhead. With strength and courage, it can be overcome and the glorious light will return, and the dark cloud will grow smaller until it has gone completely, passing as a distant memory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFnGpSzhCMM

A Walk by the Canal: Take a visual trip the viewer on a blissful journey down the scenic canal full of tranquil water, lush greenery and peaceful ambiance to create a soothing experience for the senses, on a very beautiful summer’s day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spq_F8-NDKM

Walking the Dog: There is the sheer fun and sheer wonder in such a simple gesture of a walk is for our precious and special four legged friends. A walk for a dog is truly one of the greatest gifts a human can give them and makes their day fully complete with a great mix of fuss and food. Featuring the music of Dittersdorf- Harpsichord Concerto in A major (1779) by Janos Sebestyen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2rKbkcJqWw

The Crazy Kitten: A short film on the wildness and innocence of youth projecting through a feral kitten, playing around so care free and crazily in her playground of bliss and happiness.
Featuring Beethoven’s 5th Symphony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyML0T9fh50

Stranger in the Night: This is a vivid nightmare where a bizarre and unreal stranger in the night stands, basked in the dark, with sinister intentions to destroy any that he lays eyes on and send them into the darkest depths of damnation. Featuring the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1wbdHd_ls

Light in the Dark: There are lights in the darkness, shining with such a resonating vibrancy. The light and the dark, two contrasting spectrum’s going hand-in-hand to create such an enchanting effect in the serene night, it’s very romantic and very mystical. It makes one yearn to walk in the peaceful night, basked in the light, surrounded by the dark, taken in by the cool breeze and magical atmosphere. One with yourself and the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a22Chb_Fswc

Night Life: Our final piece is an experimental short film using garden lights in the pitch black environment that shows just how captivating and enchanting the two sources can be when combined together. They can create pure magic for the eyes. Just sit back and enjoy the spectacular show with Mozart’s timeless piece Eine kleine Nachtmusik to transport you into a magical world of sheer wonder and sheer bliss full of inner happiness and inner serenity that will never end even after the film stops playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2H2LbN4SaQ

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You can purchase books by Philip Brocklehurst on Amazon or on the author’s past – just click here or here. He writes under the pen name P.M. Thomas.

And you can contact us via e-mail on info@dirtymovies.org if you too would like to showcase your work with us.