Category: Directing and Acting

The third part in Martha Parsey’s film trilogy

Currently in post-production ‘BACON’S HISTORIES: Study for a Portrait’, is the third part in Martha Parsey’s film trilogy on Francis Bacon. The film explores the influence of the Histories, namely the Greek dramas, Egyptian sculpture, poetry and literature on Francis Bacon; both in his style and choice of subject matter. The film is underscored by previously unpublished interviews with Francis Bacon as well as recitations from Alec Guiness, John Gielgud and Richard Burton of the literature that so strongly influenced him: T.S. Eliot and Shakespeare.

BACON’S HISTORIES I Study for a Portrait. A cinematic artwork in 8 parts.
60 minutes. Written and directed by Martha Parsey
Shot on location in Greece, Paris, London, Spain, South Africa, Egypt and Germany.
Language: English, German, French, Greek, Russian. Subtitles in English.

Private Conversations I Private Recordings

SHAKESPEARE’S GHOST, shot on location in Greece, is a 20-minute film exploring the evolution of Shakespeare, the creation of the Shakespearean legend and questions of artistic originality through Derrida, Marx and Psychoanalysis. An informal conversation between Martha Parsey and Ken McMullen charts contrasting readings and interpretations, anchored in Ken McMullen’s most recent film Hamlet Within and his forthcoming cinematic work on Lear Head of State. Written and directed by Martha Parsey. Produced by MPHQ Pictures. Supported by Edge Hill University, Liverpool.

Five acts in search of a murderous prince

Starring Ian McKellen, John Shrapnel, Ben Turner, Lex Shrapnel, Gabriella Wright, Jacques Derrida, Dominique Pinon and Martha Parsey. Written and directed by Ken McMullen. Produced by Art Cinema, Scape Productions and Twenty One Productions.

Hamlet Within is a radical cinematic investigation into the myth of Hamlet, its origins and its enduring appeal across cultures and systems of beliefs. Drawing on post-modernist movements in Art, History, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis the work asks the question’why Hamlet’? and indeed ‘why now’?

Written and directed by Martha Parsey. France/ Germany. Screened at the Courtauld Institute, London.

Accompanying David Sylvester in the last days of hanging the retrospective exhibition of Francis Bacon at the Centre Pompidou Paris, this film presents a final dialogue between artist and critic, as previously unpublished conversations between Bacon and Sylvester narrate the hanging of the show. Francis Bacon in his own words.

Co-directed and produced documentary film ‘Model and Artist; Henrietta Moraes and Francis Bacon’. Screened at the ICA, Centre Pompidou Paris and Haus der Kunst Munich.

Meeting Francis Bacon in London in the Sixties, Henrietta Moraes became his most frequent female subject in both portraits and as the model for his larger works. Filmed during the Francis Bacon exhibition at the Marlborough Gallery, London, Henrietta recalls her impression of the artist. Intercut with archive footage of Bacon in interview, these interviews form a final dialogue between artist and model.

Appeared in the film ‘Lumen de Lumine’ 2001, directed by Ken McMullen and screened at Atlantis Gallery, London, Tshingh University Beijing, Complesso del Vittoriano Rome, Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneva, Gulbenkian Gallery Lisbon, and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Centre NY.

Shot on location in Particle Accelerator Number One, CERN, Geneva. Lumen de Lumine is a meditation on solitude. A motion picture playing with quantum theory, the nature of light and near-miss particle collisions.

Wrote and directed the 16mm short film ‘Façade’ at the Berlin Film Academy, 1995. Screened at the Riverside Studio London, receiving a special recognition at the Ebensee Short Film Festival.
Directed short film ‘Samsa’s Dream’ 1994 for an Oxford University theatre production of Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Directed short film ‘Major/Minor’ 1993, 16mm at the London College of Printing.
Animated and shot film ‘Frieze of Life’ 1992 at Central St Martins College of Art.

Appeared as an actress in the following productions:

‘Crossbow’ 1987 film. France/UK/USA with Morgan Sheppard and Brian Blessed.
‘Still Dark’. UK film 1987.
‘Domestic Bliss’ Channel 4 film 1986.
‘The Women’ at the Old Vic Theatre with Suzanna York.
‘Jury’. BBC TV Series
‘Behind the Bike Sheds’. 1985 Series 1 and 2 of the Yorkshire TV children’s series.
‘Just Maths’. BBC Radio series.
‘The Overgrown Path’ written by Robert Holman, performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
‘1984’ film with John Hurt, Richard Burton, Cyril Cusack, Suzanna Hamilton.
‘Supergirl’ film 1984 with Faye Dunnaway, Helen Slater, Peter O’Toole, Peter Cook and Mia Farrow.
‘Partners in Crime’ 1984 ITV Series.
‘Richard III’ Royal Shakespeare Company Production with Sir Anthony Sher and Brian Blessed.
‘Memoirs of a Survivor’ film 1981 with Julie Christie.
‘A Tale of Two Cities’ film 1980 with Chris Sarandon, Peter Cushing, Kenneth More, Dame Flora Robson, David Suchet, Nigel Hawthorne