Figurant at Strange Parade

A mesmerising audiovisual performance at Strange Parade in Nunhead last month (28 February 2026), with Inga Tillere's film piece accompanied by words from Johny Brown (of Band of Holy Joy) and musical accompaniment from Mark Beazley (bass) and Jono Podmore (theremin and other sounds).

'Figurant' is centred around the 'discarded fragments of space and time' embodied in a found 8mm film from 1960s Elmer in West Sussex. Tillere treated the film by leaving it submerged in the River Ravensbourne by Lewisham Hospital, recovering it later, and meticulously scanning it frame by frame.

Super 8 film is always uncanny as a dead, flickering medium carrying memories from at a time when moving images of ordinary people were rare. The effect was doubled by its Ravensbourne wash, bringing out unexpected colours that heighten rather than completely obscure its English seaside footage from 60 years ago. 

I have recently had some old super 8 film digitised, having not viewed it for more than 40  years and not knowing what was on it. There were unexpected glimpses of my late father and grandmother, as well as of my younger self, with that patina of time that heightens the strangeness of old film that has been lying around for decades. 

'Figurant' played with this resurrectionist aspect of old film footage. 'A séance for lost film. A tale of all that survives' that brings back to life its unspeaking minor characters glimpsed through a glass darkly. For a moment there I felt like I was actually present at a seance as the spoken word accompaniment echoed the language of spirt mediums.  Look out for more from the 'One Tree Hill Mystical Society'