Analogue Kingdom
2010 // 24′ // HD // UK // IMDb // British Films Directory
a film by
Esther Johnson
featuring
Gerald Wells
editing
Esther Johnson
cinematography
Liam Iandoli
Esther Johnson
music
Golden Hum
sound recording
Emanuele Costantini
sound mix
Peregrine Andrews
distribution
ARGOS
Awards
Finalist International Medium Length Documentary Docudays: Beirut International Documentary Festival Beirut, Lebanon
Finalist International Documentary Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, Guangzhou, China
Finalist International Competition Message 2 Man Film Festival Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Finalist International Competition 30th Asolo Art Film Festival Asolo, Italy
Finalist International Competition Certified Life Particles @ Tabor Film Festival Zabok, Croatia
Solo Gallery Exhibitions
Work by Esther Johnson La Vidéothèque Nomade Brass Centre Cultural de Forest, Brussels, Belgium 12.03.15
Wireless Worlds Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery, Sheffield Hallam University 07.03.13–20.04.13
Obsession South Square Gallery, Bradford 07–30.10.11
Cut & Splice: Transmission Wilton’s Music Hall, London 04–06.11.10
Group Gallery Exhibitions
Poole Open 2014 Poole 12.03.14-05.05.14
O4W: Outcasting: Fourth Wall Cardiff, Wales 01.10.12-30.11.12
15th Japan Media Arts Festival Tokyo, Japan 22.02.12–04.03.12
Host Gallery London 05.11
In Production: Nottingham Contemporary 30.03.11
Film Festivals and Special Events
Edited Arts presents BBC Radiophonic Workshop 60th Anniversary The Cause, Ashley House Depot, London 21.04.18
Retro Short Circuit Experimental Documentary Film Programme, The Nightingale Room, Brighton 05.06.17
London Analogue Festival Goldsmiths, University of London 07–08.09.13
Ghost Station: Bletchley Park National Codes Centre, Milton Keynes, UK 30.09.12
39th SIGGRAPH 2012 Los Angeles Convention Center, LA, USA 05.08.12–09.08.12
Showroom Shorts: SYFN Sheffield 08.05.12
Docudays: Beirut International Documentary Festival Beirut, Lebanon 15-20.12.11
Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival China 06–08.12.11
Raindance Film Festival London 05.10.11
Message 2 Man Film Festival Saint-Petersburg, Russia 23–30.09.11
31st Cambridge Film Festival UK 15–25.09.11
30th Asolo Art Film Festival Asolo, Italy 20–28.08.11
Obsessions, Open City London Documentary Festival UCL Cinema, London 19.06.11
Certified Life Particles, Tabor Film Festival Zabok, Croatia 07–11.06.11
DocDays: London Short Film Festival Curzon Soho, London 10.01.11
Conference, Symposia and Seminars
Imagination and Experience, Artistic Research Methods Seminar, AHRC and Swansea University, Cardiff 19.01.15
Analogue Kingdom Art and Design Research Centre Seminar, Sheffield Hallam University 01.02.12
Analogue Kingdom CommDe Presentation, Chlalongkorn University Bangkok, Thailand 16.01.12
Interviews
Sound on Film: Five questions for Esther Johnson
BBC Radio 3: ‘Hear and Now’ Cut & Splice 2010: Transmission, Episode 2 of 3, 13.11.10
Gerald Wells stole his first radio, a Belmont, in 1943 at the age of thirteen. He was immediately sent to an ‘approved’ school, whose psychiatrist diagnosed ‘an obsession’ with wireless and electricity – an obsession that continues today. The house Wells was born in and still inhabits is now home to over 1,500 wireless objects and 45,000 valves.
Analogue Kingdom is a poetic portrait of Wells, founder and curator of the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum. The film reveals the charm of Wells’ world, where radio relics and their attendant stories fill every nook and cranny of his Kingdom. As the digital switchover approaches, Wells analogue collection is a reminder of the magic that may soon be lost.
Film Extract
Cut & Splice: Transmission Publication Interview
Commissioned and Funded by
Sound and Music for Cut & Splice: Transmission
Esther Johnson
Esther Johnson