Our first Film at Cample screening of 2023 brings Dumfriesshire-based filmmaker Mark Lyken’s Notes from a Low Orbit (2022, 90’) to CAMPLE LINE, with a special event including a Director Q&A. Mark will be joined after our in-house screening by Co-Directors of Alchemy Film & Arts, Rachael Disbury and Michael Pattison, for a conversation about the making of the film. A recording of the Q&A will be available to view after watching the film online.
We are excited to revisit Mark’s work after hosting an installation of New Town New Wave (2018, 20’) and Táifēng and the Motorway Saint (2018, 62’) in Summer 2018.
An affectionate portrait of Hawick’s communities, rituals and routines that is deeply invested in the sometimes absurd ways in which a town’s cultural identities are shaped, intuited, lived.
Notes from a Low Orbit is the outcome of a residency with Alchemy Film & Arts in 2021, through which the film’s Director, Mark Lyken, was invited to explore ‘the lines, cultures and ecologies’ of Hawick - a small town in the Scottish Borders. Mark lived in the town for 6 months, engaging with local communities and developing collaborations with groups such as Hawick Saxhorn Band, Hawick Scrabble Club and Hawick Archaeological Society. The resulting film is a snapshot that frames the town at a particular moment in time, observed via Lyken’s own wanderings, conversations and curiosities. As Mark has said of the film, “It’s a portrait, but not a definitive portrait.”
“Waking up, going out, meeting with people on their terms, Mark carefully defines the artistic parameters of his rubric, actively seeking out the incidental and asking what magic might eventually happen if he sets up his camera and waits. And waits: this is a low orbit in which a chance encounter with an early-morning dog walker has as much significance and urgency as the arrival of a town’s fairground in the hot days of summer.” - Rachael Disbury, Co-Director, Alchemy Film & Arts
“In astronomical terms, a low orbit refers to the zone just outwith a planet’s atmosphere that’s also near enough for convenient transportation, communication, observation and resupply to be possible. As its title and structure suggest, Notes from a Low Orbit might be viewed as a series of vignettes humbly captured over the course of two days: evidence collated by some far-flung, time- travelling hunter-gatherer who takes refuge up in the hills, venturing into town to catch blink-and-miss episodes of terrestrial wonder.” - Michael Pattison
NOTES FROM A LOW ORBIT - BOOK
Featuring a contextual overview of Mark’s Hawick residency by Alchemy Director Rachael Disbury, a critical essay about the film by Alchemy Director Michael Pattison, and an extended interview with Mark, the book also collects stills from the film as well as photographs from the residency.
You can download a PDF copy by clicking the image above, or order a physical copy of the book here
- Year2022
- Runtime90 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryScotland
- RatingPG
- DirectorMark Lyken
- Executive ProducerAlchemy Film and Arts
- FilmmakerMark Lyken
Our first Film at Cample screening of 2023 brings Dumfriesshire-based filmmaker Mark Lyken’s Notes from a Low Orbit (2022, 90’) to CAMPLE LINE, with a special event including a Director Q&A. Mark will be joined after our in-house screening by Co-Directors of Alchemy Film & Arts, Rachael Disbury and Michael Pattison, for a conversation about the making of the film. A recording of the Q&A will be available to view after watching the film online.
We are excited to revisit Mark’s work after hosting an installation of New Town New Wave (2018, 20’) and Táifēng and the Motorway Saint (2018, 62’) in Summer 2018.
An affectionate portrait of Hawick’s communities, rituals and routines that is deeply invested in the sometimes absurd ways in which a town’s cultural identities are shaped, intuited, lived.
Notes from a Low Orbit is the outcome of a residency with Alchemy Film & Arts in 2021, through which the film’s Director, Mark Lyken, was invited to explore ‘the lines, cultures and ecologies’ of Hawick - a small town in the Scottish Borders. Mark lived in the town for 6 months, engaging with local communities and developing collaborations with groups such as Hawick Saxhorn Band, Hawick Scrabble Club and Hawick Archaeological Society. The resulting film is a snapshot that frames the town at a particular moment in time, observed via Lyken’s own wanderings, conversations and curiosities. As Mark has said of the film, “It’s a portrait, but not a definitive portrait.”
“Waking up, going out, meeting with people on their terms, Mark carefully defines the artistic parameters of his rubric, actively seeking out the incidental and asking what magic might eventually happen if he sets up his camera and waits. And waits: this is a low orbit in which a chance encounter with an early-morning dog walker has as much significance and urgency as the arrival of a town’s fairground in the hot days of summer.” - Rachael Disbury, Co-Director, Alchemy Film & Arts
“In astronomical terms, a low orbit refers to the zone just outwith a planet’s atmosphere that’s also near enough for convenient transportation, communication, observation and resupply to be possible. As its title and structure suggest, Notes from a Low Orbit might be viewed as a series of vignettes humbly captured over the course of two days: evidence collated by some far-flung, time- travelling hunter-gatherer who takes refuge up in the hills, venturing into town to catch blink-and-miss episodes of terrestrial wonder.” - Michael Pattison
NOTES FROM A LOW ORBIT - BOOK
Featuring a contextual overview of Mark’s Hawick residency by Alchemy Director Rachael Disbury, a critical essay about the film by Alchemy Director Michael Pattison, and an extended interview with Mark, the book also collects stills from the film as well as photographs from the residency.
You can download a PDF copy by clicking the image above, or order a physical copy of the book here
- Year2022
- Runtime90 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryScotland
- RatingPG
- DirectorMark Lyken
- Executive ProducerAlchemy Film and Arts
- FilmmakerMark Lyken
