Ben Rivers

Ben Rivers is an artist and experimental filmmaker based in London. His work has been shown in many film festivals and galleries around the world and has won numerous awards. His work ranges from themes about exploring unknown wilderness territories to candid and intimate portrayals of real-life subjects. Rivers’ practice as a filmmaker treads a line between documentary and fiction. Often following and filming people who have in some way separated themselves from society, the raw film footage provides Rivers with a starting point for creating oblique narratives imagining alternative existences in marginal worlds. Rivers uses near-antique cameras and hand develops the 16mm film, which shows the evidence of the elements it has been exposed to – the materiality of this medium forming part of the narrative. More information can be found on his website.

Pedro Costa

Pedro Costa is a Portuguese filmmaker acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations. His films are always filmed with digital techniques and set in a district of Lisbon inhabited by socially disadvantaged and shot in a natural and low-key way in documentary format.

FIREFLIES PORTRAITS