FERROEQUINOLOGY, A Film by Alex Nevill
Two Artists Enthralled by Locomotion Set Out On Journeys Across America to Photograph Trains and Passengers in Alex Nevill’s FERROEQUINOLOGY
North American Premiere at Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah
Screening Virtually Jan. 27-Feb. 6, 2022
FERROEQUINOLOGY, literally meaning the study of iron horses, is a feature-length documentary with luminous black and white cinematography, directed by Alex Nevill about the passion and artistry of railroad photography. Having made its World Premiere at Chichester Film Festival (UK) in August 2021, Ferroequinology comes Stateside for its North American Premiere at Slamdance Film Festival. The film will screen via Slamdance’s virtual portal from Jan. 27-Feb. 6, 2022. More information at https://slamdance.com/festival/.
Two artists enthralled by the uncanny lure of locomotion set out on journeys across America. Andrew Cross chases freight trains through the Black Rock desert in Nevada in pursuit of a perfect landscape shot. McNair Evans travels on an Amtrak train from San Francisco to Portland, sharing stories and making portraits with fellow passengers. Desolate carriages take on an otherworldly presence and time loses its grasp in this study of photographers in motion, capturing slow travel in today’s increasingly fast-paced society.
Railroad documentaries hold a significant place in film history. From Auguste and Louis Lumière’s early experiments in The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station to the iconic John Grierson narrated Night Mail or D. A. Pennebaker’s Daybreak Express - the movement, machinery, infrastructure and culture surrounding railroads has fascinated filmmakers since the birth of cinema. Ferroequinology draws on this established tradition and brings this potent documentary theme into focus for the contemporary era.
Nevill became interested in railroad photography when visiting his hometown in the south of England. Returning via train for the first time in a few years, he noticed rail enthusiasts armed with cameras and binoculars lurking at the edge of the station platform. The apparent serenity of these people (largely elderly men) fascinated him as they slowly observed trains. “I found a funny parallel with my own work as a cinematographer in which I am also stuck behind a lens, often obsessing over details of the frame and sometimes waiting hours on end for the perfect light conditions,” said Nevill.
As Nevill explored this world in more detail, the people he encountered and the images they created far surpassed a simple hobbyist caricature. He was drawn in by the technically challenging and at times innovative nature of railroad photography. Gravitating toward collaborators with particularly artistic sensibilities, he set about filming in ways that engaged directly with their creative work. Shooting in black and white helped to distance the film’s cinematography from each character’s photographic project and reflected the romanticized gaze many of these enthusiasts brought to their images as well as their often sentimental relationship with railroads.
About the Film Team:
Alex Nevill (Director/Cinematographer) is a filmmaker and cinematographer based in London, UK. He has photographed several independent feature films as well as short projects with Creative England, Channel 4 and Film London. Nevill directed Fishcakes & Cocaine, a short documentary supported by the British Film Institute, which premiered at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival before screening at the London and Glasgow short film festivals. He holds an MFA in film practice from the Screen Academy Scotland and completed his PhD at the University of the West of England. Alongside his film work, he teaches at Kingston School of Art where he is Course Leader for the BA Filmmaking degree.
Keith Haitkin (Producer/Sound Recordist) is an American producer and director based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He holds an MA from the Screen Academy Scotland where he produced and directed four short films, including Pink Out which won an award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Since graduating, Keith directed and produced a short film entitled End of the Line, which premiered at the SVA Theatre in New York City. Alongside his film industry work, Keith is also a broadcast producer for an advertising agency based in New York.
Rob Curry & Tim Plester (Executive Producers) - Fifth Column is an artist-led film production company based in London, UK and founded by Rob Curry and Tim Plester. They seek to explore gray areas at the fringes of society, telling challenging and engaging stories that lie outside the mainstream. Their films have been financed by the UK Film Council, Ingenious Partners, the British Council, 4Docs.
Nick Gibbon (Editor) is a BAFTA-nominated creative editor with UK and European broadcast credits and international festival awards. Having graduated from the BA film programme at Edinburgh Napier University, Nick went on to win a short drama commission from BBC Scotland which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Stemming from his own filmmaking, Nick more recently worked as an editor on numerous fiction and documentary films. His feature length credits include Pablo’s Winter, Colours of the Alphabet and Donkeyote among others.
Rob Walker (Re-Recording Mixer) studied film and media at the University of Stirling. He soon relocated to Los Angeles to study at UCLA, then worked at Red Zone Studios as an Assistant Engineer and at James Cameron's Digital Domain, working on Fight Club and Red Planet. Rob has since been involved with sound work on over 90 productions which have screened at Berlin, London, Cannes, Venice and Toronto Festivals as well as BBC, ITV, Channel 4, SKY TV, RTE, ARTE, TG4 and US PBS. He is a fellow of the Association of Motion Picture Sound.
About the Subjects:
Andrew Cross is a photographer based in London. After graduating from Bath Academy of Art in 1983, Andrew developed a successful career in exhibition curating and worked at a number of galleries including Southampton City Art Gallery and the Photographers Gallery. Since 2000, Andrew has focused on his own visual art practice exploring landscape and transport infrastructure which has been exhibited and published widely. Andrew began producing video works in 2002 while artist-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida. Work from this period was short-listed for the 2004 Beck’s Futures Prize. A further selection of videos was exhibited at George Eastman House, Rochester NY in 2008. In 2014 a major exhibition commission was received from the UK National Railway Museum, York, UK.
McNair Evans is a photographer based in San Francisco, California whose photographs appear in numerous publications and exhibition settings. His first monograph, Confessions for a Son, was pre-released at the 2014 New York Art Book Fair and sold out within months. McNair is the recipient of numerous awards including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Innovation in Documentary Arts Award from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University, and the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship. His books and prints are held in public and private collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, and Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University.
Credits
Alex Nevill - Director/Cinematographer
Keith Haitkin - Producer/Sound Recordist
Rob Curry and Tim Plester - Executive Producers (Fifth Column Films)
Nick Gibbon - Editor
Rob Walker - Re-Recording Mixer
66 minutes, UK & USA
DCP Image: 1.85:1, 4K, Black & White Sound: 5.1 mix
Film Website: https://www.ferroequinology.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ferroequinologyfilm/
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