William Raban's Nautical Twilight Fifty Years an Artist Filmmaker

This book explores the practice of artist filmmaker William Raban from 1970 to the present.  The trajectory from his early experimental, landscape and expanded cinema works of the 1970s leads into more recent films on the River Thames and London; his techniques are examined and engagingly explained to attract a wide readership including both experts and those with little knowledge of the subject.

This is a personal account of what it means to make work in a radical filmmaking context to explore both the political and perceptual/formal qualities of film through a period of immense social and technological change. 

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: a student at Saint Martin’s River Yar and other early works.- Chapter 3: Angles of Incidence, Moonshine, Thames Barrier, Autumn Scenes, Wave Formations.- Chapter 4: From 2’45” to Pink Trousers, After Duchamp, 4’22”and Crosscurrents.- Chapter 5: Episodes from The London Filmmakers' Co-op (1972-77) and Filmaktion.- Chapter 6: Black and Silver (1981).- Chapter 7: Thames Film.- Chapter 8: From 60° North and Passion for the Sea.- Chapter 9: Under the Tower trilogy: Sundial, A13 and Island Race.- Chapter 10: MM and About Now MMX .- Chapter 11: Ron Haselden, Stephen Cripps at Acme, Beating the Bridges, and Confessions.- Chapter 12: Firestation (2000) and 72-82 (2014).- Chapter 13: The Houseless Shadow (2011) and Time and the Wave (2013).- Chapter 14: Available Light London Republic and Laki Haze.- Chapter 15: Reflection.

William Raban has made over 50 films and film installations that have been shown internationally in cinemas, museums and galleries.  His film teaching includes Saint Martin's School of Art, London College of Communication, Goldsmiths College and the Royal College of Art.  He lives and works in London and is Professor Emeritus at the University of the Arts London.