Coccolith

Coccolith is the first fiction film to be shot in the Ramsgate Tunnels in Kent, UK. The film is part of a project investigating how audiovisual practices might represent the experiences of ruined spaces, a collaboration between Dr Christopher Brown at the University of Sussex (director and producer) and Dr Andrew Knight-Hill at the University of Greenwich (sound designer and composer).Departing from typical storytelling conventions, the film depicts an imaginary realm in which devised performances evoke the unique histories of this eerie environment, seeking to challenge simplistic associations of the tunnels with wartime nostalgia and mythology.  

Coccolith takes its name from the microscopic calcite shells shed by ocean algae, which accumulate on the sea bed over millions of years, forming chalk. In their very composition, the tunnels at Ramsgate evidence both layers of geological history, and the past existence of living things. The film captures the material result of this primordial geological process – the chalk environment itself – whilst dramatizing notions of historical accumulation figuratively. Multiple histories inscribed in the same place co-exist in the film frame, with characters from different points in time inhabiting the same tunnel environment.  

The project sought to reflect the fragmented nature of knowledge afforded by the tunnels in their dilapidated state, whilst at the level of process, to develop strategies for facilitating a creative response to the apparently intractable tunnel environment. The project departed from typical film industry production practices in various ways: there was no script; the performances were devised; the conception of the project owed a great deal to site-specific installation practice; sound design was conceived as an integral part of the film directing process. The filmmakers sought to rethink the process of making a film, in order to respond to the unique affordances of this ruined site. 

The researchers have written about the project – its development, historical contexts, aesthetics, and methods – in articles published in Media Practice and Education (2018), Quarterly Review of Film & Video (2018), and Performance Matters (2020). The film has screened at venues in the UK and in Italy, Ireland, and Denmark. The project website is: www.coccolithfilm.co.uk