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Samuel Stevens (Essay Films, 2017)Spanish Labrynth

Samuel Stevens

Fellow in 2017 for Essay Films

Samuel Stevens is a visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster where he completed his PhD film Spanish Labyrinth (2016). The film traces the journey of avant-garde filmmaker Eli Lotar across Spain in 1931 echoing the main interests in his filmmaking centering around ecological, social and political realities in Europe.

During a period when economic migration represented a key area of interest to his, Stevens used research grants awarded through his MA at the Slade, to travel within Europe and create a roster of films. Atlantopa (2009), for which he received mentoring from Adam Curtis, imagined a bridge across the straits of Gibraltar, a symbol of inter-continental unity which would allow migrants to easily cross into Europe. The film won a Jury Award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in Michigan (2010) and was toured to various major UK locations including the Serpentine (2010) and the Frieze Art Fair (2010).

Stevens has carved a international exhibition trail, participating in shows such as Lo Inconmensurable, Una Idea de Europa at CENTROCENTRO, Madrid (2016), Goodgangsters at the Taipei Museum of Fine Art (2008) and New Semantics at the Whitechapel, London (2006), as well as his solo exhibition WHY LOOK? at The Joinery, Dublin in 2011.