Charlie Chaplin Lived Here
- Submitting institution
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Edinburgh Napier University
- Unit of assessment
- 34 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
- Output identifier
- 2716280
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
- November
- Year
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Charlie Chaplin Lived Here is a feature-length documentary, built around archival footage shot by Scottish director Bill Douglas during the demolition of Charlie Chaplin's house in London, 1969. The film frames this footage with Chaplin’s memories of his childhood, Douglas's 8mm shots of Chaplin sites in 1969, and Milne’s footage of the same places in 2015. The demolition of Chaplin’s house is at the heart of the film: a nexus for this visual study of Douglas, Chaplin’s London and the ravages of time and memory. Planned as a psychogeographic essay, the film weaves together Chaplin in the 1890s, his recollections in the 1960s, Douglas filming in 1969 and footage of contemporary London.
It combines different registers of material and formats to give the fullest set of contexts for Douglas’s shot material, giving new insights into his film-work and into the legacy of Chaplin on other filmmakers. It combines archive footage and music, primary sources, original interviews and original footage. It mixes genres – documentary, essay film, experimental film, fandom/homage film and film-within-a-film – creating its psychogeographic journey through innovative editing, moving between layers of time and narrative through archive footage, sound and voiceover.
It enhances knowledge of Douglas’s working processes, inspirations and approach. It rethinks Douglas’s work through comparative analysis of materials from his Chaplin collection and his footage in search of Chaplin’s London. The film contributes to film cultural history, establishing parallels between Douglas and Chaplin in childhood experience, exploring Douglas’s collection of Chaplin memorabilia and his relationship to Chaplin’s films.
The film premiered in a special event with Q&A, organised by The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, University of Exeter, at the Exeter Phoenix cinema (2/11/19). It has so far been selected for the International Arthouse Filmfest, Chicago, 2020 (postponed to 2021) and entered into other international film festivals.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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