On Clogger Lane is a new experimental documentary by Andrew Black.
The film meanders through the Washburn Valley between Otley and Harrogate, exploring the infrastructures of capital on land overshadowed by a monstrous satellite surveillance station, submerged beneath reservoirs, haunted by accusations of witchcraft, and populated by the traces of many generations of past inhabitants - from prehistoric carvings to the Victorian graves of child labourers.
Incorporating conversations with farmers, antiquarians, dowsers, grandmothers, Quakers, landowners and communists alongside an improvisational score, On Clogger Lane explores the meeting points of passivity and protest, public and private, past and present, all coincident in the same patch of ancient land.
This new film commission is presented alongside archival material relating to actions by largely women-led peace groups at Menwith Hill, gathered through Black’s research.
Andrew Black is the recipient of the Margaret Tait Award 2021, a LUX Scotland commission delivered in partnership with Glasgow Film, supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland.