Francesca Tesler (United Kingdom) Residence: November 2019 to January 2020
Francesca Tesler is a non-fiction filmmaker with a particular interest in the intersection between art, ritual and belief. Based in London, Francesca recently graduated from an MA in Documentary and Ethnographic Film at UCL. Her films have been shown at film festivals internationally, including the Berlin Short Film Festival, and her first short film was awarded the Hugh Brody Prize at the University of Kent.
Francesca often uses essayistic techniques in her films to provoke the viewer to consider the narratives that we as a world create for ourselves, and that structure our lives. Her past films have explored topics ranging from a cultural history of the colour blue, the lived experience of passing time, and the re-negotiation of cultural identity by a Japanese Buddhist temple in suburban London.
During her residency period she aims to create a film focusing on Shintoism and its connection to nature and the body, and the role that these rituals play in everyday life.
-website *vimeo: https://vimeo.com/francescatesler