12-min documentary
When archaeologist Lankester Harding took a Pathé Baby Cine camera on a dig in the British Mandate for Palestine in 1930, he filmed the local Bedouin people, including a young man who would become his trusted companion for several years. While the romantic nature of their relationship remains ambiguous to historians, the home movies and photos Harding shot comprise the only example of a queer colonial visual archive in the Middle East at the time.
‘Harding & his camera’ is visually constructed purely from archive images. The film intentionally undermines the cliche of the ‘talking head’ history documentary, forcing the viewer to question what we can know from watching archival footage. This film explores the nuances of power, gender and ethnicity in British colonial relationships.
Director & producer: Rob Eagle
Film Festival official selections:
FIRE!! Barcelona LGBT Film Festival 2017
Queer Lisboa – in competition, best short film 2017
Scottish Queer International Film Festival 2017
LesGaiCineMad, el Festival Internacional de Cine LGBT de Madrid – short documentary competition 2017
Fringe! LGBT Film Festival, London 2017
SHOUT Birmingham LGBT History Festival CineQ 2017
New Renaissance Film Festival, Amsterdam 2018
Tampere Film Festival 2018
XPOSED International Queer Film Festival Berlin 2018
La Ploma Festival 2018
Night+Day Bilbao 2018
Dr Rob Eagle 