This afernoon I was a volunteer custodian at the 17th century Cromwellian Church of the Holy Trinity and St Mary, one of the venues on the Artist Trail at the Berwick Film Festival.

Parish Church, Berwick upon Tweed

William Hurt’s “Even as you see me now” is playing on a continuous loop in the Vestry. This new commission portrays a young man singing and playing a piano which is lying across his legs, talk about suffering for your art.

Scene from “Even as you see me now”

At 3.30pm every day “Scorpio Rising 2″ by Mark Dean is screened in the main part of the church. “The Gospel according to St Matthew” is shown on the bottom half of the screen and “Hells Angels on Wheels” is shown on the top half. It was a bit disconcerting at first, especially as “Hells Angels of Wheels” had a sound track, whereas the other film had subtitles. However it really made me think that nothing has changed in 2000 years as there were simultaneous scenes of violence in both films perputrated in the name of belonging to a particular “tribe”.

Scene from “Scorpio Rising 2″

The Artist Trail is open until Saturday 29 September 2007.