Artist filmmaker Jessica Sarah Rinland presents the NYC premier of her film Black Pond, followed by a staging of materials related to the project. Black Pond explores the activity within a common land in the south of England. Previously occupied by the 17th century agrarian socialists The Diggers, the land is currently inhabited by a Natural History Society whose occupations include bat and moth trapping, mycology, tree measuring and botanical walks.

During two years of filming on the land, the footage was regularly shown to the members of the Society. Their memories and responses were recorded and subsequently used as part of the film’s narration. The film does not offer a comprehensive record of the history of humans within the area. Instead, it explores more intimately, human’s relationship with and within land and nature.

Following the film, Rinland will detail content from a forthcoming publication related to the film. She will stage moments from the Society’s yearly town hall meetings, discuss historical maps and laws, letters of complaint and footage she shot in the same location years before her encounter with them.

Black Pond is an odyssey across a common land in the south of England told through the hands of the members of the Natural History Society who currently occupy it.

Argentine-British artist filmmaker, Jessica Sarah Rinland has exhibited work in galleries, cinemas, film festivals and universities internationally including NYFF, BFI London Film Festival, Rotterdam, Oberhausen, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Bloomberg New Contemporaries and Somerset House Galleries. She has won awards including Primer Premio at Bienale de Imagen en Movimiento, Arts + Science Award at Ann Arbor Film Fetisval, ICA’s Best Experimental Film at LSFF, and M.I.T’s Schnitzer prize for excellence in the arts.  She has received grants from Arts Council England, Wellcome Trust, Elephant Trust and elsewhere. Residencies include the MacDowell Colony, Kingston University, Locarno Academy and Berlinale Talents. She is currently an Associate Artist at Somerset House Studios and a Film Studies Center Fellow at Harvard University.