

A 14-minute identity crisis from 1957 that still stings.
The screening of the short film 'Faces' at the 1961 Edinburgh and London Film Festivals kick started the film career of young McConnell, then studying at Glasgow School of Art. 'Faces', a comment on the personas we adopt, was inspired by a visit to the Brussels Experimental Film Festival of 1958 where McConnell saw the work of many European film makers, films of a genre unseen at that time in Britain. Many were without words, telling their stories in a variety of genres, live action, animation, puppetry, and making social comments on their times.
Direction
McConnell's student film that launched British experimental cinema.
Production
Brussels 1958 energy, Glasgow School of Art grit.

Director
Edward McConnell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
McConnell smuggled continental avant-garde sensibilities into Britain, where such films were practically illegal to think about.
Edinburgh 1961 was apparently desperate enough to screen student work—bless them for it.