Rebecca Jane Arthur

Hit Him on the Head with a Hard, Heavy Hammer

16 MM, COLOUR, 4:3, ENGLISH SPOKEN WITH DUTCH & FRENCH SUBTITLES, BE/UK, 2023, 49’

Hit Him on the Head with a Hard, Heavy Hammer departs from the handwritten memoir of the filmmaker’s father and his experience of displacement during wartime. Referring to the notion Thomas Hardy termed ‘The Self-Unseeing’ in his eponymous 1901 poem, the film returns to childhood and the matters that harden us: upbringing, social status, education, labour, and familial bonds. The memoir weaves into the film as both a contemplation on mortality and an illustration of fading memory, reflecting on how we pen our pasts and how they can be re-told.

From the memoir of Norman Arthur
Directed, filmed and edited by Rebecca Jane Arthur
Produced by elephy
Additional camera Eva Giolo, Gill Houghton
Sound recording by Paul Abbott
Original composition by Paul Abbott
Sound design by Rebecca Jane Arthur
Additional sound edit by Simonluca Laitempergher
Sound mix by Raf Enckels and Aurélien Lebourg
Colourist Lennert De Taeye

This project was made possible with the support of FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND (VAF), FLEMISH COMMUNITY COMMISSION (VGC)
In-kind support from LABO BXL, PEGS, LUCA SCHOOL OF ARTS, CAMPUS SINT-LUKAS BRUSSEL, KASK & Conservatorium (HOGENT – Howest)