GALLERY FILMS (SELECTED)

THE MANUAL (S8 on DV, 20′ loop, 2010) ☆ A film document of silversmith Drummond H Masterton made in collaboration with jewellery artist Adam Paxon, commissioned by IC: Innovative Craft. ‘Hulse brings poetry to process and overlays Drummond’s articulate discussion of digital craft with cycling, sawing, milling and strangely beguiling close ups of buttons, knobs, shelving systems and drills.’ (Amanda Game)

AIR IOMLAID (On Exchange) (HD, 40′ loop, 2010) ☆ A visual arts project linking children in Skye and Edinburgh developed by The Fruitmarket Gallery. Led by artist Julie Brook along with Lasair Ealain, a committee of pupils from Bun Sgoil Shlèite, a Gaelic-speaking primary school on Skye. Hulse was invited on board as co-creative director and editor. Nominated for the 2011 Clore Museum Learning Award.

LIGHT WORK (Many Hands) (S8 on DV, 8′ loop, 2009) ☆ Commissioned by IC: Innovative Craft for touring show ‘Follow a Thread (Six Contemporary Responses to Tapestry)’, created in collaboration with the Dovecot (Edinburgh) weavers.

LONGER FILMS

FOLLOW THE MASTER (S8/DV on Digibeta, 73′, 2009) ☆ Debut feature and second-fastest selling film at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009. A 100 mile long quietly off beat pilgrimage in the wake of Hulse’s grandfather’s death. ☆ ‘An inspired cinematic pleasure’ (EIFF 2009) ☆ ‘Thrums with life and a little madness’ (Eye For Film) ☆ ‘Hypnotic piece of art and touching tribute’ (The Wanderer) ☆

BRIDGET (S8 on DV, 45′, 2008) ☆ Film poem and tribute to a lively octogenarian, commissioned by her daughters.

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SEE NOISE HEAR LIGHT (S8 on DV, 30′, 2007) ☆ Freeform documentation of Arika’s underground music festival Instal. Featured artists include Keiji Haino, Tony Conrad, Ludo Mich, Maryanne Amacher, Oshiri Penpenz and Lee Patterson.

THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK (S8, 45′, 1989) ☆ Adaptation of TS Eliot’s poem, featuring Andy MacKay as Prufrock and Sean Holehouse as The Eternal Footman. Co-adapted and co-directed by Toby Hulse.
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SHORTER FILMS (SELECTED)

ELVIS: THE LONELY HUNTER OF CIRCLE BEACH (HD, 6′, 2012) ☆ Circle Beach: a God-forsaken corner off the coast of the once-great city of New York. Only the toughest can survive an environment this unforgiving. (Tropfest NYC 2012 Third Prize) watch

A PILGRIMAGE (S8 on DV, 18′, 2010) ☆ Alp horn. Wind chimes. Grand piano. Tuba. Chicken bagpipes. A violin made of fire. Nail clippers? Just some of the instruments played by the 40+ strong Pilgrim Air Orchestra featured in the Super 8mm film document that shakily follows the ups and downs of a 37 tonne cinema on wheels. watch

IVUL UNMADE (S8 on DV, 18′, 2009) ☆ Super 8 sniping on the set of Andrew Kötting’s third feature obliquely reveals undercurrents as dark as those of the fiction. buy

ANOTHER GIRL IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD (S8 on DV, 4′, 2009) ☆ Collaboration with textile artist Deirdre Nelson and composer Daniel Padden, produced as part of FilmCraft.

GOD GIVES NUTS BUT HE DOES NOT CRACK THEM (S8 on DV, 6′, 2008) ☆ James Duthie readies his bike. Monique prepares tarts. A foretaste of Hulse’s next feature length film, with Samuel Dore & Marie Denarnaud. watch a fragment

HARRACHOV (S8/16mm on 35mm, 10′, 2006, co-director Joost van Veen) watch a fragment ☆ ‘An unspecified force collects items & assembles them into a grotesque machine laden with erogenous overtones & carnal symbolism.’ (All Movie Guide). Best Experimental Film, Melbourne International Film Festival 2008. Hopper-Ritte Team Work Award, Stuttgart Filmwinter 2009. A collector’s edition DVD (limited multiple, 100 copies) is available, please contact

POINT BLANC (S8 on DV, 4′, 2006) ☆ In collaboration with Ben Rivers, filmed at a Crazy Golf course in Uzerche, France. _____________________________________________

REPLAY (S8 on DV, 9′, 2005) ☆ Commissioned by Rotterdam International Film Festival with music by David Shea. Shot in Vienna and Dresden. watch

HALF LIFE (S8 on DV, 6′, 2004) ☆ A stop-frame analysis of the daily torture of the desk-bound being. An animate! commission for ACE/C4. watch

JEST TYLKO ŚWIATŁO (THERE IS ONLY LIGHT) (S8 on DV, 4′, 2004) ☆ Shot & edited during a short residency at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw. ____________________________

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MY DARKNESS IS MELTING (S8 on DV, 2′, 2004) ☆ One of thirty short films commissioned worldwide by Diesel.

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THE PLOT (Lightwave 3D, 3′, 2002) ☆ A Mesh commission for Blackwatch TV/C4 made in collaboration with Garry Marshall, Lindsay Perth, Lennart Isaksson and Holger Mohaupt with music by Jez Butler and Paula Knight. watch

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN (DV, 4′, 2002) ☆ The Sex Pistol’s anthem revisited and re/interpreted in British Sign Language, featuring Samuel Dore. watch

LOSLASSEN! (LET IT GO!) (DV, 6′, 2002) ☆ Created over a period of 48hrs at the Dresden Short Film Festival with participation of local folk, interacting with 7-inch vinyl singles from the DDR era. watch

POLSKIE BUTY (S8 on 35mm, 4′, 2002) ☆ A feet-first view of the streets of Wroclaw, Poland. The collector’s edition VHS (limited multiple, 50 copies) is no longer available. watch

OVERHEATED: UNDIMINISHED INTENSITY MIX (S8 on DV, 8′, 2001) ☆ A single channel version of a three channel film installation (see below) for the international group show Fabula at the UK National Museum of Film, Photography & Television. → ‘A polemic affair. A portfolio of American real estate, street bunting and Stars and Stripes shot on grainy film dislocated by a layered soundtrack featuring John Barry’s theme for Midnight Cowboy and radio fragments documenting the 1991 Gulf War. The result? A powerful and topical reminder of the nature of American moral certitude and the rhetoric of power’. (Brendan Fletcher, a-n)

NOW I AM YOURS (S8 on DV, 7′, 2001) ☆ Shot on location in Dresden, Germany, spliced with sequences from the Resnais’ film Last Year at Marienbad. ” … forever, a past of marble, like this garden carved in stone …” (Robbe-Grillet)

HOTEL CENTRAL (S8/16 on 35mm, 10′, 2000) ☆ ‘In the twilight zone between art and cinema – Hulse makes images like Stockhausen makes music.’ (Simon Field, Director, Rotterdam International Film Festival). Awards include Best Experimental at Mediawave 2001. watch

COME ON LET’S GO (S8/16 on DigiBeta, 4′, 2000) ☆ Never (officially) released promo for Broadcast’s hugely popular near-miss hit record watch _____________________________________________

ART HOLIDAY (DV, 2′, 1998) ☆ Artist Matt Hulse’s forcible and largely unsuccessful attempts to act in a spontaneous, improvised and artless manner. Shot during the making of Wee Three. ___________ ___________

WEE THREE (16mm, 6′, 1998) ☆ Three naughty school children caught between the demands of the body & the rule of authority. Joint winner Fox Searchlight Best British Short Film EIFF 1998. Scottish Bafta New Talent Award for Best Achievement.

TIMMY (Hi8, 20′, 1998) ☆ There’s a 20 year anniversary screening of The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’ in Brighton followed by an all star after show party and local Mod Timmy (Nick Currey) has not been invited. He won’t get fooled again.

TAKE ME HOME (S8/CG on 16mm, 7′, 1997) ☆ Commissioned by Arts Council England. → ‘A chain of free associations & non-sequitors evoking the spirit of Dada.’ (A Century of Artists Film In Britain, Tate Britain). ‘Part performance art, part film space-time perception comedy, Hulse’s piece is a delightful heir to Dada cinema of Hans Richter & other early avant-gardists.’ (SolPix Review). Awards include Best Video at Transmediale 1999 ‘for its naked grainy digital dirtiness’.

THAT KILTY FEELIN’ (MII, 2′, 1994) ☆ Naturism? Naturalisation? Nationalism? Feel the breeze … Naturism? Naturalisation? Nationalism? Naturism? Naturalisation? Nationalism? Naturism? Naturalisation? Nationalism? Naturism?

SINE DIE (S8, 4′, 1994) ☆ ‘Part pantheistic hymn to the sea, part Pythonesque tribute to the inherited English madness that seeks out nature as a backdrop to eccentric rituals.’ (Figuring Landscapes) watch a fragment++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ONE MEAN SUCKER (S8, 30”, 1994) ☆ Grungy Super 8mm commercial for James Dyson’s innovative vacuum cleaner, the Dyson Dual Cyclone, with music by Wire.

AS GOOD AS A NOD (Beta SP, 1′, 1991) ☆ Commissioned by BBC2′s The Late Show & Arts Council England. ___________

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A MINIMAL RESPECT: MEXICO CITY 1990 (S8, 25′, 1990) ☆ Eccentric journalistic exploration of British identity & cultural transplantation, featuring lucha libre, bullfighting, shoe shine boys and polyester suits.  ’I met this man in Mexico who insisted on buying me drink after drink. That man turned out to be me.’ (monologue from film)

ON RETURNING (S8, 20′, 1990) ☆ Revisiting the Isle of Mull. ‘Perhaps everyone should make a piece of work about their mother, or their father. If they don’t know either parent, they could make a piece of fiction. Maybe sometimes it’s better that way.’ (monologue from film)

PURPLE RINSE (S8, 7′, 1989) ☆ ‘Heaven is a Gateway / Heaven is a Tesco / Heaven is a Co-op / Heaven is a Sainsbury’s’ (lyric from film). Film document of a performance. _____________________________________________

MULL MOTHER (S8, 12′, 1988) ☆ Journey film, by train & foot, home to the Isle of Mull.

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Last Updated September 2012