The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
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Marking Time
An uptempo look at manβs passionate obsession with time from first light to the dawn of the digital age.
From the collection of:
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Overview
Inspired by a jazzed-up Mozart track by Waldo de los Rios, South Shields animator Sheila Graber takes a playful look at the history of timekeeping, from the dawn of time to Einsteinβs theory of relativity, which paved the way for the digital age on earth.
Marking Time is an impressive example of womenβs contribution to the history of animation by the (then) amateur movie maker Sheila Graber, making work for fun in the 1970s whilst teaching art full time. Over the years Graber moved from pastel to pixels and the world of computer animation, from amateur experimentation after work, (in her own words βa bit like Tony Hancock in The Rebelβ), to professional commissions and an international reputation. She was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Royal Television Society in 2004.
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