In the spirit of the late filmmaker and poet, Margaret Tait (1918–1999), Being in a Place is as much a portrait of Tait’s beloved Orkney, the place she lived and filmed for most of her life, as it is about her. Tait borrowed the term “Stalking the Image” from the poet Federico Garcia Lorca, to describe her own approach to filmmaking, a method which involved considering everything within the frame with equal intensity. Her approach to portraiture also gives equal attention to the person as well as the place they are situated within.
Being in a Place looks at Tait through a variety of lenses, considering her in relation to where she lived, as well in relation to her extensive archive. The film engages with Tait’s paper archives, including letters, diaries, production notes, as well as her sound archive. It also draws upon newly recovered and restored film material, as well as rushes relating to a 1983 television profile and an unfinished script for a feature-length film.

Courtesy of the artist and LUX, London