On the Waterfront: William Raban

Just as Peter Hutton can be described as the chronicler of the River Hudson, you could call William Raban the chronicle film-maker of the River Thames. His latest film is justifiably entitled, quite simply, Thames Film. As is apparent from the title, Raban is interested in two things: his relationship with the location and film-making itself. At the same time, these two things are always one in the work of Raban: observing the location runs parallel to reflecting on film.Raban’s reflections on the to-ing and fro-ing on and by the River Thames are primarily visual, but his way of looking also tackles themes that have led many to utter great words. Raban stands still in silence, as it were, by the great industrial, urban and social changes along the Thames. In his ‘Under the Tower Trilogy’ (Sundial, A 13 and Island Race) he recorded from different and always original angles the changing view of the London Docklands. Beating the Bridges is also original: primarily envisaged as a recording of a musical performance (the drummer Paul Burwell plays on a boat sailing on the Thames and in doing so exploits the changing acoustic qualities of 30 different bridges), en passant it provides a dynamic portrait of a river continually changing its
appearance.Raban has a special place within experimental documentary film-making. Not only does he never use his medium in a matter-of-fact way, he is also able to keep looking differently at the same thing. (GjZ)William Raban (Fakenham, England) was co-founder of the avant-garde collective, the London Filmmakers Co-op, in the sixties. As well as artist and film-maker, he teaches film at the London College of Printing.