HENGE (Daniel Belton and Good Company) 2001

Henge [ dance-film 16mm ] World Premiere: New Zealand International Film Festival 2001, Otago Film Festival 2001, Dunedin, New Zealand (Highly Commended Award); Belladonna Film Festival 2002, New Zealand. European Premiere: TTV Riccione Performing Arts on Screen International Festival, Italy 2002; VideoDance 2002, Athens, Greece; Canariasmediafest: 10th Canarias International Video and Multimedia Festival, Spain 2002; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand 2003; Festival Castel dei Mondi 2004 Andria, Italy.

"Initial ideas for the Henge project investigated the ritual and the art objects associated with Megalithic culture. We sought to transfer the patterns and rhythms of the solstice and star mapping into the language of movement, sound and sculpture.

In parts of Central Otago there are huge free-standing rock formations, which have an eerie impact on their environment. Beautiful and disquieting - sometimes almost human - I was reminded of the prehistoric stone circles or henges dotted about Britain's countryside. We still don't fully understand for what purpose they were built. The knowledge our ancestors possessed was certainly very different to what we know about our world today.

I became fascinated with how knowledge is passed down from generation to generation; and how knowledge can be erased or lost over time. We dream, we create ideologies and systems. The Henge film is about erasure and memory: the loss of the known. Is Stonehenge an ancient astronomical observatory, and were the motives of its builders essentially religious?"

Daniel Belton [directors notes] 2001