REEL 01
Fig1. ‘Destruction of Broadhaven Bay’, MadamK (c2000s)
Shot from the historic Dooncarton Stone Circle, and weathered by the ocean, this clip tracks Shell vessels working in Broadhaven Bay during the Corrib gas conflict and the resilience of the local community. The physical media, salt-corroded in 2006, suffered a rot that serves as a haunting vision of ecological collapse, providing a grim crimson-toned outlook on our shared climate reality. The Alchemical Film Journal presents this child-version of me rising from glitchy errors as a ghostly haunting mechanism. It is a visual witness to the scarred earth.
The Alchemical Film Journal Log
AFTERMAP
ORGANIC VESTIGE
Engaging with an antique file is to enter a world of echoes and lingering spirits. Previously, I viewed the tapes on my mother’s shelves as mere household items, grainy relics of Irish history gathering dust. However, The Alchemical Film Journal required their digitization, processing the magnetic ribbons through modern lenses to revive their stories. As these distorted visuals stretched across the interface, the wall between then and now vanished. We are no longer viewers but participants in a shifting, unburied memory.
Values and Methodology
While I have retrieved many of my mother’s tapes documenting local defiance, The Alchemical Film Journal operates through intentionality rather than exposure. By favoring a slower technical rhythm, this registry builds a moral bridge, allowing for profound contemplation to ensure those who sacrificed so much are shielded and depicted with honor.
To respect these battles, we must assert full digital control of our heritage. Trusting Silicon Valley platforms makes grassroots stories suspect to automated silencing. As The Alchemical Film Journal demonstrates, the real battle for media is who controls the servers, not just the lenses. To safeguard our kin and keep our stories alive, we must avoid corporate tech giants and host our own platforms. We are the architects of our own remembrance and the guardians of our collective visual truth. Through this independence, we reclaim the power of the image and the sanctity of our shared history.