4 February, 7pm – 7 February 2021, 11pm

The Weeping Willow Tree: Film Screening

A weeping willow is planted in the Scottish rural town of Huntly, marking Brexit Day. This film follows the resulting controversy, fault lines throughout Huntly, and the survival of The Brexit Tree.

The Brexit Tree, an 80 minute documentary, has been made by Jan Martinec as a part of the Weeping Willow Tree project in which Deveron Projects commissioned artist Clemens Wilhelm to focus on the social and cultural divisions created by the process of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. The project revolved around the planting of The Weeping Willow Tree on 31 January 2020 in collaboration with the communities of Huntly. This event was hosted in partnership with Alchemy Film & Arts who were screening the film as part of their ContinueWatching programme. The Brexit Tree was streamed on Alchemy's digital screening venue, and followed bya panel discussion with Clemens Wilhelm, Deveron Projects Director Claudia Zeiske, Alchemy's Creative DirectorMichael Pattison and writer and comedian A.L. Kennedy.  Live Stream and Panel Discussion // Thursday 4 February 2021, 7pm GMTOn Demand // 5 - 7 February 2021 The discussion is available here.

Alchemy Film & ArtsAlchemy Film & Arts is a cultural organisation based in Hawick, invested in film as a means of generating discussion,strengthening community, and stimulating creative thought. The organisation brings the highest quality experimentalfilm to Hawick and the Scottish Borders, celebrating artistic excellence through a diverse range of year-round events –including exhibitions, commissions, residencies and an internationally renowned annual film festival. Clemens WilhelmClemens Wilhelm is an artist and filmmaker based in Berlin whose practice ranges from film/video to photography andperformance. His works have shown internationally in institutions and festivals such as Centre Pompidou Paris, RockbundArt Museum Shanghai, and Anthology Film Archives in New York. Clemens has been working with Deveron Projects andthe Weeping Willow Tree project since 2018.  Jan MartinecJan Martinec is an artist and a filmmaker based in Berlin. He believes that ‘being an artist is a political statement’, and hisfilms explore this very idea. His films have screened at Ji.Hlava International Documentary Film Festival in Czech Republic,and as part of exhibitions and screenings in London, New York, Tilburg (Netherlands), Prague, Evora (Portugal), Xiamen(China) and Seoul. A.L. KennedyA.L.Kennedy was born in Dundee. She lived for almost 30 years in Glasgow and now stays in North Essex. She has wona variety of UK and international book awards for her novels, short story collections, books of non-fiction and books forchildren, including a Lannan Award, the Costa Prize and the John Llewellyn Rees Prize. Throughout 2019 she ranAffentheater, a Brexit related column in the Süddeutsche ZeitungClaudia ZeiskeClaudia Zeiske is the Director of Deveron Projects. With a life long-long commitment to local-global activism she followedBrexit unfolding with apprehension. Next to The Weeping Willow Tree, she initiated a number of Brexit related projects,including Home to Home, a walk from her home in Huntly to her childhood home in Unterpfaffenhofen near Munich.  Title image: The Brexit Tree, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.