“An epic film . . . the Warholian result is a spellbinding – and frequently baffling – meditation on time.” – Jonathan Jones
The Lock-In never ends. Consisting entirely of pub footage from the British soap opera EastEnders, it is endless inasmuch as its source is endless and its makers living.
Created by Stanley Schtinter, The Lock-In premiered in 2022 as a 96-hour installation at the Oberhausen Int’l Short Film Festival to critical acclaim. It was installed at the Barbican Centre in London throughout July 2022, and also subject to an East End pub tour: durational screenings at eleven different East End institutions over the course of one month.
Close-Up is delighted to premiere a new and completely unseen extension of Schtinter’s work, announcing the forthcoming publication of the book documenting the project. This durational screening of 7.5 hours will cover the entirety of the year 1999 as experienced in EastEnders’ Queen Vic pub (emerging – or falling – into the millennium).
Stanley Schtinter’s recent projects include the film Schneewittchen (IFFR, 2024) and the book and touring programme, Last Movies (Tenement Press / ICA, 2023). Sight & Sound magazine has described him “the witchfinder general of cultural complacency.”