Skip to main content
A black-and-white photograph of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things + Q&A with Mark Cousins

Duration: 1h28m + 45m Q&A
Dates: Sat 2 Nov 2024 16:00

This film contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

Join us after the film for a Q&A with director Mark Cousins, hosted by Beth Bate, Director of DCA. 

Featuring Tilda Swinton as the voice of Scottish painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, this feature documentary tells the story of a remarkable artist and a magnificent obsession.

One day in 1949, a young Scottish painter climbed a Swiss glacier. The experience rewired her brain, and transformed her art. Barns-Graham was synaesthetic – associating letters, names and people with particular colours – and Cousins explores how her neurodiversity and her encounter with the glacier shaped her vision of the world.

Born and raised in St Andrews, Barns-Graham was a member of the St Ives group of modernist artists, who lived in the Cornish seaside town from the Second World War onwards. The glacier paintings inspired by her experience in Switzerland were the breakthrough in her artistic career. Through a cinematic immersion into her art and life, the film explores themes of gender, neurodiversity, climate change, and the nature of creativity from youth to old age.

Made with the support of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust, the film delves into her archives, private notebooks and diaries from her 65-year career. Two decades after her death in 2004, the film represents a major reassessment of Barns-Graham’s life and work, and her place in 20th century art.

A colourful abstract painting
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things + Q&A with Mark Cousins
Four people stand at the top of a white, artificial-seeming hill
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things + Q&A with Mark Cousins
A pencil drawing of glaciers
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things + Q&A with Mark Cousins
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham sketches on the beach.
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things + Q&A with Mark Cousins

Documentaries

Documentary
Two women with long black hair decorated with flowers and heavy dark makeup pose.

Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands + Q&A

Duration: 1h34m + 30m Q&A
Sat 9 Nov 2024
Documentary
A person skiing on a snowy mountain.

Warren Miller's 75

Duration: 1h45m including 10m interval
Mon 9 Dec 2024
Documentary
A large ship stuck in the ice

Endurance

Duration: 1h43m
Mon 14 - Thu 31 Oct 2024
New Releases
Layered digital image – Mogwai perform on stage overlaid with an image of singer Stuart Braithwaite

Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound + Q&A

Duration: 2h15m, age: 15+
Thu 7 Nov 2024
Celebration of Celluloid
A large projector silhouetted against a blue sky.

Splice Here: A Projected Odyssey

Duration: 1h57m + Recorded Introduction, age: 8+
Sun 3 Nov 2024

DCA Membership £25 PER YEAR

colourful seats in DCA cinema

Become a DCA Member and enjoy a range of benefits, offers and discounts across our programme while supporting us to enrich people’s lives through art, culture and creativity. Benefits include:

  • One free standard cinema ticket per year
  • £1 off your standard or over 60s ticket for regular Cinema screenings*
  • Priority booking on selected cinema seasons and gallery events
  • 10% off in DCA Shop when you spend £10 or more
  • 10% off DCA publications
  • 15% off Print Studio courses
  • 10% off food in Jute Café Bar
  • Further offers and discounts at DCA’s discretion

 

Membership costs £25 for one year.
*One discount per Member per event.

  • Membership Period: 1 year
  • Price: £25.00

Sign up and receive these benefits and more for

£25
per year

Thank you for adding this to your basket. Please proceed to your basket to complete your purchase.

Proceed To Basket