Paris Fitzpatrick

Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet is a passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare's classic love story. Bursting with youth, vitality and Matthew Bourne's trademark storytelling.

In a haunting encounter, the film captures our fragmented perception of time during the pandemic while exploring the dynamics of mutual support. We are made aware of earthly transience (mono no aware) in a time when the Earth seems to stand still. Before We Collide is a short film shot on a Nishika N8000 analog lenticular camera consisting of over 800 photographs pieced together. The film does not give the impression that it is made for me, you, or anyone for that matter. It simply exists as an artefact that can be witnessed, like found footage of a ghostly apparition.

Matthew Bourne choreographs this version of Tchaikovsky's ballet performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre. Bourne sets the first part of the story in 1890, the year in which Tchaikovsky completed his version of Charles Perrault's classic fairy tale, with Beauty pricking herself on the poisoned rose in 1911 and awakening 100 years later in the contemporary world.