Taking The Michael

‘Taking The Michael’ is a crowdfunded feature-length documentary following one man’s unlikely odyssey through ancient and
modern Albion. The film follows the reunion of artist/filmmaker Ian Nesbitt with an enigmatic but puzzling former
acquaintance. It starts at the point of their reunion and traces their subsequent faltering progress down the St Michael’s
Ley Line through South West England – from Avebury in Wiltshire to St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. Travelling in a
pedal-powered 1968 Bond Ranger on ancient byways and green lanes, the pair’s curious pilgrimage is a surreal post-peak oil
exploration of this green and pleasant land and the hidden communities that populate it.

Using a combination of pure documentary, anecdotal oral history, and total myth, the film is, among other things, a field
investigation of the rich and varied pagan, Christian and mystical heritage of Britain, a search for new ways of considering
our collective future, and a vigorous testing of the relationship between documentary maker and subject.

Completed in Autumn 2012, the film has been screened across the country in a wide range of venues, from commercial cinemas
and galleries to post-industrial warehouses, converted barns and willow living structures. It was selected for Sheffield
Doc/Fest Videotheque 2013.

A trailer can be viewed here and a review by Wayne Burrows for Nottingham Visual Arts read here.