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 Continue
Watching programme. The Brexit Tree was streamed on Alchemy's digital screening venue, and followed by
a panel discussion with Clemens Wilhelm, Deveron Projects Director Claudia Zeiske, Alchemy's Creative Director
Michael Pattison and writer and comedian A.L. Kennedy.
Live Stream and Panel Discussion // Thursday 4 February 2021, 7pm GMT
On Demand // 5 – 7 February 2021
The discussion is available here.
Alchemy Film & Arts
Alchemy 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 experimental
film 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 Wilhelm
Clemens Wilhelm is an artist and filmmaker based in Berlin whose practice ranges from film/video to photography and
performance. His works have shown internationally in institutions and festivals such as Centre Pompidou Paris, Rockbund
Art Museum Shanghai, and Anthology Film Archives in New York. Clemens has been working with Deveron Projects and
the Weeping Willow Tree project since 2018.
Jan Martinec
Jan Martinec is an artist and a filmmaker based in Berlin. He believes that ‘being an artist is a political statement’, and his
films 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. Kennedy
A.L.Kennedy was born in Dundee. She lived for almost 30 years in Glasgow and now stays in North Essex. She has won
a variety of UK and international book awards for her novels, short story collections, books of non-fiction and books for
children, including a Lannan Award, the Costa Prize and the John Llewellyn Rees Prize. Throughout 2019 she ran
Affentheater, a Brexit related column in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Claudia Zeiske
Claudia Zeiske is the Director of Deveron Projects. With a life long-long commitment to local-global activism she followed
Brexit 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.
