Our feature length documentary Burning Bridges explores the explosive story of the influential artist Paul Burwell who died in mysterious circumstances Hull in 2007.
If you don’t recognise Paul Burwell’s name and you’re not familiar with his work, that’s not entirely surprising… achieving fame was never his intention, but Burwell was part of creative movement that has had a wide and enduring influence on British art and music.
Packed with previously unseen archive footage and images, Burning Bridges tells the story of the emerging sound art, improvised music and performance art scene in London from the 1960s through to the early 2000s and provides an insight into the joyful but also tragic life of a truly avant garde artist who pushed creativity to the furthest edges of human capability.
The film, which was funded by the radical arts organisation Future’s Venture, features interviews with many of Burwell’s closest associates – many of them internationally acclaimed artists and musicians such as David Toop, Anne Bean, Richard Wilson, Evan Parker, Max Eastley, Steve Beresford, Steve Noble, Sylvia Hallett, Peter Cusack, Ansuman Biswas and many others, together with Paul’s sons Piers and Titus and their mum Sheila Cobbing, and a host of Hull-based artists including Brian Gilson, Glynis Neslen, Yol, Dave Ellis, Lee Merrel and Jez Riley-French.
Burning Bridges was officially selected for the Doc’n’Roll music documentary festival and it premiered at the ICA on The Mall in London in November 2024, followed by sold-out screenings at London’s Cafe OTO and a sold out Hull premiere at Hull Truck in January 2025.
Praise for Burning Bridges:
“This is an INCREDIBLE film. The people you’ve tracked down, the precision and tone of what they have to say, the creative explorations of Paul and his shifting crew of seekers: it’s inspiring, feels completely fresh, and is beautifully handled. At the same time, the latter part of the film feels like a horror movie – so dark, inexorable….I left wanting the film to be twice its current length!” Sukhdev Sandhu
“A riveting account of Burwell’s intense and uncompromising life.” Julian Cowley, The Wire.
“His blazing work and terrible demise are reanimated in this brilliant portrait of an almost-extinct British bohemia.” Films of the Year 2024, Prospect Magazine
“A truly extraordinary piece of work.” Richard Williams
“Always on the edge, the film grinds a wild and hard path to Paul’s eventual isolation and tragic death.” Tim Etchells, Forced Entertainment
“A snapshot of the emergence of the British improvisation scene and experimental performance and its generational shifts in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. It’s beautifully put together. It really resets your boundaries of what it is and means to be committed to a radical creative life.” Pete Gomes
