Obsessed with Light

From the team who brought us Letters From Baghdad in 2022, Obsessed with Light is a mesmerising rumination on the qualities of light and the enduring obsession to create. It pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller, who was a midwestern vaudeville performer (working with Buffalo Bill) before becoming an international star in Belle Époque Paris, and the very embodiment of Art Nouveau – the “Fairy of Light”.

Wildly original, Fuller revolutionised early twentieth-century visual culture by inventing a new kind of spectacle – utilising dance, light and fabric in ephemeral, shape-shifting abstractions, and pioneering ingenious use of electricity for the stage. Recall any rock concert, and you’ll have seen a modern version of the lighting designs that Fuller patented more than a century ago. Accordingly, the film explores not only her life and art, but also her potent influence on contemporary artists, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Taylor Swift and William Kentridge.