Ali Roche

Familiar Phantoms

Familiar Phantoms is an experimental documentary short film about memory, history and trauma.

An Excavation

In 2014, 45 crates of looted antiquities were discovered at Geneva Freeport in a warehouse belonging to disgraced antiquities dealer Robin Symes. They contained tens of thousands of archaeological remnants worth around £7 million. Three of the crates were sent to forensic archaeologists Dr Christos Tsirogiannis and Dr Vinnie Norskov for research. An Excavation documents Tsirogiannis and Norskov’s investigation into a series of vases from the Geneva Freeport crates. Made in the 4th century BC by Apulian artisans, these vases remained buried in tombs for 2500 years before they were clandestinely excavated from their now irrecoverable contexts. The objects’ journeys through the hands of looters, smugglers, restorers and dealers are counterpointed by the hand-painted stories that adorn them. Made for burials, the vases depict scenes from the underworld – forensic and mythological narratives start to intertwine.

the destructors

As anti-Muslim attacks are on the rise in Brexit Britain, Imran Perretta lends his voice to disaffected Muslim youth who the United Kingdom continues to treat as a threat. In this two-screen group testimonial on their troubled upbringing, the young men reclaim their politicised bodies as an instrument to make their own percussive music.

In Vitro

Decades after an eco-disaster engulfs the biblical city of Bethlehem, two scientists from different generations discuss memory, exile and nostalgia in this symbolic speculative fiction.

Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033

Inspired by Derek Jarman’s 1978 queer punk film Jubilee, Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 follows Ayn Rand and members of her Collective, including Alan Greenspan, on an acid trip in 1955.

In the Future, They Ate from the Finest Porcelain

In the Future They Ate From the Finest Porcelain resides in the cross-section between sci-fi, archaeology and politics. Combining live motion, archival images and CGI, the film explores the role of myth for history, fact and national identity.

The Foundation

A portrait of a site and its multiple layers of existence, The Foundation takes place around Tom of Finland’s Foundation in Los Angeles, exploring the multiple layers, sub-communities, interpersonal relations, and erotic and artistic imaginaries that this site hosts, promotes, and projects.