“All I can do is show up here everyday and show you my heart and soul” (Jeff Barnaby: Cast and Crew Speech - Blood Quantum)

Jeff Barnaby (1976 – 2022) was an uncompromising Montreal-based multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker. An Indigenous storyteller of First Nations Mi’gmaq descent, his trailblazing work combined elements of Body Horror, Magical Realism and Science Fiction with brutal honesty, humour and grit through the lens of a singularly edgy and unflinching ‘punk-gothic-aesthetic’.

Drawing influence from titans like Cronenberg, Carpenter and Romero, Barnaby brings a new vitality to their activation of genre's satirical and allegorical potential. His commitment to using horror as a ‘gateway drug to better conversations’, results in a body of work that is both culturally specific and universal.

Speaking truth to power in relation to settler colonialism’s pervasive impact upon Indigenous histories, bodies and identities, his films Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) and Blood Quantum (2019) continue to connect with new audiences, cementing his legacy as one of the most important genre filmmakers of his generation, underseen, and under-celebrated in the UK.

This retrospective of Barnaby’s work is presented by Adam Murray (Bristol Black Horror Club) and Stephen Morgan (University of Bristol) as part of Other Ways of Seeing, with support from BFI Awarding Funds from National Lottery.

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