In Person: Richard Tuohy and Dianna Barrie

The Emami Art Experimental Film Festival (EAEFF) held in Kolkata from 11—14 September 2025 featured a special programme titled “Bumping into the Frame: Constructive Collisions and the Apparatus of Cinema” in which Australian experimental filmmakers Richard Tuohy and Dianna Barrie screened their work. The duo also conducted a workshop on Chromaflex, a technique of colour developing analogue film. In this edited conversation, they discuss their work at nanolab, the idea of the apparatus, the philosophy of sound design and the workshop at EAEFF.

Richard Tuohy (b. 1969, Melbourne) began making works on super 8 in the late 1980s. In 2006, he and his partner Dianna Barrie launched nanolab, a super 8 film processing laboratory based at their home in Daylesford Victoria. Since 2009, he has been an active and vocal member of the international artist-run film lab scene. In 2011, Richard and Dianna started the Artist Film Workshop, which has become the centre of experimental film practice on film in Australia, with regular experimental film screenings, touring artists programs as well as workshops. Tuohy's own works are firmly in the 'hand-made' film tradition.

Dianna Barrie (b. 1972, Melbourne) found her way into filmmaking as a middle ground between the pursuit of abstract music and philosophy. Dianna's film work could perhaps be characterised as 'direct chemical' filmmaking, with her works generally beginning with some form of camera image capture. This is followed by interventions during hand processing and exacting editing and/or printing processes; they are then completed with simple layered sound constructions.

(Featured Image: Still from China not China [2018] by Richard Tuohy and Dianna Barrie. Image courtesy of the artists.)

Recorded on 12 September 2025.

To learn more about EAEFF, watch conversations with Karthik Subramanian on his film Sleepwalker Archives (2024), Ketan Dua about his film Rafique Raat Ki Baahon Mein (2025), Mahishaa on Babasaheb in Bengaluru (2024) and Asmita Pal on A Very Clear Sunrise (2025).

Also read Ritam Sengupta’s essay on Pinak Banik’s film Obsolete Skygazer - Enlightened Observer - Ignorant Truthseeker - Emaciated Entourage (2025), Santasil Mallik’s engagement with Maha Haj’s Upshot (2024), Vishal George’s reflections on Mohammed Jassim’s Bar Saar (2023) and Ishtayaq Rasool’s observations on Fileona Dkhar’s Ancestral Echoes (2022).