King's Lynn Museum showing special screening of brand new art film by Anna Brass

A fascinating new film by Norwich-based artist and filmmaker, Anna Brass will be shown at Lynn Museum on Saturday, April 1.

It is entitled Haukebodde Hacoud Hacwod Aukud Acud Acut Acuto, supported by the Stuart Croft Foundation, and is an experimental film set in late medieval Italy and Essex.

It is inspired by the life of an extraordinary medieval adventurer, John Hawkwood, who became a notorious mercenary in Italy where he was known as Giovanni Acuto.

Anna is particularly excited to be sharing her new film in the museum locations and said: “I’m really excited to show my film at Lynn Museum because of its brilliant collection of pilgrim badges, a source of imagery I return to again and again.”

As Giovanni Acuto, Hawkwood is depicted in a funerary fresco by the famous Renaissance artist, Paolo Uccello, painted on the north wall of the nave of Florence’s cathedral.

The fresco honours Acuto, who died in 1390, as a Florentine hero, portraying him as a man in armour on horseback on top of a tomb.

But Acuto’s life started in a very different place under a very different name in Essex as John Hawkwood, with some accounts suggesting he was born in a forest.

Anna’s film starts in that forest somewhere in Essex in the year of our lord one thousand three hundred and twenty.

Her short film draws on diverse imagery to convey a world in a state of flux, populated with strange objects and characters, oversized pilgrim badges, a mystic-activist saint and talking maiolica pots.

This process of transformation informs the structure of the film. Hawkwood is an elusive and shapeshifting presence, appearing in each scene in a different form.

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The film will also be shown at Ancient House Museum, Thetford on Saturday, March 25.