Reflective Encounters

Shot in 8mm, Rhizome is an excitingly experimental exploration of identity and appearance, giving a unique perspective into underground queer culture between Bristol and London.

The film has a gritty quality, with a real sense of avant-garde flair. The subject matter of queer identity and underground communities is expertly portrayed through the director’s lens, offering an engaging and personal perspective into a world unfamiliar to most. The arthouse, abstract aesthetic is brilliantly tied together by the use of some really controlled and calculated editing.

The film’s title, Rhizome, is in reference to the philosophical principle of the same name, the idea that a culture can be an interconnected network, one which has no point of origin, no central point, nothing that controls or shapes or organizes it, something that simply grows. This rhizomatic ideology is portrayed through the varying queer subcultures shown in this film, the depictions of drag shows, punk shows, raves, and physical art are all interconnected. Above all though, Rhizome promotes a message of self-identification, self-love, and self-acceptance. Choosing your own stance in a world that more often than not tries to define yourself for you is truly an act of resistance.

— Tom Collinson