OBX Film Night 1: We Are Making A Film About Mark Fisher

What is the film about?

We Are Making A Film About Mark Fisher is a 65-minute cinematic experiment exploring the continuing relevance of the late theorist’s ideas on capitalism, culture, and the future. Directed by Simon Poulter and Sophie Mellor (collaborating as Close and Remote) the film was made in 2024-2025 using Instagram (@markfisherfilm) as a methodological tool to find collaborators, generate research and disseminate content.

With over 70 invited contributors listed the film blends documentary, performance, new music, and hauntological fiction. The main narrative follows Parkins – a time-slipped character – through ghostly landscapes and digital spaces, tracing Fisher’s thoughts from the 1990s to our algorithmic present. A second narrative emerges from interviews conducted with theorists, journalists, and artists whose life and work have been influenced by him.

The film embodies Fisher’s call for collective imagination beyond capitalist realism. It ends in the room with a discussion about agency and what we can do next.

The film tours around Europe with screenings and Q&A events at a variety of locations. Full details on tour closeandremote.net

Prior to the film will be a short introduction.

Who is Mark Fisher?

Mark Fisher was a cultural theorist, critic, teacher and author, known for his dissection of popular culture and the neoliberal system he saw it as often, unwittingly, supporting. He saw ‘capitalist realism’ everywhere, saw mental health as fundamentally political, and saw culture as haunted by lost futures and unrealised possibilities from the past. And he had begun to sketch out an alternative, 'Acid Communism', as he began to outline in his final lectures on 'Post-Capitalist Desire’. His suicide in 2017 meant that this lecture series was never completed.But his ideas live on and continue to inspire, including his attitudes towards new technologies. Fisher saw technology as a double-edged sword - used not only to support capitalist realism but also potentially, when in the right hands, for liberation - expanding consciousness through a form of ‘digital psychedelia'...On 28th May 2026, OBX is showing a new film exploring Fisher’s ideas, one that uses technology as a collective tool for radical imaginations.

Useful things to know...

Bring Your Own Booze: You are welcome to bring your own drinks with you as long as they are in a can. Please read our drinks policy here for more information.

Seating Provided: There will be a number of chairs and beanbags provided. If you would like to bring your own camping chair with you please do.

How to get here: The entrance to OBX is via the alley off Robertson Street between the Henry Ward Hall and Racer Computers.

Please note that this is an accessible venue.

Ticketing: Your ticket will support Hastings Commons's CLT's charitable purposes.

Trigger Warnings: Brief talk of suicide.

Alt Text:

A photo of man in a tunnel that is slighly distorted.

A photo of people protesting.

A photo of a man crouched down in nature.

Photos: Film stills

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Host or Publisher OBX: Creative Technology at the Observer Building