Stirbitch: An Imaginary

Film-poem, 68 minutes — written, directed, photographed and produced by Michael Hrebeniak

Stirbitch: An Imaginary explores the relationships between landscape, cultural memory and carnival through the vanished site of Stourbridge Fair in Cambridge. Drawing on a gathering that endured for seven centuries, Hrebeniak approaches the location through a combination of psychogeography and dream. Situated within the tradition of the English Eerie, the film considers how places can retain associations with forms of collective life that have disappeared from view. The landscape becomes a starting point for an encounter with history through atmosphere, sound and poetic reflection. 

The film brings together Hrebeniak’s writing and cinematography with narration by Robin Kirkpatrick, editing by Michael Weir and visual design by Marc Atkins. Its soundtrack combines original music by the Memory Band and Jeremy Thurlow with archival recordings of Pablo Casals performing Bach and field recordings of East Anglian folk songs. These different musical and spoken elements extend the project’s exploration of memory across visual and sonic forms. 

Completed in 2019, the film has been screened at Cambridge’s Leper Chapel and Heong Gallery, as well as in Paris and Vienna. It forms part of Hrebeniak’s wider investigation of Stourbridge Fair, which also includes a chapter in Cinematic Urban Geographies.