Phil Collins
Tomorrow Is Always Too Long, 82’, 2014

Tomorrow Is Always Too Long is a love letter to Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city. Developed over the course of a year with various local communities, it paints a portrait of daily life as seen through the scope of human experience, from birth and youth through education and the criminal justice system to old age. The film is built around musical sequences starring non-professional singers accompanied by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; public-access-style broadcasts with a cast of Glaswegians from all walks of life; and a series of intricate short animations depicting a night out on the town. The improbable lovechild of musicals and documentary, late-night television and silhouette animation, Tomorrow Is Always Too Long defies classification and embarks on an immersive, hypnotic trip into the heart of the city.

Phil Collins is a British-born filmmaker, visual artist, cultural organiser and educator based in Berlin and Wuppertal. His diverse practice is characterised by close engagements with place and communities, which over the years have included, amongst others, disco-dancing Palestinians, fans of The Smiths from three continents, Kosovan-Albanian refugees, the youth of Baghdad, anti-fascist skinheads in Malaysia, the homeless population of Cologne, and teachers of Marxism-Leninism from the former German Democratic Republic. Rather than static portraits, the works resulting from these collaborations articulate the nuances of relations embedded in the aesthetic regimes and economies that define everyday existence, from news and politics to entertainment and shopping.