A Dog Called Money

A child curiously presses its face against the window of a car in which British musician PJ Harvey and photojournalist and filmmaker Seamus Murphy are sitting. They are in Kabul, Afghanistan, one of three destinations to which they are travelling; the others are Kosovo and Washington, D.C. Harvey is searching for inspiration; collecting impressions and words, observing, listening and absorbing. Her thoughts can be heard in voice-over. Hers is the chronicle of a stranger whose attentive gaze is directed towards the reality of everyday life in the places she visits. Inspiration turns into poetry, which gives rise to songs for her album ‘The Hope Six Demolition Project’. Back in London, Harvey records these songs with her band in a purpose-built studio which serves as a kind of peepshow, its one-way window allowing interested audiences to observe the process.
Seamus Murphy transposes Harvey’s search for inspirational material and her intimate creative process into an impressively poetic montage that never once divests the musician of her enigmatic aura. A Dog Called Money merges the filmmaker’s and the musician’s visions in an extraordinary symbiosis.
by Seamus Murphy
with PJ Harvey
Ireland / United Kingdom 2019 English 90’ Colour Documentary form

With

  • PJ Harvey

Crew

Written and Directed by Seamus Murphy
Cinematography Seamus Murphy
Editing Sebastian Gollek
Music Polly Jean Harvey
Sound Design Brendan Rehill
Sound Seamus Murphy
Producers Isabel Davis, Katie Holly, James Wilson, Seamus Murphy
Co-Producer Evan Horan

Seamus Murphy

Born in the UK in 1959, he is a photographer, filmmaker and author. His photographic work has been exhibited in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Imperial War Museum in London, at Stanford University and at FRAC Auvergne. His film A Darkness Visible, documenting his work as a photographer in Afghanistan, was nominated for an Emmy Award. Having made music videos for musician PJ Harvey, he continued their collaboration with the book “The Hollow of the Hand”.

Filmography

2011 12 Short Films for PJ Harvey's Let England Shake; short film · A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan; short film 2012 Went the Games Well?; short film · Snake; short film 2013 Home is Another Place; short film 2014 Bagram; short film · Sons of Stonecutter Street; short film 2016 The Hope Six Demolition Project; short film

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019