An Award-Winning Film
SILHOUETTE SECRETS is a one-hour feature documentary in which a modern-day silhouette artist takes a journey back in time to explore the history of his shadowy art, asking the question ‘Where did it come from?’.
On the way he meets the world’s fastest silhouette artist, who challenges him to a duel of scissors. The journey takes him from a windswept seaside pier on the north coast of Wales to an Audi showroom in Houston, and finishes with an intriguing answer to his question.
Directed by Andi Reiss. Presented, written and produced by Charles Burns. Co-produced by Cindi Rose. Running time: approx 60 minutes.
Watch the full film
The collector’s edition
Own a physical copy. Silhouette Secrets is available on DVD and Blu-ray: a signed, collector’s edition for anyone who loves the film or the art.
The Making of Silhouette Secrets
Making the film was an adventure, an example of my scissors taking me to places I’d never otherwise have gone. Naturally I wrote plenty about it as we went along, which you can read in this series of blog posts:
Will anybody fund a silhouette documentary film?
WHEN I FIRST DISCOVERED the art of silhouette it seemed like a tiny corner in the world of art, unloved by the fine-art establishment. Back then, the thought of a silhouette documentary was hard to…
First attempts at filming
VERY EXCITED TO REPORT we’ve at last started filming Silhouette Secrets. We filmed this interview and “how to cut a silhouette” sequence in front of my wall of silhouette duplicate albums. It is unlikely to…
Free Silhouettes and Other Silhie Ideas
FREE SILHOUETTES! I begin this year in a state of high excitement. We have started filming “Silhouette Secrets” in earnest. This is my first foray into the world of film (apart from occasional TV appearances: Blue…
Silhouette Digital Selfies
AS OUR INDIEGOGO campaign enters it’s final week I’m posting the promised update… and a request for a tweet! Tomorrow will be Silhouette Secrets’ Twitter day, and your chance to win a digital selfie. A digital-selfie…
Cutting The Oxford Shark
DURING FILMING of Silhouette Secrets in February 2014 we were unexpectedly let down by an interviewee in London. We found ourselves, camera crew in tow, with nothing to film on a beautiful winter morning. On a…
Does ‘One’ in Houston mean ‘Go’?
THERE SEEMS to be some ambiguity over the silhouette speed-cutting world record. The main item on our 2014 US agenda was a trip to Houston to meet the world’s fastest silhouette artist: Cindi Harwood Rose….
Tales of a Wayside Inn
AFTER VISITING HOUSTON the Silhouette Secrets film crew were invited to a lunch by SCONE. We met “Silhouette Cutters of New England” at the Wayside Inn, near Boston. We knew nothing of the Wayside Inn’s…
Criminal Profiling
WHILE IN AMERICA last year, filming for the documentary ‘Silhouette Secrets’, we visited Philadelphia to study a 200-year-old automatic silhouette-making machine. On the way my mind lapsed and I found myself driving on the wrong side…
The Final Cut
THE FILM IS OUT! I seem to have spent most of my time this summer cooped up in the editing room with Andi, making the final cut of Silhouette Secrets. Silhouette Secrets is a one-hour documentary film in which…
First Festival Successes
SILHOUETTE SECRETS seems off to a flying start. We took part in two film festivals towards the end of 2015 and have applied for many more this year. The first two festivals were the Marbella International Film Festival, where…
Dai Vernon and the Paul Daniels cameo
MY FILM SILHOUETTE SECRETS includes a cameo appearance by the late Paul Daniels. This interview, our “Paul Daniels cameo,” was filmed while production was already underway. We were looking for a magician to talk about…
Harry Oakley’s Trench Life in Silhouette
AFTER WATCHING Silhouette Secrets, people sometimes ask what sparked my interest in silhouettes. It isn’t such an easy question to answer. However, my mind often returns to this silhouette, which has been in my family…
The themes explored in Silhouette Secrets – the history of silhouettes, the science of physiognomy, the eighteenth-century selfie – form the basis of my talks on the history of silhouettes. Find out more on the Speaking Engagements page.
Awards & Accolades
In its first year, Silhouette Secrets was selected for film festivals on four continents. Awards included two “Best Documentary” awards, the Remi Award at WorldFest Houston, and the Gold Award at the International Movie Awards.
