Martin Scorsese shares self-shot isolation film for the BBC

If you tuned into BBC Two at 7pm last night, you will have caught a new film by the one and only Martin Scorsese.

An isolation film self-shot at the director's home in New York, the short has been made for the BBC’s Lockdown Culture with Mary Beard. Speaking directly to the camera in the majority of the piece, the short sees the director talking honestly about his experience in isolation, while also showing eager-eyed viewers snippets from his home interspersed with shots of films – recognisably Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man for example.

Discussing many of the emotions most of us have felt since the beginning of lockdown restrictions began in March, Scorsese discusses the initial relief he felt following a busy period, through to anxiety, before discussing the lessons learned during his time at home. “What I look forward to in the future is carrying with me what I have been forced to learn in these circumstances,” he says. “It is the essential. The people you love. Being able to take care of them and be with them as much as you can.”

The short featured in the final episode of Lockdown Culture with Mary Beard, originally titled Front Row Late before shifting during this lockdown period. A key part of BBC Arts’ “Culture In Quarantine” initiative, the show, amongst others, “has sought to keep arts alive in the homes of the British public during lockdown,” says the BBC. Other segments of the show’s run this season also include luminary creative names like Margaret Atwood, Antony Gormley, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Olafur Eliasson.

On this final edition to the series Mary adds: “I was absolutely over the moon when he agreed to do it for us. It feels a bit like hosting a little premiere! And it all contributes to a pretty amazing finale… We wanted to show that arts and culture aren’t just a comfort in times like this (though of course they are) but that times like this can help us take a fresh look at culture, and see things with new eyes.”

You can watch the episode, and previous shows, here.