Leicester graduate and astrophotographer involved in new film project

BBC’s Sky at Night presenter and Leicester alumnus Pete Lawrence gives expert insight on the mysteries of the universe in a new film about time, presented by Leffe®.

The 11-minute documentary, called SLOW TIME, directed by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Gary Tarn, shows astrophotographer Lawrence working with his telescope capturing ethereal ‘timescape’ images of planets and stars millions of light years away.

He features alongside five other artists and artisans who also use time as a key component of their work, including micro-sculptor Willard Wigan, camera-less photographer Susan Derges, charcuterie producer Adrienne E Treeby, and influential stop-frame animators the Quay Brothers.

Lawrence, who graduated from Leicester with a degree in Physics with Astrophysics, talks passionately about time as a key component of his work, saying: “You see all those stars and I think you’re aware that you’re in a timescape.

“The light from those objects has to come from such an enormous distance, that you’re not looking at them as they are, but rather as they were. The sun is 8.5 light minutes away, so you are seeing the sun as it was 8.5 minutes ago.”

Some of the stunning images of the Universe captured by Lawrence are overlaid in the film to support his words.