Academic filmmaking is about more than simply documenting research — it’s about visualising complex ideas, making them accessible, and revealing the human connections behind scholarly work. In this collaboration, I had the privilege of working with the Mapping the Quartet team on a film that explores the vibrant, ongoing legacy of four groundbreaking women philosophers: Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, and Mary Midgley.

Presented by Professor Clare Mac Cumhaill and Dr Rachael Wiseman, the film brings together scholars, students, and public thinkers to reflect on what it means to do philosophy — and who gets to do it. Set in the Shincliffe and Bailey Rooms near Durham, it is part documentary, part tribute, and part creative intervention.

Background: Who Were the Wartime Quartet?

The Mapping the Quartet project shines a spotlight on four friends and intellectual collaborators who met at Oxford during the Second World War. At a time when academic philosophy was dominated by abstract logic and a near-total absence of women, these thinkers resisted the narrow boundaries of the field. Instead, they turned to ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and the practical questions of how to live. Each went on to reshape British philosophy in lasting ways, yet their collaborative influence has often been overlooked.

Mapping the Quartet is not just a historical recovery — it is a creative project that aims to reframe philosophy as a shared, lived, and public endeavour, featuring biographies, educational materials, interactive maps, and creative outputs inspired by the Quartet’s work.

Philosophy in Practice and in Community

The film explores how contemporary scholars are reimagining philosophy as something participatory, embodied, and emotionally resonant — from a poster session showcasing public-facing projects to the story of a green biscuit tin travelling the world as a vessel for philosophical conversation.

Participants speak with clarity and passion about how the In Parenthesis project has changed the way they think. One contributor explains that discovering this network of women philosophers made her want to stay in academia. Another reflects on how the project creates “a pushing love” — a collective energy that inspires change.

My Approach to Academic Filmmaking

I have been involved in academic filmmaking for over 15 years, specialising in capturing the thought processes, values, and personalities behind academic and creative research. Working with teams like the Mapping the Quartet collective is about finding the visual and narrative language that makes abstract ideas feel grounded and real. At the heart of academic filmmaking is showing the why behind the work — not just what’s being studied, but why it matters to the people doing it and to wider audiences.

I bring a lightweight, unobtrusive production style that supports the spontaneity and intimacy essential to academic filmmaking — particularly when filming conversations, seminars, or reflective moments. Whether documenting archival research, interdisciplinary events, or creative collaborations, I aim to make films that are both artistically engaging and academically respectful.

This isn’t philosophy as usual — it’s collaborative, feminist, creative, and deeply engaged with the world outside the academy.

One of the most powerful aspects of this project is how it uses academic filmmaking not only to share knowledge but to advocate for a more inclusive, responsive, and public-facing philosophy. By visualising philosophy in community — in rooms filled with laughter, debate, art, and shared curiosity — the film encourages viewers, especially women and underrepresented groups, to see themselves as part of philosophy’s future.