London Short Film Festival screening

Wish You Rocked My World my video for Hungry Audio's Mia Vigar will be screening at the London Short Film Festival. It will be part of the Music & Video screening, to take place at the Roxy Bar & Screen in London Bridge on Saturday 16^thJanuary 2010, at 4.30pm. Details of the programme below:

2SHOTS (Tommy Anderson)

303 (Dan Shipton)

BACK WHEN YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL (Neil Whitman)

BLACK GRAPES OF THE CHEST (Yui Hamagashira)

BOTTOM OF THE RIVER (Alisdair Brotherson / Jock Mooney)

EN BLANC ET NOIR (Tal Rosner)

ENDLESS CITIES (Michael Faulkner / Matthias Kispert)

A FILM ABOUT POO (Emily Ho)

THE GANZFELD PROCEDURE (Keith McCarthy)

I DON’T WANT TO BE MURDERED (Greg Butler)

LIFE AFTER BETH (Mysterious Al)

MOMENTS (Martin B Gulnov)

THE PERSISTENT RESISTANCE OF VISION (James Baker)

PRESS THAT DOWN (Craig Wilson)

STILL LIFE: LONDON (Wyllie O’Hagan)

SUSPENDED BLUES (Ryan Herbert)

A TIME AND A TIME (Sarah Cox)

MELT (Philip Clemo)

UGLY LOVE (Jane Ashby)

VOXEL (Ubik)

WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT (Max Hattler)

WISH YOU ROCKED MY WORLD (Kate Jessop)

Check out www.shortfilms.org.uk for full festival details

On Miles Platting Station on BBC Film Network

My adaptation of Simon Armitages 'On Miles Platting Station' is being showcased on the homepage of the BBC Film Network http://www.live.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/

The film was commissioned by Comma Film in 2007 for the New Islington Festival and charts the journey from the Pennines into Manchester featuring what is now an old disused railway station

Animation workshop - Version Film Festival

Version film festival kicks off in Manchester 13 - 15th November showcasing 4 new commissions from Comma Film and various events/seminars. 

Some of my shorts are showing the retrospective programme at the Cornerhouse and I'll be conducting an animation workshop, details as below. 

For full schedule check out http://www.commapress.co.uk/?section=books&page=VersionProgramme

Animation Workshop

FRI 13 NOV.
Green Room, 1pm.
Free.
To book a place email ra.page@commapress.co.uk with 'Animation Workshop' in the title.

Want to animate a poem? Award-winning animator Kate Jessop offers a frame-by-frame guide to visualising verse, from the first kernel of inspiration, to plotting out a visual narrative, using the rhythm of the source material as an editing guide through to the technical challenges of sound designing a poem-film.

Kate Jessop is a mixed-media filmmaker who specialises in layered animation and live action montage, combining hand crafted and new media techniques. She has worked with Comma Film since 2006, adapting the work of writers such as Simon Armitage, Gaia Holmes and David Constantine. Her very first poem-adaptation 'Desires' was shortlisted for the Virgin Media Shorts prize 2008 (and then shopwn in cinemas ahead of feature films across the country), it was also included on the Best of Birds Eye View and WIFTI showreels in 2007 and shown in over 30 countries world wide. 'Desires' is now distributed through Shorts International. Her ACE-funded film 'When the Telescope Came' won the Femme Fantastique prize at the London Short Film Festival 2008, and 'The Loss' has recently shown at Raindance and Branchage Festival. Kate has also programmed for various events and festivals including Manchester's Girls on Film collective, Salford Film festival, Birds Eye View and Ladyfest. She is just about to start a residency in Berlin.
Green Room, Workspace

Raindance screening

'The Loss' will be showing at the 17th Raindance film festival 2009 in one of the shorts programmes. 

Oct 11th, 11.45am, Apollo Cinema, SW1Y 

Details here http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?aid=4801 

The Loss at Branchage and award nomination

'The Loss', last years adaptation of the story by David Constantine will be showing at the Branchage Jersey international film festival, details here:  http://www.branchagefestival.com/film/short-films-new-submissions-3-fantasy-worlds

I'm also nominated for the Budding Talent award for most promising up and coming talent

Comma Film at Latitude

I'll be presenting with Comma at the Latitude festival in Suffolk this Friday 12.15 - 1.15 pm. Join us in the film tent for shorts and Q+A with writer Gaia Holmes and myself.

Distribution deal with Shorts International!

I've just signed a 7 year distribution deal with Shorts International for 'Desires', my first Comma Film commission of the poem by Gaia Holmes. Shorts International supply short films to multi-platforms around the world including TV channels HBO, Canal+ and various digital platforms.  This means the film will be unavailable to watch online now, but is still touring UK cinemas playing before the main feature, check out earlier post for tour schedule.

Desires was commissioned for the Manchester Literature festival '06, and has since been shown in over 30 cities around the world and was shortlisted for the Virgin Media Shorts prize '08, one of 12 films from 1500.

BBC Big Screen national screenings

A selection of shorts made with Comma Film are screening across the UK on the BBC Big Screens throughout June and July, showing at:

BRADFORD, CENTENARY SQUARE

BRISTOL, MILLENNIUM SQUARE

CARDIFF, THE HAYES

DERBY, THE MARKET PLACE

HULL, QUEEN VICTORIA SQUARE

LEEDS, MILLENNIUM SQUARE

LIVERPOOL, CLAYTON SQUARE

MANCHESTER, EXCHANGE SQUARE

MIDDLESBROUGH, CENTRE SQUARE

NORWICH, CHAPELFIELD PLAIN 

PLYMOUTH, ARMADA WAY

PORTSMOUTH, GUILDHALL SQUARE

ROTHERHAM, ALL SAINTS SQUARE

SWANSEA, CASTLE SQUARE

SWINDON, WHARF GREEN

WALTHAM FOREST, WALTHAMSTOW TOWN SQUARE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens/

Fight disability prejudice

I'm sure everyone knows this link by now, but thanks to Clair Lewis, a Manchester disability activist who set up this group to support great friend and collaborator Cerrie Burnell:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51841632298

Cerrie narrated my award winning film 'When the Telescope Came' and is one of the bravest, most inspirational and - not forgetting - actually downright hilarious people you could ever have the privilege to know or work with.

I hope c**ts like this spend everyday being weighed down by their hearts of stone:

"What ever next! Will I be paying my licence fee to watch someone without any legs! Or will they be scaring my kids with someone with absolutely no limbs whatsoever! That'll give them nice DREAMS won't it! Give me my money back BBC and Pull your socks right up!!"

Lionel Candsworth, London, UK, 

Here is Cerrie having to discuss comments like this at 8o'clock in the morning on BBC Breakfast News:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK61ssge600

Screenings in Germany

I'll be presenting with Comma Film at the 19th international video festival in Bochum, 18 - 20th June which showcases shorts, installations, VJing - www.videofestival.org

Moves '09 film festival events

I'll be at the Moves '09 film festival in Manchester (24 - 27th April) for my screening with Comma Film and artists talk for the 'Dance for Camera nights' event where we'll be discussing the role of narrative in artists film. Details below:

CARTE BLANCHE: COMMA FILM 
This Friday (24th), 9pm. Cervantes Institute. Free.

A late-night showcase of 12 films produced as part of the on-going Comma Film project - adaptations of award-winning poems and short stories published independently in the region, featuring poems and stories by John Cooper Clarke, Hanif Kureishi, David Constantine, Shamshad Khan, Kath McKay and many others. Directors include Terry Wragg, Gwendolen Osmond (film pictured), Ronald Wright, Caleb Shaffer, Charlotte Caetano, James Fisher, Sarah Eyre, Kate Jessop and Lisa Risbec. Accompanied by a live reading by Gaia Holmes plus q&a with the filmmakers.

Join us for our popular forum for artists, hosted by Simon Fildes (University of Dundee). This is a chance to discuss the issues relevant to screen dance as well as an opportunity to learn from and network with fellow artists.

The events guest speaker is Lucy Cash, screen dance artist and South East Dance Fellow 2009. Lucy Cash and Simon Fildes will explore the idea of narrative in relation to non-fiction and fiction works. Through an informal conversation different approaches to narrative are considered and a playful experiment into instant narrative will be undertaken!

 Dance for Camera Nights also features a work-in-progress sharing with artist Kate Jessop exploring her short film adaptation work in animation and mixed media film.

Girls on Film International Women's Day event

Girls on Film International Women's Day event at Bradford Playhouse, 8/3/09, 2 - 5.30pm, £2 featuring short films, music, performance...for full line up and details check out www.girlsonfilmnetwork.org

Poetryfilm event

My Arts Council funded film When the Telescope Came is being screened at a Poetryfilm event showcasing films and performance. Details below:

WEDNESDAY 18TH FEBRUARY. CURZON SOHO LONDON.FREE.

7 - 10pm. Films start 7.30pm

Curzon Cinemas and Poetryfilm present a night of live and visual poetry in the Curzon Soho bar.

Malgorzata Kitowski introduces a selection of experimental PoetryFilms: films based on poems, poems turned in films, and text based films. The evening will be punctuated by live performances and music

Congratulations!

Well done to collaborator and When the Telescope Came narrator Cerrie Burnell who starts presenting Cbeebies this week - you're going to be a HUGE inspiration to a lot of people...!