Back with a bang in the New Year: the press release from the GFT doing all the work and the VileArts just adding the odd cheeky comment.
Glasgow Short Film Festival 13-16 February 2014
I'm dividing the programme into two parts: stuff I care about, and stuff that I don't, but other people probably do.
GSFF14 OPENING PERFORMANCE: PULSE
The Arches | Thursday 13 February (Doors 20.30, concert starts 21.00) | 1h, N/C 15+| £8.
Glasgow Short Film Festival is delighted to present the World Premiere of PULSE, a dramatic collaboration between British/Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova and Scottish film-maker Ruth Paxton. PULSE is a noir-like expressionistic short film about peril and rescue. Travelling through the streets of Glasgow by the river Clyde to the iconic Grand Central Hotel, the collaboration pairs Tabakova’s rich musical language with Paxton’s bold film-making to explore the energy and diversity of life in a modern city and the driving forces behind how different societies and cultures mix. Tabakova’s score for piano, percussion and gamelan will be performed live, along with performances of other original compositions.
PULSE is commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, as part of the PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music Biennial in 2014. Made in association with Edge City Films.
ALEX NEILSON SCORES
The Art School | Saturday 15 February (Doors 19.00, first set 19.30) | 3h
Best known as songwriter and drummer for Trembling Bells, and as a leading proponent of the experimental folk scene, Alex Neilson regularly plays with the likes of Jandek and Will Oldham. However, his musical projects currently extend to mixed media free jazz and unaccompanied four part harmony. With each of these projects he has recently collaborated with short filmmakers, and we are thrilled to bring them together for GSFF. The evening begins with a set by Death Shanties, including their score to Lucy Stein and Shana Moulton’s film Polventon. Next up is The Crying Lion and Oliver Mezger revisiting of the 1966 Margaret Tait film The Big Sheep. Finally Trembling Bells will perform alongside Rory Stewart’s affectionate portrait of the lovers and fighters of the Port O’Leith pub. An appropriately rabble-rousing climax for this one-night-only powerhouse supergroup appearance.
NITEFLIGHTS
Fleming House Car Park | Friday 14 February (22.30) | 2h30m, N/C 18+
A special Valentine’s Day event! NITEFLIGHTS is a regular evening of film and performance curated by Glasgow-based artist Michelle Hannah, taking its theme from the fractured dystopia of Scott Walker's song ‘Nite Flights’. Hosted for one night only in a disused underground car park on Renfrew Street, GSFF14’s NITE will be a visual presentation of vocal and cosmic noise as form, featuring local and international artists whose work expands the moving image through sound, sculpture and vision.
ZOVIET FRANCE / KONX-OM-PAX
The Art School | Saturday 15 February (Doors 22.30) | 4h30m, N/C 18
An idiosyncratic collective of anonymous dronologists and pseudo-ethnomusicologists, Zoviet France’s investigations have taken them into fictional cultures where reality often slips into the hypnagogic. They have developed a radical relationship with the cheap technologies of old-fashioned tape recorders, primitive looping and sampling devices and basic dub trickery. Support comes from Konx-om-Pax, performing an Audio/Visual live set, JD Twitch (tbc) and Rubadub’s Mark Maxwell. An unmissable rare live performance, with collaborative films especially for Glasgow Short Film Festival. Tickets only available from The Art School. £7 or £5 with GSFF ticket stub (or GSA students).
MUSIC & FILM DISCUSSIONS
CCA Clubroom | Friday 14 February (11.00) 5h30m | £5 for all three discussions
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Frances Morgan, deputy editor of The Wire, former editor of plan b magazine, and the author of Sight & Sound’s Soundings column, moderates a series of conversations between filmmakers featuring in this year’s programme and the composers with whom they have collaborated. At 11am, Ruth Paxton and Dobrinka Tabakova will discuss the creative processes that led to the realisation of their Royal Philharmonic Society commission PULSE.
At 1pm, Adam Stafford will discuss his approach to filmmaking as a musician, and introduce his collaborators on No Hope For Men Below, sound designer Marcin Knyziak and composer Daniel Padden. Finally, at 3pm, Sam Firth and Fraya Thomsen will describe how their intense collaboration to create the score for Sam’s self-portrait Stay the Same helped enormously in transforming sixty hours of footage into a compelling 14 minute film.
I do like both Adam Stafford and Daniel Padden... but an after-show discussion by any other name...
NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND: QUEER RUSSIAN CINEMA
CCA Cinema | Friday 14 February (21.00) | 1h30m, N/C 18+
Cinema as identity, cinema as resistance. As the state of LGBT rights in Russia continues to worsen even beyond its already-infamous 2013 law banning 'propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations', making queer cinema increasingly becomes an act of defiance. In collaboration with Edinburgh Film Guild New Cinema, this screening presents recent Russian films variously depicting the surprising facets of an emerging LGBT culture, proving decidedly that the attempts at its repression have yet to defeat it.
Timely, given what is going on over there at the moment... (over there? way to show international solidarity, Vile)
TAKASHI ITO: OTHER ROOMS
CCA Cinema | Saturday 15 February (17.30) | 1h30m, N/C 15+
Takashi Ito burst onto the experimental film scene in 1981 with Spacy, a vertiginous journey through a gymnasium made up of 700 still images. Driven by a desire to create ‘fascinating nightmares’, his films seem to follow a bizarre interior logic of their own, endlessly generating new techniques as they forge ahead. This is a rare chance to see some of Ito’s work on 16mm, bookended by a selection of his influences and artistic descendants chosen for GSFF14 by Ian Francis of Flatpack Festival, Birmingham.
Of less interest to Vile...
INDEPENDENCE AND THE SCOTTISH FILM INDUSTRY
CCA Theatre | Saturday 15 February (16.00) | 2h30 | Free
It is just seven months until a vote that, whatever the outcome, will have significant ramifications for all aspects of Scottish cultural, social and political life. Yet if several of our leading producers are to be believed, the Scottish film industry might not last to see that day. Glasgow Short Film Festival is gathering key individuals from Scottish film and television production to examine and debate what independence might mean for our film culture.
Chaired by Dr David Archibald (University of Glasgow) the session will consider whether nationhood has any bearing on an industry which is based increasingly on international collaboration. We will hear from an expert on Irish film, to see what lessons might be learnt from another small, predominantly English language film culture, placed precariously between Hollywood and European traditions. And we will examine the prospects of the many freelancers who depend on local and international productions shooting in Scotland for their livelihood. For full line-up of speakers, see www.glasgowfilm.org/gsff.
It might be pitiful apathy, or a radical anarchist stance, but I can't seem to get involved in the debate about independence (or it might be that saying something like that is enough to get plenty of people to comment on my blog). As a fan of puppetry, I guess elections ought to be far more interesting to me, since it's pretty easy to see who is pulling the strings.
Although Dr David Archibald did write a superb study of Blackwatch's politics....
FOCUS ON IRELAND 1
CCA Cinema | Friday 14 February (19.00)| 1h30m, N/C 15+
Kicking against the grain somewhat, Irish short film has increasingly found success on the worldwide stage, with proportionally high numbers being nominated for Academy awards and other barometers of success. This first programme includes some modern greats. Undressing My Mother by Ken Wardrop was an early forerunner of a more personal approach in Irish filmmaking and notably two Northern Irish films, Even Gods by Phil Harrison and A Removals Job by Nicholas Keogh, round out a broad view of some of the recent success stories.
FOCUS ON IRELAND 2
CCA Cinema | Saturday 15 February (19.30) | 1h30m, N/C 15+
Included in this programme are the key filmmakers contributing to the art form in Ireland. Tony Donoghue’s ethnographic yet stylised animation Irish Folk Furniture details a way of life in Ireland slowly passing away. Contemporary themes are addressed eloquently in Mairtín de Barra’s Atrophy and Ian Thulliers’ Driven. Cathy Brady has been a leading light in strong narrative drama and is represented here by Morning. Our final film presents David Quin, Ireland’s most talented satirist and animator having a day off his more usual political targets.
MAYER/LEYVA AND THE BORSCHT CORPORATION
CCA Theatre | Friday 14 February (19.15) & Sunday 16 February (18.30) |1h30m, N/C 18+
‘Is the Next Great Hope of American Film Hiding In Florida?’ asked Indiewire magazine in November. If so, it’s probably Mayer/Leyva. Visual artist Jillian Mayer and playwright Lucas Leyva have collaborated on a series of satirical no-budget short films which defy any attempt at classification. Try Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke, a lo-fi day-glo remake of Chris Marker’s La Jetée starring 2 Live Crew’s Luther Campbell. Or #postmodem, a kaleidoscopic retro-fantasy nightmare in which the viewer is invited to upload their entire being into the digital realm, condemning worldly problems to the Vortex. Mayer and Leyva also run the Borscht Corporation, a collective of like-minded filmmakers telling Miami stories that reject the typical portrayal of the city as a vapid party town. GSFF is delighted to welcome them to Glasgow, to present a programme of their own work on Friday and a Borscht showcase on Sunday.
EUROPE IN FOCUS: A FRANCO-GERMAN SHORT FILM EVENING
CCA Cinema | Thursday 13 February (19.00) | 1h30m, N/C 15+
European filmmaking has always drawn inspiration from the differences as well as commonalities between nations and filmmakers with a fascinating range of aesthetic approaches and cultural backgrounds. To mark the 10th anniversary of the cohabitation of Goethe-Institut and the Alliance Française in Glasgow this programme reflects the diverse creativity of the Franco-German film scene, whilst highlighting common themes and shared creative interests in contemporary Europe. Presented by GSFF in partnership with Alliance Française and Goethe-Institut Glasgow.
SHORT COM WITH JOSIE LONG
CCA Theatre | Saturday 15 February (21.15)| 1h30m, N/C 15+
Making its Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2013, before going on to London Pleasance Theatre, Short Com is a regular showcase of the finest independent comic shorts around, chosen from submissions. For GSFF, the programme will be compèred by the fantastic Josie Long, and will be followed by an award ceremony staged with considerable decorum and gravitas in the CCA bar. “An hour-long bill that offers some of the best underground short comedy films you’re likely to see this year.” **** Ed Fest Mag 2013
FESTIVAL FOCUS: MAGMA
CCA Cinema | Sunday 16 February (14.15) | 1h30m, N/C 15+
Magma – mostra di cinema breve is an international short film festival based in Acireale, Sicily, and stands out as one of the best in Italy. First started in 2002 by Associazione Culturale Scarti, Magma has always focused exclusively on the short film, building a bridge between the audience and the endless forms of expression of the short format. This selection of narrative, documentary and animation from the 2013 edition presents a unique snapshot of emerging international film talent.
TINY GEOGRAPHIES
CCA Cinema | Sunday 16 February (18.45) | 1h30m, N/C 15+
Chris Dooks is an Ayr-based interdisciplinary artist. His practice is in part concerned with creative strategies to cope with chronic ill health. Commissioned to create a work for the Year of Natural Scotland 2013, Chris devised a series of six landscape films drawing on accessible environments just a few square metres in size. These 'tiny' geographies were made to see if there was any advantage to being unable to scale a Munro or even a small hill - and to try and make the best of limited energy.
Chris Dooks will introduce the screening.
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