MagicMoments: Skierlik, Symphony, BE Festival

These magic moments were a rare good idea. Not only do they get plenty of critical action up on the internet, they range across a variety of art forms.

I stopped doing the rubbish bits at the end because I managed to insult someone.

The Belgian attitude to choreography (Waiting @ Traverse)
While I am not adverse to some hot pointe action - and not just on the stage, chuckles Mad Cyril - the freedom of Belgian approaches to dance appeals to my sense of ordered anarchism. Mokhallad Rasem's Waiting choreographed three bodies, hidden behind sheets, which became the screen for a series of recorded interviews, on the topic of, well, waiting. What begins as a shallow survey of first world problems gradually gives way to a confrontation with state attitudes towards immigration and the three part screen, tearing and reuniting with the movements of the trio, becomes a vivid canvas for a fractured and distracted world.

Help from the desk (Front of House Staff @ Tron)
Theatre is not just about the stage, and the FOH team at the Tron are always lovely, even when I turn up and forget which show I am going to see. I want to pause and given all of them a moment of respect.

Good conversations at high volume (Party @ Stereo)
IT WAS HARD WORK TO GET MY VOICE ABOVE THE MUSIC...sorry, it was hard not to damage my friends' eardrums by shouting in them, but Stereo's celebration of seven years was an entertaining mish-mash of DJ, band and performance action. The highlight was the banter, but I also enjoyed being greeted by Louise Ahl, who was in her full pagan ritual outfit, and arguing about Dapper Whasisface in the smoking area. Stereo's atmosphere - hot, intense, fun, creative - is a crucial locus for dialectical discourse both physical and linguistic. That is - it's a good spot for a chat or a dance.

The Netball Blues (Symphony @ Traverse)
Although I haven't quite got a handle on Symphony's trilogy of short plays yet - they might not be aimed at me, but a younger demographic - that bit where the weedy schoolboy tore into a moody blues about his failure to be good at sport lifted the gig/play into a more intense and thrilling fusion of sound and theatre.

Motional Poetry (Skierlik @ CCA)
He didn't help me to pronounce the name of his play when I interviewed him, but Philip Dikotla is frightening talented for a 24 year old. His script Skierlik has a political maturity that shames most attempts by theatre-makers to address 'issues,' but his performance became as much about his elegant physical presence as the words. Lithe and supple, Dikotla took the unpromising format of one man telling his story and lent it a vivacity and dynamism through choreography that adapts a naturalistic posture to the rigours of his tale of racial violence and political manipulation. Even pacing around the stage, or shifting his weight from left to right leg became images of rich, symbolic meaning.

Afrovibes 2014: Mr Philip M Dikotla

GFT and Africa in Motion...

Hold on, I'll have my opinion on the Creative Scotland Funding announcements in a bit. I am sure it is what the world is waiting to hear. 

In the meantime: I am excited, as always, by the GFT. Here's the churn...

Presented as part of BFI’s national Sci-Fi Days of Fear and Wonder season, Glasgow Film’s voyage into the unknown and unexpected continues  with science fiction classics alongside modern tales of terror and awe. 

The season features a special focus on director Stanley Kubrick, with the re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey (Friday 28 November – Thursday 4 December). GFT will also welcome Stanley Kubrick’s brother-in-law, confidant and regular executive producer, Jan Harlan, following a special screening of A.I Artificial Intelligence on Wednesday 10 December. Harlan will give the audience the insider’s story of what it was like to work with Steven Spielberg to bring Kubrick’s original, unrealised vision for the film to screen. 

Anyone got any acid? I hear that gives this film a bit of an edge. Although I am obviously not encouraging drug use. 

Also in this season, the previously announced TEKNOWOMEN strand begins in November, featuring screenings in association with Glasgow Women’s Library and charting the depiction of women in science fiction. GFT can now confirm that author, broadcaster and journalist Muriel Gray will attend the screening of Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines on Saturday 29 November and join author Zoë Strachan and comic artist Gill Hatcher in a post-screening discussion on superheroines.

It's a good documentary, although I think I have reviewed it already. And is there something called Gamergate that makes this timely? 

I can hear people having fun in the CCA downstairs, and it is the opening of...

With the help of programme partners Africa in Motion, AFRICA AT THE DOOR OF THE COSMOS introduces the brilliance of African sci-fi and Afrofuturist films to GFT audiences, offering bold and imaginative visions of the continent and its diaspora. Specially-curated African sci-fi shorts programme Visions of the Future will tour to four UK venues, while other screenings at GFT will include John Akomfrah’s influential cinematic essay The Last Angel of History and the beguiling Space is the Place, starring legendary jazz giant Sun Ra.



Teknowomen runs at GFT and GWL from Sunday 23 November – Saturday 6 December.

The full Teknowomen strand listings can be found here.



Africa at the Door of the Cosmos runs from Sunday 9 – Monday 24 November.

The full listings for Africa at the Door of the Cosmos can be found here.



Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder runs until December 2014.

The full season listings for Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder can be found here.



AFRICA IN MOTION

Since its inception in 2006, the Africa in Motion Festival has introduced nearly 20,000 audience members to the brilliance and diversity of African cinema. The 9th edition of the Festival takes place at GFT this November with a diverse array of inspiring, innovative and challenging stories from across the African continent.



This year’s festival theme is ‘looking back, reaching forward’, and focuses on retrospectives of the past and explorations of the present and the future of Africa, including contemporary and classic fiction features, new and acclaimed short films, insightful documentaries and stunning animation.



The Festival opens at GFT on Sunday 2 November with Soleils, a beautiful and philosophical film that takes us on a journey across Africa through time, made by celebrated director Dani Kouyate from Burkina Faso. Guests at this year’s festival include North African film researcher Dr Stefanie Van De Peer for They Are the Dogs, anddirector Ian Gabriel for Four Corners.



Africa in Motion takes place at GFT from Sunday 2 – Sunday 9 November 2014.

The full festival listings for Africa in Motion can be found here.