LSFF and YARN December 31, 2011

 

 

On the 11th of January YARN will screen films originally commissioned for the Letters Festival in Milan, interweaving them with new works inspired by the films across a range of mediums, including music, theatre and spoken word. The evening will feature work by filmmakers including Ruth Paxton, Helena Astbury, Kate Jessop, Michael Rittansberger, Alexander Taylor and Serena Corvaglia.
 

I’ve been asked to write a response to one of the films to be performed on the night as part of the London Short Film Festival. My film in question is called Vittorio Gassman by Alexander Taylor and my response is called, No One Writes (Them) Like That Anymore. More information about the event can be seen here.
 

(I’ll be honest, it’s one of the more surreal things I’ve written. It involves a re-enactment of The Lion King, bad handwriting, grotty B&Bs, sex noises and televisions that don’t work properly. Poppy Corbett is the director at the helm and I’ll blog about it later once rehearsals are underway.)
 
 

 

As you can see from the trailer above, it’s bound to be an interesting night and the festival itself is superb at highlighting the talents within the short film industry. Unfortunately I won’t be in attendance as it’s the private viewing of the Simone exhibition the same night, which I’m quite gutted about. It seems I’ve got busy once again… But go along and support the festival. These are two brilliant and unique groups of people who are extremely passionate about the work they share. If you can, go along to any of the other events that both YARN and LSFF organise. You’re bound to be in for a treat when you do. 
 

Wednesday 11th Jan

YARN presents… An Evening of Cinematic Soliloquies
Starts 7pm
£6 tickets, available in advance here

 

‘Simone’ Exhibition December 21, 2011

As this year comes to and end it also signals the fruitful passing of time for the Simone project. Just a quick recap for those who don’t know… I’ve been collaborating with a fantastic illustrator called Natalia Wilkoszewska throughout the year on a variation of the games of ‘Consequences‘. And Simone is the culmination of it all. I write a piece of flash fiction and Natalia would illustrate it, then she’d illustrate the next part of the story and then it was up to me to write the response, then the next part of the story… And so on. We never forced each other’s hand to bend the story, we simply gave each other cliffhangers and free reign. And now we have a year’s worth of Simone’s life documented for all to see. It’s been an adventure.

 

 

I cannot believe a year has passed on this. Each month we did one image and one text and in January 2012 the entire collection will have it’s first public viewing at Oxford House in Bethnal Green. We’re chuffed, thrilled and ecstatic to be able to have the opportunity to let it unfurl in a public forum, especially in a building like Oxford House where they’re keen to exhibit upcoming artists.

 

This is something new for me (I’m going to be ‘exhibiting some work’ – odd!) and the idea of having work up for people to see for a prolonged period of time is a good kind of crazy. What initially started as an exercise to keep each other creatively exercising, has turned into a beautiful project and we’re keen to get people to go along and see not only our work, but the others on show.

 

 

Simone will be displayed from 12th January till 31st January 2012 in the Oxford House cafe which is open from 9am till 4pm. We’re hoping this won’t be the only outing for the project, so I’ll blog about any future developments about other exhibits. Do let us know if you go along and more importantly, enjoy it!