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Hansel Of Film 2012 – Travelling Film Screenings

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

A ‘hansel’ is a Shetland dialect word meaning a gift that marks an event such as the launch of a new boat, the birth of a child or the creation of a new enterprise. John J Graham – The Shetland Dictionary.

Shetland Arts is taking a UK-wide part in the London 2012 Festival celebrating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  ‘A Hansel of Film – Shetland to Southampton and Back’ is a relay of screenings of short films made by the public in each of the nations and many of the regions of the UK.

It will be launched in Shetland on 10th June with the arrival of the Olympic Torch in the isles as it reaches its UK most northerly point. The films will be relayed between participating venues by ‘runners’; that is, creative and energetic individuals who will employ whatever means of transport they can devise to get the right films to the right venue on time. This will culminate in a marathon screening of over 100 short films at Shetland’s annual film festival, Screenplay 2012, between 4th and 9th September.

The project will take films made by Shetlanders and others to twenty one venues around the country and will form a celebration of ‘home made’ short films similar to that which takes place annually at Screenplay. 

Acclaimed film critic Mark Kermode and film historian Linda Ruth Williams, who are the curators of Screenplay, will be very active in promoting the project across the country, although they will not be able to attend all the events. They will be greeting the ‘runner’ at The Harbour Lights Cinema in Southampton at the project’s half-way point, and will visit some of the other participating venues in between.  

The Hansel Team is delighted to be launching this exciting, nationally inclusive film relay, spreading the spirit of the London 2012 Festival from Shetland in the north to Southampton in the south and back again, and taking in many points east and west along the way. We are looking forward to partnering up with cinemas, arts centres, film societies and film-makers across the UK who are as enthusiastic as we are about watching films, about people making their own films and about taking movies on the road.

The project also comes at a very exciting time for Shetland Arts in the opening year of Mareel, Shetland’s new £12.2m music, cinema and creative industries centre. We will be inviting representatives from the participating regions and nations to come and join us back in Shetland for Screenplay 2012, making it a truly celebratory event.

The London 2012 Festival is the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad, the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements.  Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.

Medway filmmaker Mdhamiri Á Nkemi will be having his short film “String Theory” shown on the following dates:

              Kino Digital, Hawkhurst                            Monday 9 July

                Salisbury Arts Centre, Salisbury                 Thursday 12 July

              Harbour Lights, Southampton                    Sunday 15 July

 

“String Theory” follows a couple of school boys who invent the world’s first cup and string telephone, which gets popular as more and more people find out about it. Their playful existence is threatened however, when a business-man makes an unexpected appearance.

To find out if there are screenings in your area please visit:

 http://hansel2012.org/get-involved/attend-an-event

@hansel2012

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Billy Childish – Frozen Estuary Exhibition – Review

Editorials

Cult labels can obscure the viewer’s perspective of the artist’s work, with associations of niche celebrity given meaning by sycophantic fans and media observers. Childish is touted as a ‘cult’ figure in his latest exhibition at Chatham dockyard. This could scream popular or ‘cool’ to the ‘right’ people or celebrate an alternative and underground status. Childish’s character(s) loom large, set on pleasing themselves before courting the crowd, perhaps at the risk of eclipsing his work. In a 2010 video for the Tate’s ‘Sound and Vision’ series, he dons the costumes of painter and musician to playfully interview himself, with respectably awkward questions. When the artist asks about his influence on the musician, the answer is ‘no’ followed by a wistful smile.

The frozen estuary series offers something pleasantly different. The dockyard exhibition gives some space to history and personal mythologising – displays of album covers, books and memorabilia to greet the audience. Maybe this is a triumphant return to a place he left with little love lost.

13 oil and charcoal on linen paintings cover the main walls, some with the paint still wet. Despite featuring friends and family, the subject seems less personal, the focus is the river itself, depicted in vivid blues and whites and frozen in time and canvas. Inspired by photos of the winters of 1895 and 1947 when both estuaries froze over, Childish captures a stark landscape, where workers pose with boats locked in ice, dominated by blue skies and glaring white. Details run in earthy browns, a muck upon the landscape, as wet paint dribbles down many of the canvases, forming icicles of dirt and snow.

Here is something about place rather than person, escaping the ‘cult’ cliché and exploring the relationships between time, place and identity. A full size nude stands by the entrance, leading visitors through the memorabilia to something else entirely. Something brave.

The exhibition is on at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham, until 30th September 2012. Details are available at: http://www.thedockyard.co.uk/NetsiteCMS/pageid/1023/Billy%20Childish.html

By Roy Smith

@roy_smith 

www.royalansmith.co.uk

Guest Writer

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Tracey Emin – She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea – Margate Exhibition Review

Editorials

Like most people my earliest memory of Tracy Emin’s work and most prominent is the unmade bed from 1999.

As time went on I discovered she studied in Medway at what is now known as UCA, and in the last few years she has held various exhibitions in the South East. On a recent visit to Margate I felt I couldn’t miss a walk around the Turner gallery to check out her current exhibition.

Something that I love is Emin’s neon writing work as it shows her variety of creativity. Unfortunately only two neon pieces make an appearance in this exhibition. Reflecting very much on her life’s history the work on display is very expressive with some containing text that gives extra input into the concept behind the piece.

My favourite piece was called furniture. It was part of a series of paintings that were of the same theme, but I felt they had an added depth to them compared to the other pieces in the exhibition as a whole. I do really like the blue ink on canvas, and this is the form of most of her pieces in the exhibition.

The majority of work on display were inspired by Turners female nudes, but personally I felt they lacked the warmth of an artist trying to capture the bodily form of a female. Of course Emin is often very open about her sexuality and this is nothing new, but I felt from the work that she captured an element of disappointment within her own sexuality, which of course was not really Turners aim in his erotic paintings – his nude paintings were often termed as beautiful. If you want an interesting read on that subject see “A Censorship story Goes Up In Smoke“.

A painting by Turner.

She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea, Tracey Emin.

There are a lot of repeats in the exhibition, which unfortunately I feel shows a lack of imagination in regards to a theme, and baring in mind 3 large rooms of the Turner gallery are taken up with repeat imagery until September, I can’t help but feel disappointed for the local art scene. I realise that a big name will attract numbers but I wonder how other artists will get to reach a big name status if so much space is taken up by one artist in what I feel should be a gallery for creatives no matter how big their audience.

I would be interested to hear how others feel about the exhibition…

Natasha Steer

Area: UK Britain East of England East Midlands London North East North West Yorkshire Scotland South East South West Wales West Midlands

An Interview With Zara Carpenter – Milliner and Head Piece Creator

Featured Creatives

Usually found busily sewing away in the Deaf Cat cafe in Rochester, Zara Carpenter is an inspiring craftswoman who leads the way for many creatives. Maybe by learning some more about her we can draw even more inspiration…

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An Interview With Sian Bostwick – Jewellery Designer and Craftswoman

Featured Creatives

Sian Bostwick is a jewellery designer in Rochester, Kent with incredible skill and talent. Her work, inspired by fairytales and fantasies, truly please the eye and each piece is beautifully crafted in its design. To find out more about her skill and in the aim of inspiring others I asked Sian some questions about herself and her craft.

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