David Austen | Sarah Beddington | Andrew Kötting | Joel Snowman | Oona Grimes
Introduction
The final category that concludes Part 1 of Strangelove Online looks at Cinema. In the all the previous sections from Documentary, Animation, Video Art, Experimental Film we have outlined some of the possible strands of the area referred to as time-based media, and in particular over these last five weeks, have focused on the moving image. We are interested in the crossover, the place where boundaries are blurred and where barriers breakdown. We placed these different categories, not to in-prison works with these narrow confines but rather to try and outline the edges. All art, in some degree or another deal with documentation, exploration, truth and fiction.
Perhaps one of the ways that we define cinema in contrast to video art for example, is that cinema has a base in story telling, Unlike video art which has roots in performance and sculpture, cinema has a greater relationship with both literature and painting.
For this selection, we have chosen five films that deal with story telling in different ways. Andrew Kötting and Sarah Beddington tell their stories within the backdrop of landscape. Each film explores narration as a tool to reveal the story. In Kötting, we see something that links to a Becket landscape with a Becket like character. In Beddington’s film, she explores the relationship between place and people using the parable of birds, taking a poem as its main narrative drive.
In the work of David Austen, the action is focused on a comic corpse. (to corpse in theatrical terms is to forget your line,) a story which also tips a hat to Beckett. Austen is a picture maker and the work plays with the idea of a still life. This links to Oona Grimes, also a visual artist, this animation works on the idea of a kind of post-storyboard and uncovers the act of memory, which is an important aspect of all film making. Finally the work of Joel Snowman, who describes himself as a skateboarder/director, Whiskey Lemonade is a gentle and pragmatic observation about his hometown of Folkestone. Using a documentary format he records the changing and developing city scape and the people who occupy the streets and beaches.
Programme 12 : Their rancid words stagnate our ponds
THEIR RANCID WORDS STAGNATE OUR PONDS 2018 8 minutes, 40 seconds
In a hinterland within the ‘elsewhere’, a lone character meanders in search of meaning and understanding. Hither and dither doth he wander reflecting upon all things that came before and all things hereafter. The work is a companion piece to Kötting’s latest feature film LEK AND THE DOGS and was shot in the Atacama desert in Chile. Produced to run on a loop in a gallery ‘space’ or as a single screen the film exemplifies Köttings ability to take an idea and run with it until it spills over into the expanded cinematic ‘elsewhere’. With the beguiling presence of French performance artist Xavier Tchili and sublime cinematography by Nick Gordon-Smith the work is designed to be experienced within the pitch black and the sound up high.
Programme 13: The Logic of the Birds
Sarah Beddington
The Logic of the birds, 2017 (17’55) was filmed in Palestine.
The narration includes texts from the poem, Mantiq Al-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds) Sholeh Wolpé, in the foreword of her modern translation of this work writes says
The parables in this book trigger memories deep within us all. The stories inhabit the imagination, and slowly over time, their wisdom trickles down into the heart. The process of absorption is unique to every individual, as is each person’s journey. We are the birds in the story. All of us have our own ideas and ideals, our own fears and anxieties, as we hold on to our own version of the truth. Like the birds of this story, we may take flight together, but the journey itself will be different for each of us. Attar tells us that truth is not static, and that we each tread a path according to our own capacity. It evolves as we evolve. Those who are trapped within their own dogma, clinging to hardened beliefs or faith, are deprived of the journey toward the unfathomable Divine, which Attar calls the Great Ocean.
Programme 14 : The Story Of My Death As Told To Me By Another
David Austen
The Story Of My Death As Told To Me By Another 2013-19 (4’04”)
Black and white 16mm film transferred to video, sound, 2 minutes and 40 seconds Story : Rupert Thomson Camera : Benjamin Pritchard, Sam Austen Sound: Kate BlandThe story of my death as told to me by another, we see the artist in minimal clown make up and nautical attire, lying still and floating in blank space,
As the camera draws closer to him we hear a voice-over script written by Austen’s friend, novelist Rupert Thomson, inspired by a dream the writer had of the artist’s inexplicable death. Like his painting, drawing, and sculptural works, the films craft surreal new realms for us to step into and linger a while, before emerging back into reality.
Programme 15: Whiskey Lemonade
Joel Snowman
Whiskey Lemonade 2018 (1’ 34”)
The film is a sort of visual diary from March 2017 - March 2018, logging changing landscapes, people, weather, animals and collected conversations from Folkestone's bus passengers. Soundtracked by local musicians and friends.
Joel Snowman, has lived in Folkestone all his life; (so far) Joel’s first entries into filmmaking were skateboarding films on super 8 and a series of music videos
Programme 16: murd story board: moving 2020
Oona Grimes
murd story board: moving 2020 (2’24”)
Mis-remembering and re-inventing Fellini's La Strada [1954]. Rapid fire images and actions create unplanned collisions and flashes of accidental animation.
La strada ("The Road"') directed by Federico Fellini from his own screenplay co-written with Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano. The film tells the story of Gelsomina, a simple-minded young woman (Giulietta Masina) bought from her mother by Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutish strongman who takes her with him on the road.