Cinema Versa
Alex King Recommends…
Trimpin: the Sound of Invention
Friday 6th November 21.00, Carriageworks and Saturday 7th November 18.30 Howard Assembly Room
Describing his own studio as a strange mix of a Frankenstein’s lab and Santa’s workshop, Trimpin is a extraordinary but publicity shy artist – inventor – engineer – composer who creates genre defying sound sculptures and kinetic experiments across a dizzying variety of disciplines. The film tracks a multi-museum 25 year retrospective of his work including a live collaboration with the Kronos Quartet, a 60 foot tower of automatic electric guitars and a perpetual motion sculpture. The New York Times describes ‘the sounds that Trimpin creates are natural and acoustic. He has no objection to electronic music, loudspeakers or amplifiers but is, he says ‘more interested in modifying or elaborating on the sounds made by traditional instruments, and in seeing how sound works in time or space’
Cherry Kino
Martha Jurksaitis Recommends…
When it Was Blue
Monday 9th November, 20.00, HiFi
This is such a beautiful work, with footage from all over the globe from New Zealand to Hawaii to Canada to Iceland. It’s such a magical film to watch, and the fact it is the length of a feature film really lets you immerse yourself in the colours, textures and sounds (she recorded sounds of nature in all the locations, and the Icelandic musician Skúli Sverrisson composed a soundtrack). It took over 5 years to make! The filmmaker hand-painted over a lot of the 16mm footage, creating loads of varied hues and effects, and the double projection makes it infinitely fascinating to the eye. The HiFi Club is the perfect venue for the screening, so people can relax and enjoy a drink while being treated to some wild sensations! It’s also a chance to reflect on the state of the planet and the way that nature is changing before our very eyes.
Short Film City
Alessandro Battaglini recommends…
Romanian Retrospective, Carriageworks 2
Enfants Terribles 1: Sat 14th Nov, 11.00
Mid Length Films: Fri 13th Nov, 17.00
First Generation of New Romanian Cinema: Fri 13th Nov, 17.00
Enfants Terribles 2: Sat 14th Nov, 13.30
Sahia Film Studio: Wed 11th Nov, 13.00
In the last few months, due to the high number of submissions received from Romania last year I’ve really started to appreciate Romanian Cinema and decided to deepen my knowledge about it. I’ve already seen a lot of films and I’ve been so fascinated by the style of direction and of writing; it is so straight and simple but at the same time meaningful, sincere and intelligent. I wanted to find an origin, a path to all this new and innovative movement. The trip to Hamburg was a revelation, in their Romanian Retrospective I discovered the gems from the archive of the National Sahia Film Studio, absolute gems of documentary from the 60s and 70s and 80s during the period of Ceausescu’s dictatorship; an intelligent use of the propaganda to send a reactionary message to the people. That convinced me to go to Romania, to research the films and the idea of the retrospective than grew into a project that become absolutely huge and that involved a wide range of cinema in Romania from directors, to film schools to producers and institutions. The retrospective will show an entire range of films, from the amazing archive documentaries (that will be the only opportunity for this to be seen), to the multi prize winners of the last years Palme d’or and Golden Bears from 2004 and 2008, plus also a great programme about midlength films showing two films from the incredibly talented Corneliu Porumboiu and Cristian Nemescu. I would encourage everyone to come and watch these films!
Official Selection
Alex King Recommends…
Crying with Laughter
8th November 17.30, Town Hall
I first saw the spellbinding thriller Crying with Laughter at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it held it’s own in a strong year and quickly became one of the audience favourites. I was gripped by the brilliantly edgy performance of Stephen McCole, who plays a controversial stand up comic, Joey Frisk. His life comes apart at the seams just as he gets the opportunity of a big break as an American talent scout comes to see his act; but his cocaine addiction, family and money problems all reach fever pitch, not to mention all the enemies lined up from assorted invective-strewn stage rants and a disturbing encounter with a shady character from his past. It’s a brilliantly dark film, screening in the beautiful Town Hall.
Fanomenon
Martin Grund Recommends…
5150 Elms Way
Friday 6th November, 20.30 Town Hall
Programming for an International Film Festival involves watching literally hundreds and hundreds of films, searching for the handful that really stand out and break new ground. Programming horror films is an even harder task, as the genre is swamped with low budget, poor quality, derivative films, making it all the more exciting when you do find a gem of new talent that makes you sit up and pay attention. 5150 Elms Way is one of those rare films that takes a familiar formula (innocent victim is kidnapped and held captive at the hands of a psychotic family) and manages to breathe new life into it, leaving you with the feeling that you have experienced something special. Comparisons can be drawn with a number of Hitchcock’s films, most notably Psycho – 5150 is a character driven piece in which you really believe and care about both the victim and his fanatical adversary. While you may not agree with Beaulieu’s beliefs and actions you understand them and can almost sympathise with him when things don’t go his way. Director Éric Tessier has created a disturbing and intelligent horror film that doesn’t rely on sudden jumps or buckets of gore to terrify its audience. Rather it is a captivating multi-layered work of art that builds tension. As the film delivers its incredible and shocking climax you can be certain that 5150 Elms Way will stay with you long after the credits have rolled and the house lights come up.