January is here and with it so is The London Short Film Festival. The 2015 edition was my first one. If curious, you can find a bit about it here.
Now, The London Short Film Festival (LSFF) returns to London for its 13th year to be as confrontational as ever. For the 2016 festival, taking place from 8-17th January, a lot will be made possible with the help of long-standing venue partners the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and Hackney Picturehouse, with new special event programmes taking place at Round Chapel in Lower Clapton, ACE Hotel in Shoreditch, and Oval Space in Hackney.
The core programme of selected shorts will screen across Hackney Picturehouse and the ICA. Documentary gets a bigger look-in this year with six dedicated programmes focussed on topics including London, artists on film, and the current refugee crisis (with a panel discussion), as well as our popular Night of the Living Docs. This year, the festival welcomed INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS for a second time, and 2016 will see four international programmes playing at Hackney Picturehouse on the second weekend, with films from Australia, Japan, Cuba, Croatia and the US, amongst many others.
Also, this year, the festival is extremely grateful to have the support of the BFI’s Festivals Fund to help make January’s edition the most accessible to date. More info about our large print programmes and venue accessibility can be found here.
Through the funding received from Arts Council England two FILM & MUSIC COMMISSIONING projects have been developed:
– Cats&Cats&Cats: This event reclaims the cat video from its contemporary YouTube ghetto and looks at the cat film in experimental cinema, with new film commissions from artist filmmakers Vivienne Dick, Jennifer Reeder and Nicholas Abrahams, plus a newly commissioned score by electronica trio Stealing Sheep to films by Maya Deren (Private Life of a Cat, 1949) and Stan Brakhage (Cat’s Cradle, 1959), alongside classic work by Jayne Parker (1982), Donald Richie (1966) and Johan van der Keuken (1968). Our friends at Vienna International Shorts are providing us with a selection of more contemporary cats from the Walker Art Center cat video collection, so maybe grumpy cat will get a look in after all…! All this will take place in the majestic surroundings of The Round Chapel in Lower Clapton, built in 1869 and considered one of the finest church buildings in London.
– Nature Mixtape: We’re also excited to commission a new film by Jessica Sarah Rinland made in response to work by the little-known, pioneering British documentarian Mary Field (1896-1968), which will be screened at our Nature Mixtape event. Field’s films explore British wildlife with humanising narratives, providing a unique insight into the anthropology and culture of mid-twentieth century Britain. Rinland’s new film, shot on location in the diverse natural habits of Argentina, will play alongside 16mm and 35mm prints of Field’s groundbreaking films, followed by a panel discussion.
To compliment the Harmony Korine weekender, London College of Fashion have also programmed a special event on the final Sunday of the festival which will explore notions of identity in the fashion film. Spanning a range of film-making approaches, from experimental to documentary, the programme will explore this morphing, contemporary medium in all its guises.
Other MUSIC related festival screenings and special events include:
- Gabba Gabba Analogue! Opening night party at the ICA. Live sets from the best opto-musical electronic abstract animation found sound found imagery tape manipulator and improvisation duo, Sculpture, plus the brain-disturbing sex trash art attack of Heidi Hörsturz. Plus music videos, and Bizarre Rituals
- Retrospective of video work by Nathaniel Hörnblowér, the alter-ego of the late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, in association with Winterthur Short Film Festival. Following the screening, London re-formed 3-piece Mower will play a live set throwing in some Beastie Boys cover versions for good measure.
- Our Berlin programme visits the early 80s cultural hotspot of West Berlin, with the London premiere of B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979 – 1989, plus a screening of the cult eighties Berlin movie Christiane F with a soundtrack by David Bowie. Live music from electronica chanteuse Lone Taxidermist will compliment the atmosphere, plus a German music only DJ set from Vinyl Therapy.
- The London premiere of The Ambiguity of David Thomas Broughton by Greg Butler, about the creative process of one of the UK’s most enigmatic and unpredictable musicians and performers who marries traditional folk with a surrealist edge.
- We welcome the return of Little Stabs at Happiness, the legendary music and film club presented by Mark Webber (ex-Pulp) at the ICA from 1997 to 2000.
- Derek Jarman collaborator Richard Heslop went on to direct some great music videos in the nineties, and we’ll be looking at his career in film. He’ll be joining us for a Q&A alongside this work and his short films.
- Analogue Basement is an afternoon of all things analogue and celluloid at Ace Hotel Shoreditch, with a live 16mm projection programme from David Leister’s Analogue Precurring, plus a screening and Q&A of the coffee-developed 16mm mini-feature Bronco’s House.
Other Special Guest Screenings And Retrospectives include:
- Fyzal Boulifa and cinematographer Taina Galas in a special programme of their work entitled WHORES & HEROINES
- Joern Utkilen, Norwegian born and Glasgow based filmmaker.
- Rich Pickings, Life After Life: investigating near-death experiences.
- MicroMacro Film, A Cosmonaut’s Trip: investigating space travel through experimental film
- Sketch Night, a programme of short skits from our open submission, presented by Short Sighted Cinema
- New Queer Visions returns with a programme of shorts and a club night at Ace Hotel Shoreditch. Eclectic international short films and Q&As are followed by an after-party of lowdown dirty beats and Tumblr mashups from Hello Mozart (Hot Boy Dancing Spot).
This year, LSFF are continuing to support Jameson First Shot, a global competition which offers filmmakers the chance to work with Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti’s Trigger Street Productions in LA, and direct Maggie Gyllenhaal in a short film. More info can be found here.
Full programme details and booking info can be found on the LSFF website.
