Metropolitan Journeys 2011 from discussions on film on Vimeo.

Postcard From Havana

Submission Calls:

More Metropolitan Journeys

The of Havana streets, lined with spanish colonial architecture, filled with the sounds of the contemporay Cuba, imortalised on celluloid in recent times by Wim Wenders, are still largely unchanged since he filmed there and sought out members of the Bueno Vista Social Club.

Whilst there we stayed near the the Malecon, featured as part of the motorcycle tour Wenders films in Beuno Vista and used to form that famous montage of the streets. In this little journey we were interested to see what has changed - Unesco are at work, it seems constantly along this seafront but behind, along Industria, it could still be 1998...
Once again we invite you to send in your own Metropolitan Journeys, by June 30th for screening at RARA this July

To See Films Selected for July Screening, Please Go To Our Website:

http://discussionsonfilm.org.uk/Discussions_2011.html

Transforming Cities - Architecture and Political Context

Havana is a city like no other in the extent to which it bares it's political past on its surface, and deep into its interior spaces. The elegant yet spectaculalry faded and unrepaired facades of the old town, tell of the decades of economic starvation, post revolution.

The architecture alludes to a past era of granduar, which was overturned by revolution. Today museums occupy past palaces, new familes have appropirated the houses once occupied by the ellite, so though largely un - edited in form, life within these old buildings is vastly different to pre-1959. As the Castros cautiously invite aspects of capitalism into Cuba and funding is received by international organisations such as Unesco, one wonders how this place will evolve...
Taking its cue from the fact that revolutions are currenlty erupting throughout North Africa and more recent European history such as the fall of Berlin wall -Transofrming cities will focus on the effect of political context on the Architectural landscape . If you've made or are making a film you feel fits this brief, and would like to show it, please send it to us by August 31st for screening later this year.

Transforming and Secret Cities

Photograpgh: Marco Longari/Getty Images-taken from the Guardian World Blog

More Metropolitan Journeys and other things:

This year discussions plans screenings in July, September and Midwinter.

We will bring you More Metropolitan Journeys followed by the Transforming and Secret Cities. And so once again we are seeking submissions. In summer we’d like to continue and expand the Metropolitan Journeys theme merging in into the Transforming City in autumn; inspired this time by a prospective journey to Cuba, the events in the Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, I would like to explore about the effects of politics and conflict on the texture of cities. This week it was stated that the Middle Eastern may just have had a 'Berlin Wall Moment'. Films such as goodbye Lenin have described the effects of the end of Communism on the city. In 1956 Fidel Castro embarked on a revolution in Cuba which has coloured the life of the country's cities ever since... How will the cities such as Cairo, Tripoli, and Tunis be affected by what is happening now?

And what effect will the inevitable Diaspora from these cities have on the places they move to? I think now of my home city London and how places such as Dalston, which have been affected by influxes of migrants over the years, often those fleeing conflict. When they arrive it is with stories of places left behind, What are these stories? They add to the local texture, setting up outlets for produce from home, new eating establishments, arts' venues and so on - importing new tastes and ideas.

So cities are transformed...

The Secret City, will seek to draw on dystopian settings inspired by the literature JG Ballard and Ian McEwen in The Cement Garden and the like we will be looking for films that explore the narratives of often desolate in between spaces of decay...more on this to come.

Spread the word, send us your films and watch this space for details of dates and venues.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Ps: I will be undertaking little explorations in desktop filmmaking based around these topics, exploring web based sources and posting the results on Vimeo so watch that space too...

Metropolitan Journeys at RARA

As part of the London Festival of Architecture, RARA (Redundant Architect's Recreational Association) took part in open studios and hosted Discussions on Film’s, Metropolitan Journeys. This collection of films focused on travels through cities; we held a screening of work inspired by the journey and the response of filmmakers, Artists and architects to it.

We traveled, through Cairo, Bangkok, To Prague, Banjul, Lagos, a bit of suburbia and London, along roads and rivers, from the prosaic to the surreal and post apocalyptic.

Here's a taster:

Metropolitan Journeys from discussions on film on Vimeo.

Discussions On Film 2 - Journeys

River Crossing - Gambia



Discussions on Film 2 - All about the journey:

The futurists were fascinated by speed and new means of transport at beginning of the century; the fast motion of cars, planes and trains which altered the sensory experience of the world inspired them to paint. They strove to express motion in vibrant colour and vigorous strokes of paint. Today we are no less fascinated by motion.

I recently found myself on a journey during a visit to Gambia; crossing the river Gambia on a crowded commuter ferry. That morning I had opted for stills photography and left the motion camera behind. However as we set off I found myself regretting the decision; I desperately wanted to capture the journey in moving images. Eventually I resolved to try an experiment...

It struck me later that some potentially interesting projects may have been produced like this and that just as new transportation provided new perspectives on the city; new methods of capturing mean that we can create unique personal perspectives of the city in minute detail and varying scales as we travel; impulsive, intuitive recordings...

And so the next discussions on film, taking place this summer, is the about the journey, captured in motion; We are interested in films about moving through the metropolis or in transit from one to another...from the exquisitely planned short to the impulsive snippet...send us your journeys.

Get in touch for info on where to send material. Follow the blog and twitter for updates on venues and dates.

Discussions 1 @ The Corridor

It rained, so we were inside...

...but it didn't matter...

Programme For 01.08.09

The Corridor is pleased to invite you to a film screening at 8.30pm on 01.08.09:



Places are limited, so please do RSVP to me here: sarah@thecorridor.co.uk, if coming.


We will be screening on two sites, one of which is external. We therefore request that you come along with a blanket and an umbrella, if you’d like to sit outside.

Discussions on Film – Atomic City




A nocturnal, filmic exploration into just how bleak it all is; sprinkled with dashes of humour; drawing on themes touched upon by novelist Michel Houellebecq, whose explorations into the development of humanity in the modern context present terrifying visions of dysfunctional relationships and alienated folk-Discussions on Film will be a film screening followed by conversation. Our line up is a mixture of films by filmmakers, video artists and architects who make films. 




8.30pm Reception

9pm

Short Shorts, Videos & Extracts:

Oppressed conditions & means of escape

Julie Mietz - Depression (2.08mins)

Madeline Duba - Living in a Box (2.04mins)

Dylan Thomas - Performance Extracts (TBC)

Ian Pons Jewell- Circus (TBC)

Ben Barton - Uphill for Jesus (3.24mins)

Julie Mietz - Coffee & Cigarettes (Re Edit) (3.09mins)

Madeline Duba - 80ies Skivving (4.22mins)

9.30PM

Shorts

Looking at the human condition at various scales and from various visual and political perspectives.

Alison & Craighead – Flat Earth (7mins)

Ian Pons Jewell - Seasons Greetings (TBC)

Alex Price –The Persecuted (4.36mins)

Carlos Ferrao – Introduction to the Theory of the Young Girl(5.12mins)

Adam Furman - Subjective Cartographies (TBC)

Anuk Chanyapak - Love At First Fight (6.35)

10 min Interval

Long Shorts

Narratives & Journeys - a series of visual essays and narrative films which explore our relationship to cities.

Alys Williams - Following Borromini (19.22mins)

Sarah Akigbogun &

AA Social Cinema - Policy 3 (19.52mins)

James Rumsey – Milk (15.5mins)

Ian Pons Jewell - TBC

11.30 PM Drinks & Conversation

Following the screenings we would like to invite people to join us in conversation about the films and the topics they raise.

Look forward to seeing you!




Akiko


Amita


Beatrice


Christoph


Vikrant




&

Sarah Akigbogun

Curator ‘Discussion On Films’

sarah@thecorridor.co.uk