FILM
TABLET
Length: Short
Camera: Sony FS5II with Contax Zeiss Primes
Director: John Stephenson
Producer: LoBu Films
Camera: Sony FS5II with Contax Zeiss Primes
Director: John Stephenson
Producer: LoBu Films
FEELING THING
Length: Short
Camera: Red Gemini with Arri Ultraprimes Director: Jo Bannon Producer: Candoco Dance Company Directed by Jo Bannon, and performed by members of Candoco Dance Company, this dance short explores sexuality and intimacy through household objects. I worked very closely with camera operator John Stephenson, and my principle challenge was to light with as small a footprint as possible to allow him and the dancers to freely improvise over several days in the same locations, abley assisted on focus by Bethany Fitter. Matter is lively. If you play the right frequency to your kitchen table, it will explode. Your discarded Coke can will fizz as it decomposes over decades. Your iron has a certain swagger as it glides over polyester. |
SON OF HELIOS
Length: Short Camera: Sony FS5II with Cooke S4i Mini primes Director: Julia Head Producer: Hattie De Santis A one-shot short film written by Julia Head, Xahnaa Adlam and Young SixSix. The film is a 35 minute handheld long shot following Femi's life unravelling in real time, with a cast of over a dozen teenagers. The film was incredibly challenging to shoot but overwhelmingly satisfying. The energy of the cast was tremendous. Particular mention goes to sound recordist David Bekkevold (AMPS), and boom operators Tom Codd and Paul Turner, who completed the incredibly complex puzzle of navigating such a large area with so many moving parts. ‘And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky’ - James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues. Femi is running away from everything. He is trying to outrun the boy that no longer fits him, trying to outrun fate that’s already been writ for him, trying to outrun a truth that’s running faster than him. But nothing is working. BTS Photos by Chelsey Cliff. |
PUSH
Length: Short
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini with Cooke S4i Mini primes Director: Scarlet Plouviez Producer: Popelei PUSH is a film translation of Popelei's successful stage show, largely playing out in a 40 minute long gimbal shot. Directed by Scarlett Plouviez, and created by writer-performer Tamsin Hurtado Clarke. Special mention goes to gaffer Jack Lilley, focus puller Alice Berkeley, and sound recordist Graeme Willetts, who navigated the complex task of pulling off a long take with enthusiasm and skill. A hell of a lot can happen in the time you await the results of a pregnancy test. This is the story of a woman staring down the barrel of motherhood, torn between her own ambivalence... and an uncontrollable urge to push. Award-winning Popelei burst out of isolation and onto your screens with their darkly comic theatre production, reimagined for film. Blistering honesty, exhilarating choreography, and one extremely knocked-up performer. BTS Photos by Chelsey Cliff. |
1:1
Length: Short
Camera: Sony FS5II with Contax Zeiss primes Director: Laila Diallo/Jack Offord Producer: MAYK Directed and performed by Laila Diallo, 1:1 is a short dance film commissioned by MAYK for Women of the World Festival 2021. The shoot was a highly enjoyable three-way dance between Laila, myself, and sound recordist Laura Izzard. ‘I have been thinking about the movement of the everyday as it unfolds, out of view, inside the rows of Victorian terrace houses in the neighbourhood where I live. I have been wondering whether in other homes, like in ours, kitchen floors from time to time become dance floors, with everyday gestures sliding from the functional into something other, for the space of a song or two; dances danced between stove and table, big dances for our small rooms. This is a dance made to the scale of our kitchen. It knows the room well. It carries the repetition of its days. None really ever the same. It remembers moments. It holds some of the light, some of the weight, some of the landscape. This is a dance made to the scale of our kitchen, tipping from the everyday into something else, carrying traces of dances danced before and inviting new ones. Maybe this dance feels like a song. I’d like that.’ - Laila |
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assembling
Length: Short
Camera: Sony FS5II with Contax Zeiss Primes Director: Helena Middleton/Tim Lytc Producer: Knowle West Media Centre Produced by Knowle West Media Centre, and choreographed and performed by Tim Lytc, this dance film focuses on self-building homes as a construct for social change. Filmed at Block West by Autumated Architecture Labs, "a temporary pavilion that showcases adaptable building systems and people-friendly technology that can help communities collaborate to create the spaces, homes, and places they need." The structure was designed and built by residents of Knowle West, who Tim also took inspiration from in their choreography. Directed by Helena Middleton, with a pulsing score by Joseff Harris. |
Through Draft
Length: Short
Camera: Sony F5 with Cooke Varotal 20-100mm Director: Joshua Cole Producer: Tommi Floor A psychological thriller starring Joseph Langdon and Gemma Reynolds. Written and Directed by Joshua Cole. A reclusive man refuses to leave his flat while facing eviction, terrified of what may be released if he can no longer keep guard over the evil trapped within. |
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The Search Party
Length: Short
Camera: Sony FS7 with Contax Zeiss Primes Director: Grame Willetts A young woman has gone missing. Frustrated by a slow investigation, her parents take the search into their own hands to search the local woods. Their close friend Tara comes to help their desperate search but this good will gesture has other motives. Written and Directed by BFI backed screenwriter Graeme Willetts, and starring Laura Bayston (Killing Eve) and Martin Bonger. |
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THE BALLET OF THE NATIONS
Length: Feature
Camera: Sony FS7 with Zeiss Contax Primes. Director: Joshua Ben-Tovim and Roseanna Anderson Producer: Gwenfair Hawkins and Kim Heron (2018) Billy Zane narrates this 50-minute arthouse film in which war is imagined as a diabolical dance choreographed by Satan and Ballet Master Death. Directed by Impermanence Dance Theatre, and starring Sonya Cullingford (Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desires) and Peter Clements. The film has a semi-permanent home as part of British Art Studies, and is fully watchable here. |
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COOKIN' MADE EASY WITH MR ZAZZIZI
Length: Pilot Episode
Camera: Sony F3 with Zeiss CP.2 Primes. Director: Lizzie Franks and Rew Lowe Producer: Rew Lowe (2018) A pilot for a kids cookery show concept, written by and starring Rew Lowe, following the adventures of 1970's italian spy film inspired secret agent and chef Mr Zazzizi. |
CHRISTMAS AT MUM'S
Length: Short
Camera: Sony F3 with Zeiss CP.2 Primes. Director: Ben Davies and Joe Trickey Producer: Calling the Shots (2017) A Channel 4 Random Acts commissioned short, directed by Ben Davies and Joe Trickey. A foolish son returns home for Christmas dinner to find his Mum has invited a few special guests. |
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KINLength: Short
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini with Zeiss CP.2 Primes. Director: Helena Middleton Producer: Tim O'Brien (2016) Bristol-set short film telling the story of the relationship between two brothers and their vastly different experiences of the care home in which they both grew up. Starring Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, Dickensian, Game of Thrones), Sunetra Sarker (Casualty), and Jack Hollington. Directed by Helena Middleton, and written by Papatango new Writing Winner Samuel Bailey. |
TIDALLength: Short
Camera: Canon 5DmkII with Yashica Primes. Director: Jack Offord Producer: Marley Hamilton (2013) An aerialist embarking on her career is derailed when her brother returns from overseas, bringing back past obsessions. Directed and shot by myself, and starring Oliver Park, Alexandra Mai, and Jason Bailey. |
HOFFBRAU
Length: Short
Camera: Canon 5DmkII with Nikon AI Primes. (2011) Hoffbrau, a polar bear in Somerset finds itself hunted by the enigmatic Bubba Trott. Hoffbrau enjoyed a surprise resurgence from internet oblivion when it was programmed in Shortstack, a programme curated by The Jim Henson Foundation, part of BAM Kids film festival 2018 in Brooklyn. Directed by myself and Emily Trott. |