bimi essay film festival

NOW BOOKING: Essay Film Festival (25 MAR to 03 APR)

The essay film festival from birkbeck institute of the moving image (bimi) returns from 25 mar to 03 apr with a special online edition. all the films are free for the entire event..

By RADIANT CIRCUS // Twitter @radiantcircus | Instagram @radiantcircus

The Essay Film Festival  has been running since 2015 and takes place at the end of March with related events throughout the year. The festival is normally split between Birkbeck’s own cinema and the ICA, but this year moves online for a special edition (the 2020 event was cancelled for obvious reasons…).

Now, you might be asking yourself what an ‘essay film’ actually is…? BIMI describes essay films as:

“a hybrid form that brings together elements of documentary and experimental filmmaking into a highly personal and often politically engaged mode of expression.” essayfilmfestival.com

If that leaves you still scratching your head, but you have seen and adored the autobiographical films of Agnès Varda, then you’re in the right ball park! A RADIANT CIRCUS favourite is THE BEACHES OF AGNÈS (2008), but feel free to take your own pick…

How will this year’s festival work?

In a wonderful innovation, all the films will be FREE for anyone in the UK to watch and almost all of the titles are available throughout the festival. No rental fees, no time-limited 4hr watch windows (our personal bugbear…): just an opportunity to gorge on outstanding film content.

To watch the films, visit BIMI’s online screening room where you can view all the films at a time that suits you. Helpfully, the screening room does not require any sign-ups or downloads. While most of the material is available for the entire festival (25 MAR to 03 APR), one or two items will be up for a more limited period, so check the availability for each film you’re interested in.

What about live events?

The programme of live events includes artists’ and curators’ talks, conversations with filmmakers and discussions with critics and researchers. These will take place on an online platform called Collaborate and are also FREE. Book your place online and BIMI will send you a link to join the event on the day: again, you don’t need to create an account or download any software. It really couldn’t be easier!

> Scroll down for our look at some programme highlights.

> The ESSAY FILM FESTIVAL streams online from 25 MAR to 03 APR 2021.

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A quick look at this year’s film programme.

BIMI says this year’s programme reflects their dynamic ambition for the essay film itself:

For us the essay film is a critical intervention in the world, combining a passion for investigating reality and for asking tough questions about society with an open, inventive and even playful approach to film language and forms of representation. Essay Film Festival

Highlights programme include:

• Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich will give a talk about her forthcoming project on Suzanne Césaire, alongside a selection of her short films exploring alternative voices and narratives from African-American history.
• Cauleen Smith will be presenting a programme of her experimental works reflecting her longstanding interest in Afro-futurism and jazz, especially Alice Coltrane and Sun Ra.
• Two programmes of short films by Kevin Jerome Everson focus on themes of labour and place, which the artist will further develop in an illustrated talk and conversation.
• Monographs from the Asian Film Archive is a series of video essays responding to the uncertainties of the pandemic from ten contemporary Asian artists, some of whom will be speaking at the festival with critic and essayist Kevin B. Lee.
• Nuria Giménez’s MY MEXICAN BRETZEL uses found footage and literary invention to play with the conventions of film portraiture and highlight the invisibility of women’s histories – themes that the artist will discuss in a live conversation.
• An extended programme around the work of Jenny Brady features three of her own films and three films curated by the artist, alongside a talk about her current research into musical performance and the sonic practice of Alvin Lucier.
• This year’s programme closes with a study day devoted to Brazilian filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho, specifically his films MAN MARKED FOR DEATH, LAST CONVERSATIONS and the unfinished A DAY IN THE LIFE.

PREVIOUSLY ON RADIANT CIRCUS…

Essay Film Festival & Goethe-Institut present HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY: PETER NESTLER ‘INJUSTICE AND RESISTANCE’ (27 JAN 2023)

NOW BOOKING: Essay Film Festival Preludes 1-3

NOW BOOKING: The Essay Film Festival (22 MAR to 04 APR)

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To help reanimate movies beyond the mainstream, we’ve relaunched our subscription service as a crowdfunder called  REVIVE THE DARK . With the backing of our subscriber community we will be able to:

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*THE SMALL PRINT: Opinions author’s own. // As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any errors. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version only. // Event dates/times/formats are subject to change by the venue/organiser. Events may already be sold out at the time of posting, so please click quickly. // We try to list as many original format screenings as we can (8 to 70MM), but sometimes formats change due to age of the print, availability, logistics etc, so please check ahead with your venue if the format is your thing. // All images are used in the spirit of fair use for reporting & review – no ownership is implied or intended / unless otherwise credited to RADIANT CIRCUS as the original rights holder. We will remove any images immediately upon request – just get in touch. // We don’t filter our listings by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should therefore be 18+. // Finally, we always try to follow  The Carny Code by “not screwing up anyone else’s game”, but everyone can make mistakes… If something does go wrong, we will always do our best to put it right. //.

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Essay Film Festival 24 March – 1 April 2017

The Essay Film Festival 24 March-1 April 2017 has now gone live:  http://www.essayfilmfestival.com

We have some fantastic guests coming to the festival this year to show and share their work: Andrés Di Tella, Babette Mangolte, Deborah Stratman, Volker Pantenburg, Werner Dütsch, Kevin B. Lee, Zoe Beloff, Huang Ya-Li, George Clark, Sarah Wood, Ehsan Khoshbakht, and, closing the festival, Jocelyne Saab!

Screenings will take place at ICA, Birkbeck Cinema, and the Goethe-Institute. Some events are free, and tickets for all events are now available for booking.

If you want to follow what’s happening, you can do so on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Birkbeck_BIMI

And/or Facebook:  https://tinyurl.com/zwxfsf9

Or simply sign up for our BIMI Newsletter:  https://tinyurl.com/zzgjner

Best wishes

Michael Temple

Director of Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image and Essay Film Festival

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• The Best Things To See...

The Best Things to See and Do in Perm, Russia

1. Indulge in some high culture and watch an incredible ballet

Russians are great fans of poetry, classical music, opera and ballet. Indeed, every major city in Russia has an opera and ballet theatre. Perm’s ballet is quite remarkable, and the quality of the pieces they stage puts them in the same rank as the country’s ballet giants: Mariinsky in St Petersburg and Bolshoy in Moscow. Watching a ballet performance in Perm is most certainly a thing to tick off your list even on the shortest visit.

Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, Petropavlovskaya 25A, Perm, Permsky Krai, Russia , +7 342 212 30 87

Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre | © D V S / WikiCommons

Attend one of the local festivals

Quite a few internationally renowned festivals take place in Perm every year. The most prominent ones include the International Documentary Film Festival Flahertiana . Every October, the festival, inspired by the art of Robert Flaherty, draws the brightest stars of both international and Russian documentary scenes. International Diaghilev Festival is another prominent event in Perm. It is entirely devoted to classical art and theatre and occurs every year in June.

2. Learn about some of the most difficult parts of Russian history right where it happened

Memorial, Museum

Perm-36, a forced labour camp located 100 kilometres (62.1 miles) north-east of Perm, was one of the most prominent Soviet detention centres for political prisoners. It was operating until the 1980s. In the 1990s, a group of former inmates and Memorial, an NGO dedicated to helping victims of the Soviet regime, converted the camp into a museum – the only GULAG museum in Russia on the site of an actual camp. Despite some problems with the current local administration, the museum is still operating and most certainly worth visiting.

Memorial Complex of Political Repressions, Kuchino, Permsky Krai, Russia , +7 342 212 61 29

A special regime cell for political prisoners in Perm-36 | © Wulfstan / WikiCommons

3. Become a Permyak Salty Ears for a little while

Perm and its nearest surroundings are very rich in minerals. Throughout history, salt was the most prominent of them. Indeed, Perm appeared because people were relocating here to work in the salt mining industry, of which the legacy is a vital part of the locals’ identity. One of the most famous symbols of the region is the sculpture Permyak Salty Ears. In the early days of salt mining, the locals would carry big bags full of salt on their back. Some of the salt would then fall on their ears, making them big and red. The sculpture, located in the very city centre, consists of a frame with big ears attached to it and a figure of a photographer taking a picture of it. Putting your head in the Permyak Salty Ears frame and snapping a photo is an absolute must for every visitor to the city.

Permyak Salty Ears, Komsomolsky Prospekt 27, Perm, Permsky Krai, Russia

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbZXKdfg-1H/?hl=pl&tagged=%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D1%8F%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5%D1%83%D1%88%D0%B8

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4. See what Russian contemporary art has to offer

Perm is truly a city full of cultural surprises. On top of the festivals and the theatre mentioned above, it is also home to the only contemporary art museum outside of Moscow and St Petersburg. PERMM is a museum and exhibition space; it also hosts lectures, workshops and festivals. It is an extremely vibrant place and is most certainly worth a visit even on a short trip to the Urals.

PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, Bulvar Gagarina 24, Perm, Permsky Krai, Russia , +7 342 254 35 73

A sculpture in front of the PERMM museum, reading “Glory to the effort” in Russian | © Evgeny Nikiforow / WikiCommons

Experience the incredible landscapes of the Urals

The Ural Mountains are incredibly scenic and largely undiscovered. Whether you’re a fan of hiking, rafting or simply camping for days in pristine nature, Perm and its surroundings have something to offer you. If you happen to find yourself with a little bit of time while in Perm, go camping and explore. Your trip will soon turn into an adventure you will never forget.

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Peter Nestler: An Open Mind - Artists of the Sinti and Roma + Conversation

When: 3 November 2023, 18:00 — 21:00 Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square

Book your place

Peter Nestler: An Open Mind - Artists of the Sinti and Roma is part of a two-day collaboration between the Essay Film Festival / Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image (BIMI), and the Goethe-Institut London. For more details on both events please visit the following page:  https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/ver.cfm?event_id=25125202  

An Open Mind forms the second part (part one can be seen here: https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/ver.cfm?event_id=25125193 ) of Peter Nestler’s diptych on the ways Roma and Sinti resisted the violence and injustice committed against them. The film focuses on the work of various artists from the past and the present who have used writing, painting, film, and music as a form of personal expression, cultural celebration, and remembrance as well as a form of revolt. For Nestler, it is important to emphasise their variety of expression and the openness of their approach. We meet Rosa Gitta Martl and her daughter Nicole Sevid, who read short texts in memory of the people who died in the "Gypsy camp" of Weyer in Upper Austria. 32 colour slides from 1941 had been the only record of them otherwise. Filmmaker Karin Berger pays tribute to her friend Ceija Stojka (1933-2013), an Austrian writer, painter, singer, and activist. A survivor of the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen, she has had great influence on other Roma and Sinti artists. Another section of the film is dedicated to Spanish-born artist Lita Cabellut, who works with painting, video, and dance to address discrimination and other social issues. She talks about her work as an art director for Carmen Chaplin’s film about the presumed Roma background of her world-famous grandfather. Film scholar Radmila Mladenova discusses the relationship between cinema and photography and the use of racist stereotypes, for example in early films by D. W. Griffith and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. As an alternative perspective she presents photographs that show a more just and egalitarian way of portraying the Sinti and Roma. The film also features the music of the Roma and Sinti Philharmonics, an orchestra that brings together musicians from all over Europe. An example of a change for the positive in recent years is the Kai Dikhas Gallery and Foundation, under the direction of Moritz Pankok, which offers artists a continuous forum to develop and exhibit their work.

Following the screening we will hold a conversation hosted by Gareth Evans and with visual artist Delaine Le Bas and author Damian Le Bas, who are both members of the Romany community in the UK.

Germany, Austria 2022, colour &. b/w, 101 mins. With English subtitles.

Director: Peter Nestler, Camera: Rainer Komers, Editor: Dieter Reifarth, Sound: Michael Busch, Production Companies: Strandfilm GmbH (Frankfurt am Main) in coproduction with Navigator Film Produktion (Vienna) in cooperation with Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) / 3sat (Mainz) Producer: Dieter Reifarth, Line Producer: Monika Lendl

This event is the second part of a two day event, held in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut London. Peter Nestler: Injustice and Resistance takes place on 02.11.23 at the Goethe-Institut London. Full details: https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/ver.cfm?event_id=25125193  

Damian Le Bas is a writer from the south coast of England. His first book, The Stopping Places: a Journey Through Gypsy Britain, won the Somerset Maugham Award, a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award, was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and was shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. His next book will be published by Chatto & Windus in 2025.

Also from the south coast of England, Delaine Le Bas studied at St Martins School Of Art London. She works across various disciplines, creating installations, performance, photography and film. Her works focus on issues of identity, race, gender, sexuality and the continued violence and exclusions against whoever is perceived as “the other” within society.

Gareth Evans is a London-based writer, editor, film / event curator, producer & host and documentary mentor. He works on special projects for the London Review of Books and curates their Screen at Home series. From 2012 - 2023 he was the Adjunct Moving Image Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery. He has written many catalogue essays and articles on place culture, artists and the moving image, as well as the extensive text for Radiohead's KID A MNESIA catalogue.

About Peter Nestler

German filmmaker Peter Nestler is among the most important documentarists of our time. His influential work, which is also receiving increasing appreciation outside of the German-speaking world, encompasses more than 60 films – made over six decades, Nestler's films are exemplary documentary works notable for their political and artistic persistence. Born in Freiburg in 1937, Nestler began making documentaries in 1962, first in the FRG and then in Sweden after 1966, where he still lives today. Until the 1990s, he worked for Swedish television, directing almost one film a year, often in collaboration with his wife Zsóka Nestler (1944–2016). Today, in his mid-80s, Nestler continues his exciting work, which employs a variety of cinematic forms and at whose center stands a sharp analysis of the connections between politics and economics. "In essence," notes one of Nestler's collaborators, "he is shooting one long, big film, like a storyteller eternally spinning their tale. The individual films are merely chapters or excerpts from this life's work." This is certainly the case for his most recent, two-part film Injustice and Resistance and An Open Mind, which sees Nestler resuming his decades-long examination of the fate of Germany and Austria's Sinti and Romani populations: a major and intense epic about a massive injustice told as a story combining trauma and self-assertion. (Constantin Wulff / Translation: Ted Fendt; Courtesy of the Austrian Film Museum)

Contact name: Matthew Barrington

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Paul Tremblay on His Haunted New Novel ‘Horror Movie’ and the Joy of Having Robert Downey Jr. and M. Night Shyamalan Adapt His Books

By William Earl

William Earl

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• Paul Tremblay on His Haunted New Novel ‘Horror Movie’ and the Joy of Having Robert Downey Jr. and M. Night Shyamalan Adapt His Books 1 day ago
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Horror author Paul Tremblay developed a deep love of spooky stories early on, and he tackles the haunted films genre with his newest novel, “ Horror Movie ” ( out Tuesday via William Morrow and Company ). The plot concerns a ’90s cult classic horror movie which left all but one cast member dead and the dark stories that are dredged up as a remake comes closer to reality.

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How did you come up with the idea of “Horror Movie”?

It was one of those fun, random discoveries I wasn’t anticipating writing this book. Sometimes I’m forced to plan it out with my book deals, but this one … it was winter or early spring of ’22. I’d had another book idea, but I wasn’t loving it. My friend and great writer Stephen Graham Jones, we just shoot each other recommendations. He said, “Hey, you should watch my friend Walter Chaw and John Darnielle discussing ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ in this YouTube video essay.”

I watched it and was enthralled listening to two really smart people talk about this movie that’s both great and notorious. During the talk, Walter held up a book called “Chain Saw Confidential” that [Leatherface actor] Gunnar Hansen had written. Man, that book was just a lot of fun. Gunnar definitely plays up blurring of the line between him and Leatherface, but it’s wonderfully written. There are certain points in that book where I thought, ‘Man, that set was pretty dangerous based on what they were doing.’ That just sent me into the rabbit holes: What would have happened if a chainsaw slipped somewhere along the way or something like that?

Do you think there is some sort of negative energy on the sets of dark horror films?

What I really wanted to dig into when I wrote this was the collective will. What is this collective will that it takes to make a movie, in particular? The movie that I’m writing about, which was very small, family-funded and with some grants — this independent film is what would motivate these people to sacrifice so much.

Maybe some people are quitting jobs to sacrifice and give so much to this particular project. If there’s a curse of anything, it’s just the idea of this collective will. That collective will starts to overtake the concerns for the individuals involved. To me, if anything’s like a cursed film, it’s the idea when all these people say, “This thing that we’re making is more important than we are as individuals,” so that idea will lead you to taking risks.

What were you most surprised by during the production of “Knock at the Cabin”?

When I got to visit the set for two days, it was just shocking to see how much goes into this $25 million movie. It’s this giant warehouse in Philadelphia where they built basically the interior sets for the cabin, and this army of people that are working.

As a novelist, it’s just me sitting down with my laptop, so you can sort of intellectualize. But until you see it, it was really a shock. I had no idea what to expect. I mean, I think most novelists dream about having an adaptation, because if nothing else, you have the money that comes along with an adaptation.

What are the modern horror movies that really speak to you?

I definitely find myself more attracted to independent or foreign films, because it seems like they take more chances. They’re not as wedded to the strict three-act structure with the beats in the right places and all that. I love movies that take chances. As a horror fan, I want to be made to feel uncomfortable. I don’t want the same old thing every time.

When I see something made by someone like Demián Rugna, the Argentinian director of “When Evil Lurks” and “Terrified,” it’s pure nightmare fuel. It’s almost like the plots don’t even matter because the tone and the emotion they wring out of you is just amazing.

[Rose Glass’] “Saint Maud” is another mesmerizing horror movie. I love finding hidden gems, the things I talked about through the characters in my book. These things where people were making it not because of the money — they were making it because they had to. I I just find that really fascinating, especially when it’s horror: What drove you to make this really discomforting thing?

Your novel plays with form, even including screenplay pages. Were you worried at all about the structure potentially interrupting the story?

To the best of your knowledge, are you still going forward with a “Head Full of Ghosts” film adaptation, now that Robert Downey Jr. is on board as a producer?

Yeah, we renewed the option, which was a big to-do because the other one had completely run out just about a month and a half ago. It definitely feels like momentum is building towards “maybe this will be the thing” and I hope it is. I haven’t read the screenplay yet, but I did get to talk with [directors] Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. I’m excited, and I left that conversation really excited about what their movie might look like.

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‘twin peaks’ episode, david lynch short, restored wim wenders film join karlovy vary fest lineup.

Three perspectives on the American landscape in cinema and a digitally restored version of 'Two English Girls,' François Truffaut’s period drama about a love triangle, are among the Out of the Past program.

By Georg Szalai

Georg Szalai

Global Business Editor

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The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on Monday added a David Lynch short and an episode of his iconic series Twin Peaks to its Franz Kafka retrospective and unveiled the program of its Out of the Past   section, featuring classic, cult, rare and “unfairly overlooked” films, screened in their original or restored versions.

Among the highlights are restored versions of Wim Wenders’ 1984 neo-Western drama Paris, Texas and Two English Girls , François Truffaut’s 1971 period drama about a love triangle.

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Also part of the Out of the Past program is Let’s Get Lost , Bruce Weber’s documentary about the final years of jazz legend Chet Baker. Plus, “this year’s ‘chapter’ in Karlovy Vary’s ongoing series dedicated to the king of American independent cinema, John Cassavetes, will show his final writer/director feature, Love Streams (1984), in which he and his lifelong partner and muse Gena Rowlands portray an unusual pair of siblings,” organizers said.

KVIFF, whose 58th edition runs June 28-July 6, also unveiled more additional titles to complete the program of its  Franz Kafka retrospective , which will pay tribute to one of the Czech Republic’s most famous sons in celebration of the centenary of Kafka’s death. 

The retrospective, dubbed “The Wish to Be a Red Indian: Kafka and Cinema,” will show 13 feature films, four medium-length films and five shorts. The “surrealistic short film The Grandmother , which Lynch made in 1970 with financial support from the American Film Institute, as well as the third episode of the third season of the cult series Twin Peaks , which most intensely reflects the admiration of one peculiar genius for another,” are now part of the lineup, organizers said Monday.

Check out the complete program for the two KVIFF 2024 sections below.

Out of the Past Two English Girls (dir. François Truffaut) François Truffaut, My Life, a Screenplay (dir. David Teboul) The Taking (dir. Alexandre O. Philippe) Fort Apache (dir. John Ford) Paris, Texas (dir. Wim Wenders) Twentynine Palms (dir. Bruno Dumont) Let’s Get Lost (dir. Bruce Weber) Love Streams (dir. John Cassavetes) Actress (dir. Theodora Remundová) Murdering the Devil (dir. Ester Krumbachová) The Mystery of the Carpathian Castle (dir. Oldřich Lipský)

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Now Playing: The Press Tour (Shh, It’s Better Than the Movie)

For Jennifer Lopez, Sterling K. Brown, Dakota Johnson and others, the standard publicity push isn’t so standard anymore.

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By Esther Zuckerman

In the 1999 rom-com “Notting Hill,” the sheepish bookseller played by Hugh Grant goes to a hotel expecting a date with the megawatt star played by Julia Roberts. He is surprised to find he has arrived at a press junket and looks adorably flustered as he’s shuffled from room to room, pretending to be a reporter from Horse & Hound to interview the stars of her space movie.

The sequence is a handy introduction to this strange custom of film publicity: actors sitting in sterile suites for a parade of brief interviews. But these days that almost seems quaint. The press tour has taken on a life of its own, with stars like Dakota Johnson, Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya making news for the tour itself with quippy sound bites, inscrutable looks and fashion moments.

It can be grueling for celebrities. Lupita Nyong’o recently described junkets as a “torture technique” in an interview with Glamour . But these cycles can be more entertaining than the movies themselves. Grant’s bookseller would be baffled to learn that you can categorize the tours as follows:

The Animosity Tour

The promotion stops for nothing, not even cast members who appear to hate being in one another’s company. This seemed to be the case during the cycle for “Atlas,” Netflix’s new sci-fi flick starring Jennifer Lopez and Sterling K. Brown.

During joint interviews, Brown seemed unable to help himself from making fun of Lopez. In one viral moment, he feigned surprise when she said she was Puerto Rican, before repeating her comfort meal of “ rice and beans and like, you know, chicken” in overemphasized Spanish.

In another moment, he jumped in and helped her out when her own Spanish failed her. After supplying the right word, he did a little dance. That clip prompted social-media users to wonder what J. Lo did to Brown . During these interactions Lopez looked perturbed, leaving plenty of room for observers to jump to conclusions.

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