Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2011
The 7th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival is set to return, celebrating the art of film over one action-packed weekend, Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th September.
Using Berwick-upon-Tweed as the perfect setting, and The Maltings Theatre & Cinema as a hub, the Festival invites you to join the adventure in various locations across the town, with new venues including Café Curio, a bistro-cum-antique sellers, and the recently restored Dewar’s Lane Granary.
Entitled Once Upon a Time, the programme explores the enchantment of fairy tales on film, from one of the very first examples of the genre, Alice in Wonderland (1903) through to the modern day, through its opening film, the World Premiere of I Am Nasrine (2011).
The programme ventures into fantasy worlds with the likes of The Blue Bird (1918), which closes the Festival as part of a live event. Meanwhile Mastering Bambi (2010), which screens as an installation, represents a darker re-mastering of an original Disney tale.
The event also features work inspired by local folklore through the Festival’s specially commissioned 3D animated projection, Penumbra (2011) by County Durham-based Gareth Hudson & Jack Burton, and through Mare (2011), the World Premiere of a short performance film by Faroese artists, Marianna Mørkøre & Rannvá Káradóttir, commissioned by Northumberland County Council and filmed on the nearby coastline.
Another Festival commission supported by Arts Council England, entitled Maria by Berlin-based artist Darren Johnston, sees a hologram projection in Bankhill Ice House depicting a flamenco dancer as she slowly emerges from the darkness to reveal an unexpected other world.
The event invites you to watch the magic unfold through a series of feature film screenings, short film programmes, artists’ video installations, live events and specially commissioned pieces. It also encourage you to take part - to meet the storytellers and tell your own stories - with something for everyone, from the very young to the young at heart.
The full programme can be found here, and tickets are on sale both on the website and from The Maltings Theatre & Cinema Box Office, on 01289 330999.
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2005-Present
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival is a celebration of the art of film, set in the unique historical and architectural location of the Northumberland border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The main Festival is a biennale, which since its inaugural event in 2005, has taken place over in September. During the alternate years, a smaller scale ‘Mini-Fest’ is also held over a weekend between September – November.
The philosophy and objectives of the Festival are distinctive, in that they are concerned with drawing together artists’ film & video practice alongside the work of independent filmmakers. An important part of the Festival is the ‘artists’ trail’, which uses a number of distinctive locations as installation sites along the Elizabethan walls. Each edition of the Festival has been curated and programmed against a theme. These have ranged from ‘Film on Film’ in 2007, which reflected on the ways in which artists and filmmakers have referenced the medium of film itself, to ‘Inner States’ in 2008, which used the location of Berwick to explore geographical and emotional states of independence, to 'Drawing the Lines' in 2009, which explored the relationship of cinema to architecture and 'Stagings' in 2010, which explored the screen as a stage and Berwick-upon-Tweed itself as a platform for screening, projecting and staging the moving image.
Over the six editions of the major and minor events, the Festival has shown over 350 individual works from 35 countries in 20 different locations. This has included 10 specifically commissioned pieces and 40 UK or European premieres, with many more works being shown outside of London for the first time. A range of educational and outreach activities have also been run in parallel, some of which have taken place outside of the Festival timeframe, thus maintaining a continual presence all year round.
The Festival has also been successful at attracting significant audiences with up to 10,000 visits, with evaluations establishing that 55% of the audience was not Berwick based and 40% of these were first time visitors, with over half of them coming to the town specifically to attend the Festival.
As with most arts organizations and events, we are reliant on the funding goodwill of a whole range of public funders and private businesses and as everyone is aware; this year has been particularly tough. For this reason we are particularly indebted to those organisations who have shown their support, in these times of cuts to cultural activity. Both those who have stayed with us, and those who are working with us for the first time this year, and here we wish to express our thanks.
We are also hugely appreciative to a range of individuals who have offered us a great deal of time, help, commitment and expertise, without whom this event wouldn’t be possible. Last but not least, we would like to thank you, the audience, for your support, without which this Festival would have no future.