Abandon Normal Devices Festival Programme 23-27 September 2009 Liverpool, UK Day by Day events / workshops / screenings Wednesday 23 September Opening Night Film: Humpday (15) Screen 1 and Screen 2, FACT 23 September, 8.00pm Dir: Lynn Shelton / USA / 94mins Lynn Shelton's Sundance hit is a wildly funny and daring take on the thirtysomething buddy movie. Ben (Mark Duplass) is just settling into married life with Anna (Alycia Delmore), when he falls back in with old friend Andrew (Joshua Leonard), and his bohemian, sexually experimental party crowd. Can Anna and Ben's marriage survive the ‘art project’ which Ben and Andrew dream up together – a project that takes male bonding to its ultimate extreme? r-
Thursday 24 September Festival Breakfasts Every morning from 9.30am Chameleon will host a limited free breakfast, a time to meet other festivalgoers and guests and plan your festival day. Real-time: Showing art in the age of new media 24 September LJMU Design and Academy 9:30am-4:30pm. £18.50/£15.50 (FACT Members and concs) Showing time-based art is very different to exhibiting art objects, so how can art which uses the Internet, interactivity, social systems, or real-time computing different from video, live art, or performance? This one-day conference aims to share the knowledge of those involved in exhibition practices beyond the object of art, and asks, should we abandon ‘normal’ curating practices, or adapt these modes to integrate ‘the new’? This event draws experts and researchers from the fields of art practice, curating, history and criticism to confront the slippery question of time - including the timelines of production, of showing, and of participation. Tickets can be booked from the FACT shop http://shop.fact.co.uk/ For an outline of the programme see http://www.andfestival.co.uk/ Duane Hopkins Masterclass The Box, FACT, 24 September 10.30am, £7.00/£5.00 (FACT Members and concs) Duane Hopkins has received widespread critical acclaim for his portrayals of British rural life, notably with his award-winning short films and stunning debut feature Better Things. For Sunday he abandons the standard film narrative and focuses on British youth and the relationship between identity, psychology and environment. Hopkins captures the nuances and subtleties in the shifting interactions of the main characters, reflecting their personal inner reality and the external world, and creating an unnerving psychological tension. Following a successful transition from short films to his debut feature, and critically acclaimed installation work, Duane Hopkins gives an insight into his creative vision and working process.
Abandon Normal Devices Short Film Programmes Programme 1 (18), The Box, FACT 24 September, 12:00pm Two programmes of short films that throw caution to the wind. Including dramas, animations and artists using unconventional techniques, here filmmakers present playful and provocative visions of the world and our bodies within it. From DIY hang gliding to washing machine fetishists, and formal explorations of digital code, these are mini mind-adventures for curious souls. See website for full lineup. th
AND Salons | CONTRACT Guest Space, Chameleon, 24 September 12.00-1.30pm FREE The AND salons are a series of midday panel discussions in the festival hub at Chameleon. Pull up a sofa, listen to a variety of perspectives and take part in debates about the way we live today. An eclectic array of experts from the worlds of science, health, sport and culture will be considering notions of social justice, human rights and equality. CONTRACT: Social contracts exist in various guises, though perhaps our most celebrated is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which aspires to guarantee fundamental freedoms. Yet, in the last two decades, there has been a widespread state-wide erosion of citizenship by media monitoring, matched only by our own complicity in digital self-surveillance. What does this mean for how we think about liberal democracy and the future of an increasingly digital Britain? Screening Lounge at TABAC Daily 12.00pm – 6.00pm, FREE A free screening lounge at Tabac on Bold Street, pop in in the afternoon to watch a rolling selection of short films showcasing the new breed of exciting local filmmaker talent. Devour, savour and discuss. Katalin Varga (15) Screen 3, FACT 24 September, 12.10pm Dir: Peter Strickland / Romania, UK, Hungary / 82mins A startling breakthrough for new British talent Peter Strickland, Katalin Varga follows the journey of Katalin, a woman who crosses borders of landscape, sex and morality in her mater-of-fact quest for vengeance. With an earthy palette and cold eye on the Romanian countryside, this is a film with dirt under its fingernails, and a female character that will not be forgotten. th
Turistas (15) Screen 3, FACT 24 September, 2.00pm Dir: Alicia Scherson / Chile / 104 mins On route to a romantic holiday, a couple have a row. He leaves her on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. So starts Carla’s odyssey into the unfamiliar Chilean jungle, where, accompanied by a young backpacker who may not be all he seems, life decisions come into focus. An offbeat and witty drama, where nature is rendered magnificent by former botanist Scherson. th
The Yes Men Fix The World (12A) The Box, FACT 24 September, 2.10pm Dir: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno / USA, France / 83 mins Troublemaking duo Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, posing as their industrious alter-egos, expose the people profiting from Hurricane Katrina, the faces behind the environmental disaster in Bhopal, and other shocking events. Playing to accompany the Yes Men exhibition. This film will be BSL Interpreted. th
Artist Presentations Salons at Chameleon From 3.00pm everyday Artist presentations will feature daily over the four days inviting a plethora of artists and thinkers to talk about their practice in response to the curatorial theme of normality. Check the website schedule for up to date inclusions and more information on their projects. Expect to see Oliver Laric, Guthrie Lonegan from the net art programme, James Coup, Homotopia tv and Tapio Makela. Apichatpong Weerasethakul Masterclass Screen 2, FACT 24 September.
4.10pm £7.00/5.50 Thai artist-filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Primitive is a striking meditation on the destruction and rebirth of a community, told through moving and hypnotic sequences filmed in Nabua, North East Thailand; explosions like lightening strikes, the creation of a spaceship in the ricefields, young men sleeping and dreaming. Primitive revisits the violent clashes between totalitarian government militia and communist farmers from the 1960s – 1980’s, creating a portrait of their teenage male descendants and inviting new dreams for the future. Drawing from his personal archive of film and photographs, Apichatpong will lead a masterclass in which a select audience will gain valuable insight into this acclaimed artist/filmmakers practice, through the making of the Primitive project. The Long Night of the AND Festival Venues across Liverpool 24 September , 5.30pm until late Come straight from work, join the debate, do the tours, meet & eat, wear the glowstick and enjoy the special events put on by Liverpool’s favourite artists, studios, museums and galleries – all at night. Join in the nocturnal feast of art, film, music and performance as Liverpool’s galleries and arts centres stay open for their annual Long Night. Including tours of Radio City Tower, a 24hr conversation at the A Foundation, live music at melllo mello and architectural lectures at RIBA. Abandon your normal devices for a very special experience. For and the full programme of special events look at www.andfestival.org,uk Breathless (18) Screen 1, FACT 24 September, 6.00pm Dir: Yang Ik-joon / South Korea / 130 mins Not for the lighthearted, this Korean gangster film exists in an unapologetic vortex of unrelenting violence. Sang-Hoon (played by Yang Ik-joon) is a debt collector and goon for hire. Yeon-Hue is a schoolgirl with a self-destructive family. As two very damaged people collide, a surprisingly moving film emerges. Expect to be kicked in the head and then punched in the heart! th
Hide and Seek FACT Bar 24 September 6.00pm-9.00pm, Playmakers is a new social game brought to us by Sandpit, a collective of players, artists and game designers. Participants will be set the challenge of a film hide and seek exercise and a mixture of Sandpit’s usual pervasive, social and traditional games including Moveyhouse, a cinematic adventure inspired by a legendary ‘happening’ in 1960s New York. www.hideandseekfest.co.uk" Carolee Schneemann Mysteries of the Iconographies Performance Lecture Tate Liverpool 24 September, 6.00- 7.30pm, FREE Booking required Tate Liverpool and AND are proud to present a personal appearance by the renowned American artist Carolee Schneemann who will perform Mysteries of the Iconographies live in the gallery. In this intimate visual lecture Schneemann travels backwards and forwards in time, beginning with obsessive childhood drawings of a staircase. The performance explores diverse imaginings including the mysteries of a notched stick, paper folds, indentations and the slice of line in space through unexpected structural motives, up to and including Schneemann's recent photographic grids and objects. The performance lecture is followed by Q&A with the artist. The event will also be streamed live into the gallery foyer. For tickets book online at www.tate.org.uk/liverpool or call 0151 702 7400. New British Cinema discussion Open Eye Gallery 24 September, 7.00pm. 30 mins, Free. In July 2009, the Guardian heralded the ‘Rebirth of the British art film’, citing examples such as Steve McQeen’s Hunger, Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank and Duane Hopkins’ Better Things. These may be tough times financially, but artistically UK cinema is producing a raft of exciting work, with a refreshingly artful approach, with filmmakers taking their influences from diverse areas. Join us for an informal talk about New British Cinema, discussing Duane’s work in the context of the current crop of UK filmmaker auteurs, including Peter Strickland (Katalin Varga), Andrea Arnold, and Ben Hopkins (The Market). Are we witnessing a new wave?
Rules and Regs The Bluecoat 24 & 25 September, 8.00pm. Free Abandon Normal Devices and the Bluecoat have teamed up to work with three artists, selected for their interest in live art, expanded cinema and leftfield approaches to new media, for a specially tailored Rules and Regs residency. Rules and Regs is a national development initiative in which artists create new work in response to rules tailored to challenge their usual ways of working. Expect a night of live performance, interventions into new media and re-imagined analogue strategies. Featured artists include: Rod Maclachlan, Gordon McKenna, Peader Kirk. For more information on their practice see www.andfestival.org.uk for full biogs. www.rulesandregs.org Tickets can be booked from www.thebluecoat.org.uk Crying With Laughter (18) Screen 1, FACT 24 September, 8:45pm, Dir: Justin Molotniktov / UK / 93 mins Joey Fisk is a stand up comedian who doesn’t know when to stop. With an edgy line in humour that always oversteps the line, an appearance from an old school friend with hidden motives means that this time he might never go back. Stephen McCole’s central performance in this Edinburgh-based thriller is an awesome act, and the film maintains menace and edge throughout, while still being deeply, blackly and laugh-out-loud funny. th
Friday 25 September Festival Breakfasts Every morning from 9.30am Chameleon will host a limited free breakfast, a time to meet other festivalgoers and guests and plan your festival day. China Town (U) The Box, FACT 25 September, 10:00am, £2 Dir: Lucy Raven / USA / 51 mins An experimental animation tracing copper mining and production from an open pit mine in Nevada to a smelter in China. China Town considers what it actually means to ‘be wired’ and in turn, to be connected, in today's global economic system. Composed entirely of individual images with varying frame rates, this intriguing, long edit mirrors the many discrete processes, efforts, and locations that go into commodity production. First Light panel events Art & Design Academy, Liverpool John Moores University 25 September, 11.30am-1.30pm, FREE Funding demystified, as the First Light scheme bring their roadshow to AND to talk to organisations who are interested in applying for funding, and creative professional filmmakers and artists who would be interested in working with young people. Session One: Want to make a film but don’t know how to start and where to get the money – First Light will show you how! Session Two: Professional Filmmakers – Get involved with First Light! Follow The Master (U) The Box, FACT 25 September, 12:00pm Dir: Matt Hulse / UK / 75 mins For his debut feature, experimental filmmaker Matt Hulse has created a kaleidoscopic personal documentary. Following the death of his grandfather, Hulse sets out on an offbeat pilgrimage, walking the 100-Mile South Downs Way with his girlfriend, dog and a bag full of Union Jack cocktail sticks. Mixing voiceover, Super-8 footage, postcards, and air drumming, what emerges is a highly distinctive take on death and rambling. This screening will be BSL interpreted. AND Salons | INFECT Guest Space, Chameleon, 25 September 12.00-1.30pm FREE
The AND salons are a series of midday panel discussions in the festival hub at Chameleon. Pull up a sofa, listen to a variety of perspectives and take part in debates about the way we live today. An eclectic array of experts from the worlds of science, health, sport and culture will be considering notions of social justice, human rights and equality. INFECT: Our desire to transcend our biology is inextricable from the complex ways in which our own resilience can be suddenly brought into question, as manifested by the ‘swine flu’ pandemic, itself a new(s) virus. These moments draw society back into a state of primitive vulnerabilities. Can humanity be ‘fixed’ or are utopian projects merely processes of normality maintenance? Whole Body Interaction Workshop FACT Medialab 25 September 12.00pm-4.00pm, Free LJMU’s research into Human Computer Interaction continues as they welcome artists to engage with technology developed for wirelessly capturing body motion. A useful tool for VJs and dancers to creatively feedback, alter music or dance to, Professor David England will give a hands-on workshop in motion capture and participants will learn how to use these exciting tools. Places to be booked via hello@andfestival.org.uk Screening Lounge at TABAC Daily 12.00pm – 6.00pm, FREE A free screening lounge at Tabac on Bold Street, pop in in the afternoon to watch a rolling selection of short films showcasing the new breed of exciting local filmmaker talent. Devour, savour and discuss. Club De Femmes: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? (15) The Box, FACT 25 September, 2.00pm “Why have there been no great women artists?” This is how the critic Linda Nochlin famously opened the debate about the way canonical thinking defined and still defines Western art history. For Nochlin, in 1971, in a line of art A-listers that stretched from Michelangelo to Andy Warhol, women artists were notable by their absence. Nearly forty years on in our post-feminist age, Club des Femmes considers the role of the woman artist and wonders if the debate has ever gone away? Featuring work from Lis Rhodes and Martha Rosler. This invited programme from curators Club Des Femmes compliments Carolee Schneemann’s exhibition at Tate Liverpool. www.clubdesfemmes.com Northwest Vision and Media, BAFTA, Shooting People and Abandon Normal Devices present… Short Sighted! Get Your Short Film Seen by the People who Matter Art & Design Academy, Liverpool John Moores University Friday 25 September 2.00pm-5.00pm, FREE To celebrate the launch of their 2010 Digital Shorts scheme, Northwest Vision and Media has teamed up with BAFTA and Shooting People to present Short Sighted at AND. If you’re a filmmaker, making your short film is only half the battle. Short Sighted! helps you plan an effective distribution and exhibition strategy in the digital age. Reserve a ticket here http://shortsighted.eventbrite.com/ www.visionandmedia.co.uk www.bafta.org www.shootingpeople.org Artist Presentations Salons at Chameleon From 3.00pm everyday Artist presentations will feature daily over the four days inviting a plethora of artists and thinkers to talk about their practice in response to the curatorial theme of normality. Check the website schedule for up to date inclusions and more information on their projects. Expect to see Oliver Laric, Guthrie Lonegan from the net art programme, James Coup, Homotopia tv and Tapio Makela. Puffball (18) The Box, FACT 25 September, 4.00pm Dir: Nic Roeg / UK, Ireland, Canada / 120 mins A film with a strange pulse. Nic Roeg’s most recent feature, based on Fay Weldon’s novel, is a visceral take on fetal desire. A young architect moves to the country and becomes pregnant after a wave of
magic, biological waywardness. Featuring a cryptic cameo from Donald Sutherland as her philosophical mentor. The Kreutzer Sonata (18) Screen 2, FACT 25 September, 4.10pm Dir: Bernard Rose / USA / 99mins Danny Huston sits on the bed, blood on his hands and calls an ambulance. From the outset it’s clear that something very bad is going to happen. Spiraling round the epic themes of sexual possession and jealousy with an unease that only extremely good digital filmmaking can engender, Bernard Rose offers a follow up to Ivans xtc. that continues to push the envelope. It may be a modern adaptation of Tolstoy, but the worst urges of men remain undiminished. Blast Theory Workshop FACT Foyer 25 September 5.00pm-9.00pm, FREE Catch an early demo version of Blast Theory’s Rider Spoke game and feed into its development process, which continues their fascination with how games and new communication technologies are creating hybrid social spaces. Participants must be willing to cycle at night, through the city, for a personal and scenic form of participation. Places to be booked via hello@andfestival.org.uk Nic Roeg in conversation with Don Boyd Screen 2, FACT 25 September 6.00pm-8.00pm Iconic director Nic Roeg has created many masterpieces of cinema, including Performance, Walkabout, Don’t Look Now and The Man Who Fell To Earth. With work that often pushes audiences to question accepted positions (as viewers, as bodies, as citizens), we welcome Roeg to examine what it means to abandon our normal devices, as he talks to filmmaker Don Boyd about his current ideas and inspirations. On the Waterfront: Classic Liverpool Feature and DJ Spooky plus special guests Friday 25 September Pier Head & St George’s Hall AND presents a special evening in two parts. Transforming the new Liverpool Museum into a gigantic cinema screen, we start at the Pier Head with the presentation of a classic Liverpool feature film, followed by a cool audio visual set in the grand surroundings of St George’s Hall. The Long Day Closes (12) Directed by Terence Davies Pier Head Friday 25 September 7.30pm, Free Take a step back in time this evening, as tonight’s main feature tells a poetic story of life in a post-war Liverpool. Beautiful cinematography and symphonic music combine to create an emotive film that captures childhood memories of days gone by. This film is a love letter to cinema, to the allure of escapism through the magic of the movies, based in the pre-television era, when icons such as Brando were about to light up the silver screen. Set in the terrace lined streets of Liverpool, The Long Day Closes tells a charming story of Bud McCormack, an 11 year old boy growing up in the impoverished 1950’s. The grim reality of everyday life is only broken for Bud during precious trips to the local picture house, where Hollywood idols become a means of escape. Rebirth of a Nation by DJ Spooky Now presented in the historical St Georges Hall St George's Place, Liverpool, L1 Opp. Lime Street train station. Starts 9:30pm, Doors open from 9pm, Free, no booking required Nearly 100 years after DW Griffith's epic Birth of a Nation was released, DJ Spooky (aka Paul D Miller) has applied a "DJ mix" to one of the most revered and reviled films ever made. Miller's reading of the overt racism depicted in a Reconstruction-era South hurtles Griffith's images into the 21st Century, a socio-political landscape that has evolved beyond all expectations. Using cinematic history as the
starting point for critique, not only of a horrifying past, but for a new vision that interrogates what we think of multi-culturalism, in a world that is rapidly becoming Americanised. Follow The Master (U) AND @ Plaza Community Cinema 25 September, 7.30pm, The Plaza Cinema in Crosby is a community-run organization in Liverpool, using revenue created from commercial screenings to provide film-based educational initiatives for the local community. AND is delighted to be presenting a satellite screening at this fantastic venue, with filmmaker Matt Hulse in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. Ticket information at www.plazacinema.org.uk Rules and Regs The Bluecoat 24 & 25 September, 8.00pm. Free Abandon Normal Devices and the Bluecoat have teamed up to work with three artists, selected for their interest in live art, expanded cinema and leftfield approaches to new media, for a specially tailored Rules and Regs residency. Rules and Regs is a national development initiative in which artists create new work in response to rules tailored to challenge their usual ways of working. Expect a night of live performance, interventions into new media and re-imagined analogue strategies. Featured artists include: Rod Maclachlan, Gordon McKenna, Peader Kirk. For more information on their practice see www.andfestival.org.uk for full biogs. www.rulesandregs.org Tickets can be booked from www.thebluecoat.org.uk Pontypool (15) Screen 1, FACT 25 September, 8.45pm Dir: Bruce McDonald / Canada / 96mins Latenight DJ Grant Mazzy has seen better days. A former shock jock relegated to the smalltown airwaves, the whiskey can’t take the edge off the humiliation of bogus weather reports and interviewing the local amateur dramatics society. Cue: zombies! Bruce McDonald delivers a sophisticated and blackly funny Abandon Normal Devices twist on the genre that still offers a satisfying splatter of gore. Midnight Movie: Mock Up On Mu (15) Screen 1, FACT 25 September, 12.00am (midnight) Dir: Craig Baldwin / USA / 114 mins A radical hybrid of spy, sci-fi, western, and horror genres, Mock Up On Mu cobbles together a featurelength ‘collage-narrative’ based on (mostly) true stories of California's post-War sub-cultures of rocket pioneers, alternative religions, and Beat lifestyles. Pulp-serial snippets, industrial-film imagery, and Bfiction clips are intercut with newly shot live-action material, powering a playful, allegorical trajectory through the mythic occult matrix of Jack Parsons, Ron L Hubbard and Marjorie Cameron. th
Saturday 26 September Festival Breakfasts Every morning from 9.30am Chameleon will host a limited free breakfast, a time to meet other festivalgoers and guests and plan your festival day. Jamie King New Cinema Masterclass The Box, FACT 26 September, 10.00am Inspirational director Jamie King discusses innovative methods of fundraising, production and distribution in an energetic open session for emerging filmmakers in the Northwest. King’s previous film, the documentary Steal This Film has been downloaded over 6 million times, and a new venture Vodo, sees him stepping into peer-to-peer distribution for short films. Portable Pixel Playground Arthouse Square 26 September 11.00am- 4.00pm FREE Family fun in Arthouse Square! Portable Pixel Playground is a unique portable digital art playground consisting of new artists' commissions including squidsoup, Andy Best & Merja Puustinen. Portable Pixel Playground is brought to you by folly and is funded until 2010 by Big Lottery Fund's Playful Ideas programme. www.portablepixelplayground.org
15mm Films: Sex for the Disabled A Foundation 26 September 11.00am-6.00pm FREE To mark a new collaboration between AND festival and Dada fest, provocative disabled artists collective 15mm Films will develop a new project after their critically acclaimed video installation The Way Out. Sex for the Disabled ironically addresses the question of sex: Do disabled people have sex and if so, is it different to able-bodied people? Messier? Twisted and gymnastic? What kind of sexual perversions are specifically disabled? Over the Saturday you are invited to view the 15mm Films collective at work in an open set, where audiences can watch the shoot and discuss the film with the actors between takes. Anger Is An Energy (18) The Box, FACT 26 September, 12.00pm Featuring distinctive auteur short videos and film, utilising simple devices, and exploring relationships between people, memory and place. Stepping beyond documentary, these films revisit sights of pain and abuse, through re-enactment and occupation. Anger is an Energy celebrates useful anger derived through dissatisfaction with old regimes and dystopian histories signposting a need for change, through metaphor, energy and anger. AND Salons | COMPETE Guest Space, Chameleon, 26 September 12.00-1.30pm FREE The AND salons are a series of midday panel discussions in the festival hub at Chameleon. Pull up a sofa, listen to a variety of perspectives and take part in debates about the way we live today. An eclectic array of experts from the worlds of science, health, sport and culture will be considering notions of social justice, human rights and equality. COMPETE: ‘Faster, Higher Stronger’; Today, we compete with ourselves, through self-augmentation and manipulation. Our biological apparatus is in flux, vulnerable, yet re-imagined by technology. What will ability and disability mean in an era of genetically modified athletes and surgically sculpted children. Screening Lounge at TABAC Daily 12.00pm – 6.00pm, FREE A free screening lounge at Tabac on Bold Street, pop in in the afternoon to watch a rolling selection of short films showcasing the new breed of exciting local filmmaker talent. Devour, savour and discuss. Goodbye Solo (12A) Screen 3, FACT 26 September, 12.10pm Dir: Ramin Bahrani / USA / 91 mins A Senagalese taxi driver meets a suicidal red head on the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The two men forge an improbable friendship that will change both of their lives forever. One man's American dream is just beginning, while the other's is quickly winding down. But despite their differences, both men soon realise they need each other more than either is willing to admit. th
Bypass 2010 Claudio Rivera-Seguel FACT Medialab 26 September 1.00pm – 4.00pm, FREE This workshop aims to create stimulating interaction and discussion around Immersive Telepresence introducing participants to some of the basics of real-time broadcasting and recording techniques in low and high definition streaming and offering the opportunity to become an active participant in a liveperformance with artists from Chile and Canada, which aims to promote the web-base relational art project called Bypass2010. www.bypass2010.org Places to be booked via hello@andfestival.org.uk The People Speak The Box, FACT 26 September, 2.00pm In August, a collaboration between The People Speak, FACT and ARENA Housing turned an ordinary football match into a fantastic event bringing over 250 people together to experience local football like
you've never seen it before! The event featured live TV style graphics, goal effects, scoreboard and action replays, and this documentary by young people who attended football commentary workshops premieres in an energetic screening event in the Box. Mary and Max (15) Screen 1, FACT 26 September, 2.10pm Dir: Adam Elliot / Australia / 92mins From the Oscar-winning director of Harvey Crumpet, this 3-D animation for adults tells the tale of two outsiders Mary and Max, whose friendship is linked through a life lived trapped by rules, both externally imposed and of their own making. This is an eccentric, blackly humourous tale pitched somewhere between the quirkiness of Amelie and the deadpan of About Schmidt. The charm of the mismatched characters slowly creeps up on the viewer to become a very moving experience. th
Artist Presentations Salons at Chameleon From 3.00pm everyday Artist presentations will feature daily over the four days inviting a plethora of artists and thinkers to talk about their practice in response to the curatorial theme of normality. Check the website schedule for up to date inclusions and more information on their projects. Expect to see Oliver Laric, Guthrie Lonegan from the net art programme, James Coup, Homotopia tv and Tapio Makela. Young Liverpool Film Night 2009 Screen 3, FACT 26 September, 4.00pm, £2.00 Programmed and run by the young people from FREEHAND at FACT. New works by talented 13-19 year olds will be showcased in a lively ceremony that features the premiere of a new film from students of Weatherhead High School Media Arts college and the best of the Northwest. Screen fully accessible: BSL interpreted and audio described. h
zasto ne govorim srpski (na srpskom) + Arena: Saint Genet (15) The Box, FACT 26 September, 4.10pm zasto ne govorim srpski (na srpskom) or Why I Don’t Speak Serbian (in Serbian) is a compelling short film from Turner Prize nominated artist Phil Collins, considering the complex relationship between language and conflict. Filmed in Kosovo, it relays the personal stories of public figures and ordinary people, discussing the collective shift to abandon the Serbo-Croat language. Phil Collins will discuss the film before introducing the Arena portrait of poet, thief and troublemaker extraordinaire Jean Genet. Pinpointed by Collins as a key inspiration his practice, Saint Genet (1985) presents a formidable character who thrillingly challenges the nature of documentary subjectivity. How To Be A Yes Man Live lecture & workshop with The Yes Men LJMU Art and Design Academy Auditorium 26 September 6.00pm– 8.00pm, FREE Booking required Come and develop your own strategies for political intervention, and learn how to get into trouble Yes Men style. Considered among the most important political artists of the last decade, The Yes Men are a group of culture-jamming activists who practice what they call ‘identity correction’. By posing as spokespersons for prominent organisations, The Yes Men create spoof websites and appear in conferences and TV shows to highlight how corporations and governmental organisations often act in dehumanising ways toward the public. Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with The Yes Men exhibits The Yes Men’s practice through elaborate costumes fabricated for their bold interventions, slapstick videos and PowerPoints presentations at business conferences, outrageous posters and props, scripts, sketches, research materials and selected publications and ephemera from their personal collections. Created in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University, and curated by Astria Suparak, director of Carnegie Mellon University's Miller Gallery, Pittsburgh. A Small Cinema venue tbc 26 September, time tbc A Small Cinema, is a unique short film event born out of a fascination and desire to recreate the classic cinematic experience. Complete with smartly dressed ushers, velvet curtains, popcorn, punctual projecting and an interval for ice-cream. A Small Cinema offers a refreshing alternative to the multiplex
experience and encourages people to co-ordinate and curate their own community cinema. For A Small Cinema on Bold Street, Bold Street shop will be temporarily, but magically transformed into a cinema and feature an eclectic programme of short films curated by the local traders. For dates and times see www.asmallcinema.co.uk The Market (Pazar - Bir ticaret masali) (15) Screen 1, FACT 26 September, 6.30pm Dir Ben Hopkins / Germany, Turkey, UK, Kazakhstan / 93mins One of the UK’s finest young directors, Hopkins (37 Uses For A Dead Sheep) has set his latest film in Turkey, turning a blackly humorous eye to a simple tale of border-crossing trade. Mihram (Tayanç Ayaydin) is a young man keen to legitimise his life by entering the profitable cell phones business. Trouble comes when temptation for further profit arrives and Mihram faces a system where all the odds are stacked against him. th
Pictures at the Pierhead; On the Waterfront (PG) Dir: Elia Kazan / USA / 108 mins Pier Head 26 September, 7.30pm – 10.00pm, Free Marlon Brando’s “I coulda been a contender” speech is synonymous with this classic gripping drama from director Elia Kazan. Capturing ex-prize fighter, Terry Malloy’s struggle against union corruption along the New York waterfront. Malloys heroism over the racketeering and political corruption makes this an unforgettable gut-grabbing story, Nominated for twelve Academy Awards revisit this n this ne off opportunity at in the Liverpool docks. Winners of the Liverpool Echo ‘Out of the Ordinary’ competition will also be showcased, where readers were set the challenge to document ‘Out of the Ordinary’ news, observations and activities. Special Preview screening: Dark Fibre (18) Screen 1, FACT 26 September, 9.00pm Dir Jamie King, Peter Mann / UK 2009 A gripping feature film mixing scripted fiction and documentary and starring Peter Wintonick (director of Manufacturing Consent) with a cameo by Noam Chomsky. A mysterious private military contractor rides into India's Silicon Valley, with a mission to take control of the city's dreams. A provocative reflection from Steal this Film director, Jamie King, of the lives of Bangalore’s Cablewallahs, who have the power to traverse informational life in the city. The Kazimier 26 September, 9.00pm - late The Kazimier collective, currently housed in a former derelict nightclub in Liverpool, host thematic night-time events. This one-off event will feature a travelling carnival of amusements, one off which is rumoured to take you on a journey further than you’d ever expect. More information on tickets see www.thekazimier.co.uk
Sunday 27 September Festival Breakfasts Every morning from 9.30am Chameleon will host a limited free breakfast, a time to meet other festivalgoers and guests and plan your festival day. Krzysztof Wodiczko Open Session The Box, FACT, 27 September 10.30am, £7.00/£5.00 (FACT Members and concs) War Veteran Vehicle continues Krzysztof Wodiczko’s interest in the situation of soldiers who fought during recent armed conflicts and who are returning to civilian life. For the project in Liverpool Wodiczko has been working with people from the Northwest who have experienced active duty in the armed forces. His ambition is to foster a better understanding of the impact of combat on veterans and their families, with the hope of lessening the feelings of isolation held by those struggling with the aftermath of combat and to help with the difficult process of social reintegration. War Veteran Vehicle is a project that raises many questions and here Krzysztof Wodiczko and project participants will discuss the process of creating the work and the issues that it evokes.
This project forms part of POLSKA! YEAR and has been curated by Aneta Krzemien www.PolskaYear.pl Community Film Night Special: Business As Usual (15) Screen 3, FACT 27 September, 12:00pm Dir: Lezli-An Barrett. 86 mins UK 1988 tenantspin will be hosting a midday session of locally focused film and discussion during AND with a special incarnation of its popular Community Film Night. tenantspin is a Liverpool based Community TV Channel, managed by FACT, city-wide tenants and Arena Housing, and Community Film Night was conceived to create a platform to showcase films of historical and social importance, with a strong community flavour. For AND tenantspin with be screening Lezli-an Barrets 1988 feature Business as Usual a true story set in Liverpool of one woman who, finding herself unfairly dismissed from her shop assistant job after defending an employee who rejected the sexual advances of her boss, refuses to accept the situation and stands up to fight for her rights against all the odds. 'Business As Usual' is a controversial social commentary about the way in which men regard women - both in the home and at work - despite the major advances toward sexual 'equality'. AND Salons | Desire Guest Space, Chameleon, 27 September 12.00-1.30pm FREE The AND salons are a series of midday panel discussions in the festival hub at Chameleon. Pull up a sofa, listen to a variety of perspectives and take part in debates about the way we live today. An eclectic array of experts from the worlds of science, health, sport and culture will be considering notions of social justice, human rights and equality. DESIRE: How will sex and sexuality look in 2020? In the 1990s, digital sex was described as the solution to sexually transmitted disease. But what is the state of our cybersexuality today? What will we desire in the future? Have digital liaisons become our primary mechanism through which to (mis)learn about sex? Interface Amnesty STATIC 26 September 12.00pm– 10.00pm, Free Inspired by a trade fair scene in the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola film The Conversation and your local jumble sale. Interface Amnesty plays with the conventions of interface design, music technology products and the presentation of interactive art. Invited artists hobbyists and makers show and tell self made, developed and hacked devices for playing sound and music in a free trade fair/market style setting. Pixelh8, Chris O’Shea, Jody Hudson-Powell, The Astronaut Show all feature. http://www.soundnetwork.org.uk Screening Lounge at TABAC Daily 12.00pm – 6.00pm, FREE A free screening lounge at Tabac on Bold Street, pop in in the afternoon to watch a rolling selection of short films showcasing the new breed of exciting local filmmaker talent. Devour, savour and discuss. Abandon Normal Devices Short Film Programmes Programme 2, (15) The Box, FACT 27 September, 12:10pm Two programmes of short films that throw caution to the wind. Including dramas, animations and artists using unconventional techniques, here filmmakers present playful and provocative visions of the world and our bodies within it. From DIY hang gliding to washing machine fetishists, and formal explorations of digital code, these are mini mind-adventures for curious souls. See website for full lineup. th
The Memories of Angels (U) The Box, FACT 27 September, 2.00pm Dir: Luc Bourdon / Canada / 80mins The most purely pleasurable film of the festival, Memories of Angels is a poetic city portrait of Montreal in the 1950s and 1960s. A digital carousel of vintage footage, the film offers fans of Of Time And The City a new dose of archive wonder. A paean to a city, an era, and the endurance of cinema, the th
stream-of-consciousness editing suggests Bourdon has somehow dreamt the film we saw before us. Treat yourself. Ken Russell in conversation with Don Boyd Screen 2, FACT 27 September 14.00pm- 15.30pm As a maverick of cinema Ken Russell has consistently broken new ground with a vision that is distinct, direct and often spectacular. With films such as Women in Love, The Devils and Tommy, he has composed a career with extraordinary vision, marrying aesthetics to a fantastical imagination, never less than bold when tackling sex and religion. Recently Russell has focused his creative energies on making short films using digital cameras in the interspersed playful and Russell will speak to fellow director Don Boyd about his forays into the digital realm. Artist Presentations Salons at Chameleon From 3.00pm everyday Artist presentations will feature daily over the four days inviting a plethora of artists and thinkers to talk about their practice in response to the curatorial theme of normality. Check the website schedule for up to date inclusions and more information on their projects. Expect to see Oliver Laric, Guthrie Lonegan from the net art programme, James Coup, Homotopia tv and Tapio Makela. Stupid Pet Trick Pizza Party The Box, FACT Sun 27 September, 4.00pm As part of the online programme, curator Michael Connor will be providing the pizza and taking us back to the heady days of 2004, in this personal reflection on the recent history of viral videos. Looking at the way we view moving image on the net and how ideas spread. Expect a near timeline of well-known online moving image, plus lo-fi animations, stunts gone wrong and strange pet tricksin all their pleasurably choppy, blocky, pre-YouTube glory. Plus pepperoni. Action Diana (12A) Screen 2, FACT Sun 27 September, 4.30pm Dir The Centre of Attention / UK 2009 Artists The Centre of Attention have created a cover version of a classic feature film shot for shot starring members of the public. Re-appropriated and remixed, Action Diana absurdly pushes participation into uncomfortable realms, questioning both the gallery as an exhibition space, and the poverty of video art in relation to cinema. For its world premiere, Action Diana welcomes the cast of Liverpool performers to get ready for their close up. http://www.thecentreofattention.org/ Examined Life (12A) Screen 1, FACT 27 September, 7.00pm, Dir: Astra Taylor / Canada / 87mins Eight contemporary philosophers; ten minutes each. This is theory for busy bees. A fascinating and generous documentary from Astra Taylor, Examined Life features Peter Singer pounding New York streets talking about ethics, Judith Butler discussing disability in thrift stores, and AND favourite Slavoj Zizek traipsing round a rubbish tip to discuss our unconscious fears. Bound to delight the thinkers of Liverpool! th
Special Screening: All Tomorrow’s Parties (15) Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 27 September, 7.30pm £6.50 / £7.50 Boxes On the closing night of AND we journey to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for a one-off opportunity to experience this twisted concert film in glorious surroundings. All Tomorrow’s Parties is a groundbreaking music festival that has taken place in an out of season holiday camp for the past ten years, with an innovative mix of live bands, chalet camping and crazy golf. A collaboration between innovative digital filmmaker Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation) and the campers themselves, this collage film uses footage shot by fans and musicians, sewn together into an energetic paean to a festival that truly rocks. Includes performances by Belle and Sebastian, Grinderman, Portishead and the Yeah
Yeah Yeahs. This special screening is presented in association with Samizdat. Tickets available from http://www.liverpoolphil.com Liverpool Kino Cabaret Filmmaking Lab, Toxteth tv Final screening, Leaf Cafe 27 September 2009, 8.00pm FREE For the duration of the festival filmmakers and artists from Liverpool and beyond will be working together to produce exciting new short films from script to screen. A self-organised maelstrom of creative collaboration will culminate in a frantic final screening event on the Sunday evening. To get involved, check out the progress of the filmmakers and find out details of the final screening, visit www.liverpoolkinocabaret.wordpress.com Be Good (Sois Sage) (15) Screen 1, FACT 27 September, 9.00pm, Dir: Juliette Garcias / France, Denmark / 90mins Ladies and gentlemen, a new talent has arrived! In her debut feature, Juliette Garcias delivers an incredibly tactile thriller to get your cinematic senses tingling. Eve is the new girl in town with an unhealthy obsession with a local family. Played with eerie intensity by Anaïs Demoustier, Be Good keeps you constantly guessing on Eve’s intentions, as suspense turns to a palpable dread. Unmissable. th
Useful Information and Tickets Festival Hub at FACT The Festival Hub is the centre for all information, venue directions and a the pick up and purchase point for ticketing. Festival assistants at FACT will be able to supervise you on up to date information and changes in the schedule. Festival Guest Space at Chameleon Chameleon will be home to all the artists, filmmakers, and visitors, with comfy seats, tasty coffee, wireless access and good conversation.
Tickets All film screenings are standard ticket price £7.00/£5.00 (FACT members and concs) Festival Passes £35.00 for 10 films / £20.00 for 6 films Places for FREE workshops and debates can be booked through hello@andfestival.org.uk Tickets for these specific events can be bought at the venue or online. Rules and Regs The Bluecoat http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/ Short Sighted North West Vision and Media, BAFTA and Shooting People http://shortsighted.eventbrite.com/ The Kazimier www.thekazimier.co.uk Mysteries of the Iconographies Carolee Schneemann Performance and Lecture Tate Liverpool www.tate.org.uk/liverpool
All Tomorrow’s Parties Liverpool Philharmonic http://www.liverpoolphil.com
Information: +44 (0)151 7074450 | Bookings: +44 (0)8717 042063| Online film booking: www.andfestival.org.uk