Passengerfilms Contact Name: Mia Hunt Contact Position: Co-Director Contact Address: Flat 633, 15-25 Talbot Square, London
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FILM SOCIETY OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2012 - APPLICATION FORM PLEASE REMEMBER TO READ THE GUIDANCE NOTES BEFORE FILLING IN THIS FORM. 1. Contact Information. Please nominate a contact person from your organisation. NAME OF ORGANISATION: PASSENGERFILMS CONTACT NAME: MIA HUNT CONTACT POSITION: CO-DIRECTOR CONTACT ADDRESS: FLAT 633, 15-25 TALBOT SQUARE, LONDON POSTCODE: W2 1TT TELEPHONE: 079 7739 6421 EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: PASSENGERFILMS.WORDPRESS.COM 2. The Award Categories. Please tick the category for which you are applying. If you are applying for multiple categories, please submit a separate application for each award category. ENGHOLM PRIZE FOR FILM SOCIETY OF THE YEAR COMMUNITY AWARD BEST FILM PROGRAMMING BEST NEW SOCIETY BEST FILM EDUCATION PROGRAMME ■ BEST STUDENT SOCIETY BEST MARKETING AND PUBLICITY OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION BY AN JIM DEMPSTER AWARD FOR INNOVATION INDIVIDUAL 3. Supporting Documents. Please list all the documents provided to support your application. 1. Introduction to PASSENGERFILMS 4. 2012 Screenings 2. Supporting Statement 5. Sample Screenings 3. Testimonies 6. Appendices: Links; Event Posters; Sample Programme Notes 4. Signature by authorised representative of your organisation: Signed ……………………………………………………… Name/ Position: Mia Hunt / Co-Director PLEASE RETURN BY 10TH AUGUST 2012 TO: FSOY 2012, BFFS, THE WORKSTATION, 15 PATERNOSTER ROW, SHEFFIELD, S1 2BX OR MAIL [email protected] PASSENGERFILMS “The car-crash of cinema and geography” BEST FILM EDUCATION PROGRAMME APPLICATION Amy Cutler, Rupert Griffiths, Liz Haines, Mia Hunt, Liberty Rowley photos by Rupert Griffiths CONTENTS Introducing PASSENGERFILMS...............................3 Supporting Statement...............................................4 Testimonies...............................................................6 01 Screenings.......................................................7 Sample Screenings..................................................8 Appendices............................................................14 Links...........................................................14 Event Posters..............................................15 Sample Programme Notes.........................4 From our “Surveillance” screening event PASSENGERFILMS INTRODUCING PASSENGERFILMS PASSENGERFILMS — “the car-crash of geography Drawing from Diverse Practices and cinema” — is a new not-for-profit film enterprise, founded and run by volunteer PhD students, which PASSENGERFILMS aims to show the diversity and aims to bring hot topics from cultural geography to relevance of geographical approaches. We avoid the film-going public in London. the pedagogical model of having a single speaker talking to what is often considered a “civilian” audi- Cinema? Geography? ence. Instead, we invite several speakers who tack- le our chosen theme from a variety of angles. We As Sir Peter Hall (UCL) has remarked, “We’ve long challenge theoretical research by bringing it face-to- had books about places by geographers, and books face with the poetry and practicalities of film-making, about films and TV by critics — but they’ve remained political activism, urban-planning, sound-art, dance, in hermetically sealed compartments, separated by and much more. an impassable gorge.” Cultural geography is not well known as a discipline, but has a strong impact An Expanded Audience on contemporary discussions about film, landscape, place, and politics. PASSENGERFILMS presents Our audience is as eclectic as our films and collab- multi-disciplinary research on the constructed and orators. We run events in a number of venues, but contested spaces of human life, through cinema, most often hold screenings in informal settings and talks, and Q&As offering novel interpretations of schedule drinks breaks to allow people to circulate, classic, cult, and obscure films. We bring together meet, and discuss. Since the beginning of 01, conversations that have been happening, albeit in- new collaborations have brought opportunities to in- dependently, inside and outside of the academy and teract with even wider audiences — from a hugely within geography and film communities. successful live arts evening with the Brick Box (a community arts organization), to advising on a pro- gramme for St John on Bethnal Green church, to a series of screenings with the UCL research group Urban Lab. PASSENGERFILMS’ birthday event at the Brick Box 3 PASSENGERFILMS SUPPORTING STATEMENT Impassioned Amateurs and Themes and Seasons Generous Experts We do run one-off collaborations, but also focus We are not film students, but film fans. We do not on developing themed seasons. For example, at focus on “film education”, but on developing and ex- the start of 01, we ran five screenings on urban panding eclectic debates in geography. We have space in collaboration with UCL’s Urban Lab and the successfully developed a strong base of PASSEN- Bartlett School of Architecture. This model allows for GERFILMS fans and continually reach out to new more sophisticated programming around particular groups whose interests chime with our wide-ranging ideas; it also allows us to build and maintain par- themes. The informal atmosphere encourages ques- ticular audiences, and create more constructive and tions and debates across our diverse audiences. substantial discussions. Our seasons often involve the participation of themed venues, institutions, and collaborators. The Serious and the Sensational We work to balance the academic and public as- pects of our programming to engage both com- munities; we aim to keep PASSENGERFILMS lively, trendy and entertaining, as well as provocative and thoughtful. We constantly experiment with combin- ing intellectual material with exciting experience. For example, alongside a talk on the John Wyndham archive at an eco-horror screening of “The Day of the Triffids”, we filled the cinema bar with carnivorous plants sourced from Essex Carnivorous Plants. Last year we co-organised the first UK Green Film Festi- val and ran special events tied to the films, involving live bee hives and free cycle-painting workshops. At most events we play themed playlists during the breaks, and encourage the audience to collaborate on the playlist beforehand, with tongue-in-cheek themed prizes distributed on the night for best song addition. Collaborations: Academic Research Groups, Film Societies and Beyond We have academic affiliations with institutions and research groups including the Social and Cultural Geographies Research Group (SCGRG) at Royal Holloway, UCL’s Urban Lab, and the Autopsies Re- search Group in Film Studies. We also have strong relationships with a large number of London film so- cieties, clubs, venues, and partners. We were found- ing participants in the famous “Scala Forever” sea- son at the Roxy Bar & Screen last year; the season returns this year as “Scala Beyond”, when we’ll be programming a “Film Jam” slot. We have collabo- rated on nights with other well-known film organisa- tions, such as the London Short Film Festival, Rush- es Soho Shorts, and Open Cinema (a cinema for the Urban Planning Screening and book launch event 4 PASSENGERFILMS homeless, which received the proceedings). We are Future Plans members of Cinematic Drifters and of the South East London Film Club Network, and have collaborated Since launching in March 011, we have raised our with local arts organisations such as the Brick Box, profile within academic and public communities. which helped us throw our first birthday party. See Early on, we were chuffed when one of our earli- our sample screenings section for details. est screenings was picked by Time Out as Critic’s Choice for Other Cinema. This year we are build- Publicising the Event and Providing ing on our profile to develop themed seasons and Theoretical Contexts events with new institutions and academics. We are also working towards capturing a whole new audi- We keep things fresh and maintain our strong public ence through a schools programme. appeal by including “wild cards” in our programme. We also work hard to best convey the academic as- In the autumn, we will be working with “guest cu- pects of our events. In the run up to each screening, rators” — well-known geographers from around the we write extensive programme notes and post them country — on specialist topics. Forthcoming events on our blog, and begin discussion threads on our include: Facebook page and on Twitter (@Passengerfilms). These platforms link to relevant research websites, • a mini-season on border controls in September with articles, online projects, and recommended publica- geopolitics lecturers Klaus Dodds and Pete Adey tions on the theme. At the event itself, we provide printed programme notes (please see the appendi- • a Brazilian scholar of indigenous film-making will ces for examples), and encourage audience mem- join us in November for a session on indigenous and bers, speakers, and others to share relevant materi- ethnographic film, with archival films presented by als at a table we provide. Where possible, we make academics Luciana Martins and Felix Driver the screenings’ intellectual content freely available afterwards for people unable to make the events. • a session on material geographies with another We arrange for reviewers to write up each event and visiting international director, Fredrick Kerrten, co- make links to their reviews available afterwards. We curated by Ian Cook, founder of “Follow the Things” also encourage speakers to put talk materials