Saturday November 19th & Sunday 20th sees the Vintage Mobile Cinema return to Bristol for the second time, for this year’s Encounters Short Film Festival. The programme of films has been put together by the good folks of the M Shed Museum, in partnership with Encounters and the Bristol Records Office. We’ll be screening a selection of contemporary film-makers shorts as well as archive film of Bristol, for the full details see here.
Encounters Short Film Festival
Ten Seconds
A man can see 10 seconds into the future. What will he use his powers for?
‘Ten Seconds’ is a film by Tim Clague, and was commissioned through the South West Screen Digital Shorts programme, a project which allowed a selection of South West film-makers to realise their dream and make a short film with support and funding.
Screened at: Ramsgate Summer Squall, August 2011
Ramble On
This film is just fantastic. We can’t possibly do it justice by describing it here, so all that remains is to advise you to watch it – be warned though, it may not suitable for kids.
‘Ramble On’ is a short film animated by Tom Parkinson and Tim Ruffle, commissioned as part of South West Screen‘s Digital Shorts programme, a project which allowed a selection of South West film-makers to realise their dream and make a short film with support and funding.
Screened at: Ramsgate Summer Squall, August 2011
Off Beat
We love Aardman Animations. It’s as simple as that. Not only are they supremely talented individuals who have inherited a gratuitous amount of artistic skill, they’re also really, really nice people.
One of those nice people is Will Becher, whose delightful short animation ‘Off Beat’ asks a simple question – what happens when all the policemen go on holiday?
‘Off Beat’ was commissioned as part of South West Screen’s Digital Shorts programme, a project which allowed a selection of South West film-makers to realise their dream and make a short film with support and funding.
Screened at: Aeon Festival, August 2010; Ramsgate Summer Squall, August 2011
Kung Fu Romance
When we screened some work of the recent graduates of the Arts University of Bournemouth last year, we had a whole lot of kids coming out of the cinema asking the same thing. ‘Can we go in and watch some more?’ More specifically, the kids just kept requesting one film for us to play again and again – Ben Ho’s ‘Kung Fu Romance‘, a short animation that packs a big punch.
We’ve no doubt that Ben is amongst the talented graduates of Bournemouth who’s work we’ll be seeing again – no doubt on the television or big screen next time!
Screened at: Aeon Festival, August 2010; Ramsgate Summer Squall, August 2011
Thanet on Film
Sellout screenings at Broadstairs Palace Cinema for weeks running and emergency public meetings sparked by the issues raised, ‘Thanet on Film’ was never an ordinary archive film experience. Hugely popular with the local community, our screenings of this film were no exception at the Ramsgate Summer Squall festival. Sold out every time, our only disappointment was those we had to turn away.
The film has proved so popular that it has spawned a sequel – now you don’t see that happening with an archive film very often, do you!? You can catch a glimpse of the trailer for ‘Thanet on Film II’ on YouTube.
Screened at: Ramsgate Summer Squall, August 2011
Southport Flower Show Archive Films
The Southport Flower Show is the UK’s biggest independent Flower Show, now in its 83rd year. With an impressive pedigree such as that, it was important that the films we screened to the flower enthusiasts who visited us over four days in August were top notch. Archive films from Southport’s flower shows in the 1950s, 60s and even the Golden Jubilee transported our audiences back in time – and yes, we even had a few dedicated green-fingered folks who spotted their former selves on film! Our Flower Show films came from the collections of the North West Film Archive, many of which were shot by the Southport Movie Makers club.
It’s not often than an amateur film club such as this produces such professional looking films, and our audiences were impressed to see films from the ‘Southport on Film’ collection on subjects such as the history of the pier and the origins of Southport’s famous Lord Street. We hope to be back again sometime to visit the good folks of Southport once again!
Screened at: Southport Flower Show, August 2011
RAF Harrowbeer Archive Films
On the 70th Anniversary of the opening of the RAF base at Harrowbeer, near Yelverton in South Devon, a celebration was organised to mark the event. We were lucky enough to be invited along to screen archive film of the local area and
Some of the squadrons that had their home at Harrowbeer were from Poland, and it was heartwarming to see some of the Polish relatives and friends of those brave airmen come along to watch ‘For Your and Our Skies’ and ‘Poles in the Battle of Britain’, both of which captured the tremendous heroism of those brave airmen.
We also screened a selection of film from the South West Film and TV Archive, including the award winning ‘Peter and Ruby’ about subsistence farmers on Dartmoor, ‘Plymouth – the Blitz Years’, and a selection of archive footage from as far back as the 1920s.
Screened at: RAF Harrowbeer 70th Anniversary Event, August 2011