ENCOUNTERS FILM FESTIVAL 2022

Encounters is the UK’s leading short film, animation and virtual reality festival.

The festival discovers, supports and develops new talent in filmmaking, providing a platform for emerging and established filmmakers from around the world, and continues to be a unique meeting place for the industry. Usually held at Watershed in Bristol, this year’s festival is online.

You can buy a pass for £10 at: https://www.encounters.film/festival-passes which gives you access to the full festival programme to watch on demand.

We will be screening a selection from the festival in the TV studio at Loxton campus.

We are looking at screening the following:

Monday

10am - TV Studio - aimed at Lens Based Media Students (with Rich), but others welcome (space permitting)

Acts of Resistance (from Live Action Programme) - When enough is enough, taking action can lead to the most daring, unpredictable gestures. More details

Comedy 2 - Some light-hearted relief to the woes of the world. More details

You, Me & Cold War Steve - Photography Exhibition - Loxton Gallery, plus Loves Cafe and Weston Arts Space. (Running - Sept 20th - October 3rd 2021) Details here

Wednesday

10am - TV Studio - aimed at Film & Media Arts Production - Year 1 and 2 (with Ross), but others welcome (space permitting)

DEPICT - Super short filmmaking competition, challenging filmmakers from across the globe to create an imaginative and original short film of 90 seconds or less. Read More

This is Me - Identities are fluid and continuously re-defined through long-overdue conversations and self-discovery. Hair – grey, curly, gender-affirming – and clothes set us all on an empowering journey. Read More

Comedy 1 - A lucky dip of animation and live action fun! Read More

Thursday and Friday

Trip to Bristol Photography Festival see details here

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Other suggested programmes to watch:

Industry Roundtables - A series of roundtable discussions with industry professionals covering topics affecting new talent. More details here

COLD WAR STEVE - You, Me & Cold War Steve - Exhibition - Weston super Mare 2021

YOU, ME & COLD WAR STEVE

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF THE PEOPLE 2021

University Centre Weston is proud to be part of this exhibition with Cold War Steve.

Come see a brand new set of 23 artworks from Cold War Steve at Loves Cafe plus University Centre Weston, Loxton Campus’s and Weston Arts Space. Monday September 20th - Sunday October 3rd 2021.

’Cold War Steve aka Christopher Spencer is an artist from Birmingham, England who specialises in surreal, satirical and hilarious collages originally made on his phone and iPad. 

Since 2016 Cold War Steve’s Twitter account has been a lifeline to many in these dark times with his following increasing by the day. Three solo exhibitions, two books with Thames & Hudson, commissions for the National Galleries of Scotland, Whitworth in Manchester, Birmingham Museum and Gallery, a giant billboard installation at Glastonbury Festival and an international TIME magazine cover have all followed.

In 2020 his jigsaw Hellscape was shortlisted for the Design Museum’s Design of the Year Award and his latest book A Prat’s Progress nominated for the The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. Cold War Steve also shot a feature length documentary about his work – Cold War Steve Meets The Outside World was released in October on Sky Arts.’ - https://coldwarsteve.com/bio/

Exhibition details at: http://poool.co.uk/cws-wsm

University Centre Weston creative arts degrees include:

• Photography and Visual Cultures, BA (Hons) degree

• Film and Media Arts Production, BA (Hons)

• Art and Design BA (Hons)

For more details on all our course please visit: www.ucw.ac.uk

Creative Arts Summer Show 2021

23 June 2021 – 26 June 2021 16:30 – 22:00

With a difficult year for the arts behind us, this year's Summer Show at Loxton Campus will be a breath of fresh air and a phenomenal trip out for the family with live music, performances, artwork, locally sourced food, drink and more - all in celebration of the arts and young people in Weston-super-Mare.

We have a pop-up cinema showing a selection of films by FdA Film & Media Arts Production and BA Lens Based Media Films students from UCW.

To reserve tickets and for more details please visit: https://www.weston.ac.uk/event/creative-arts-summer-show-2021

You can also watch the films by Vimeo feed below or on Film showcase 2021 page

Mia Macfarlane: Co-Creative Director and Co-Editor-In-Chief at IRK Magazine / Co-Photographer French Cowboy. Guest Seminar

Mia Macfarlane is the Co-Editor-in-Chief and Co-Creative Director of Paris-based IRK magazine, an international print and web publication focused on fashion, beauty, art, and culture. Mia inspires her readers and contributors to push their boundaries creatively and intellectually. Before IRK she spent three and a half years as the Creative Director of New York based culture magazine DOWNTOWN.

Mia will be joining us for a Guest Seminar.
Join Talk on Teams: 11.00 am Tuesday 20th April TODAY!!

As a sought-after art and fashion photographer, she also creates work with her partner Julien Crouigneau under their pseudonym French Cowboy. Utilizing the visual language of fashion imagery they have created and exhibited their fine art photographs across Europe.

They are opening a gallery for photography in 2021 in the legendary French city of Arles, known for its photography festival "Rencontre Arles" and the LUMA museum.

Guest Seminar - Sam Francis - Creative Producing, Curating

Sam Francis joined us for another guest seminar, this time focussing on working as a Creative Producer and Curator. Recording of session is on Teams, see links and notes from this session below. For notes from yesterday’s Experimental Media Arts workshop go to this page

‘I am a creative producer, maker and doer now living in Weston Super Mare after 15 years in Bristol. 

 I am interested in engaged, live work that is not bound by a singular art form, and am currently project producer for Outlands experimental music network, a member of Supernormal Festival and arts collective Bristol Experimental Expanded Film (BEEF). 

 I also create things and make stuff sometimes. I like to observe and experience things through sound, image and words; snippets and moments, as a way to connect with place, space and spirit. I like working collectively and collaboratively, building and being part of communities, connecting people and responding creatively to contexts.

I am a creative producer, maker and doer now living in Weston Super Mare after 15 years in Bristol. 

 I am interested in engaged, live work that is not bound by a singular art form, and am currently project producer for Outlands experimental music network, a member of Supernormal Festival and arts collective Bristol Experimental Expanded Film (BEEF). 

 I also create things and make stuff sometimes. I like to observe and experience things through sound, image and words; snippets and moments, as a way to connect with place, space and spirit. I like working collectively and collaboratively, building and being part of communities, connecting people and responding creatively to contexts.’

Sam Francis

Notes and Links from Session

Supernormal Festival

SUPERNORMAL is a three-day, experimental arts and music festival taking place at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire. It offers a platform for artists, performers and musicians to work collaboratively and creatively for a new kind of audience seeking experiences out of the mainstream. It is determinedly small and intimate with an audience of 1,500. It has been born from a place that values the currency of ideas and imagination, as well as the inclusivity of artists and audiences alike, rather than commercialism and profit. Read more

Trailer:

Short Film (2015) by James Hankins & Richard Edkins

BEEF - Bristol Experimental Expanded Film

Bristol Experimental Expanded Film (BEEF) is a film and sound collective supporting experimental practice in Bristol since 2015.

BEEF provides an independent platform and much needed resource for artists’ production, distribution and critical engagement, predominantly focusing on experimental and analogue practices. BEEF members collaborate and work together to organise a regular programme of events, screenings, performances, exhibitions, residencies, and film & sound workshops. Read More

Why you Shouldn't be an artist 

LINKS - Weston super Mare

Weston Artspace: a studio hub and workshop space for Weston’s creative community, on the High Street.
https://www.westonartspace.com/

Culture Weston: develop inspiring cultural initiatives and events
https://cultureweston.org.uk/

Creative Meet Ups for young and emerging artists and creatives. The next one is 13 April. Book here: https://cultureweston.org.uk/listings/creative-meet-up-emerging-artists-creatives/

There will be event volunteer opportunities, and specific student opportunities.
Keep an eye out on FACEBOOK: Culture Weston / Weston Artspace.

FURTHER INFO + LINKS:

•Curating Context – Beyond the Gallery and Into Other Fields, edited by Magdalena Malm, 2017

•What Does an Art Producer Do? by Grace Bordelon

•BFI Future Film Festival film industry festival for young, emerging filmmakers

•BFI Film Academy - opportunities for young creatives aged 16 to 25:

Further Viewing:

Day in the life of a film programmer

Curator talk: curating in context - making exhibitions work 

How to succeed as an artist

How to get your short screened at film festivals:

The fifth sense: making exhibitions 

See more of Sam Francis’s work at: https://samfrancisco.co.uk/