Young Voices @ EFF
When:
—
Venue:
Online
This is a small voluntary project to programme a series of short essay films made by young filmmakers, as part of the Essay Film Festival, and screened online, Friday 11 December 2020.
Young Voices @ EFF is a small-scale initiative screening the essayistic work of young filmmakers (16-22-year-olds) based at the University of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh-London Film Program, as well as part of Making Images course at the Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley in London.
This project offers MA film programming and curating students the opportunity to work as a curatorial collective, in dialogue with filmmakers from the courses listed above, to select 3 or 4 programmes of essay films (max 4 per iteration).
The informal, but virtual curated programme begins at 3pm and will involve online screenings followed by a discussion between filmmakers and curators. The event will be run through Collaborate and can be accessed through this link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/4b8e868b262c4403ac523ac0b551359c
Young Voices @ EFF - Programme
Young Voices at the Essay Film Festival is a curating project programmed by Screen Media with Curating and Film Programming & Curating MA students at Birkbeck, University of London. The programme, in its 3rd edition, includes essayistic work made by young filmmakers (16-22 years old) from the University of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh-London Film Program with Derek Jarman Lab, and essay films made for the Making Images course held at the Phoenix Cinema.
Curatorial statement
Produced during the 2020 Covid crisis, the films presented deal with timely issues by combining the personal with the universal, in an experimental approach to presenting thoughts through visuals, and that resourceful spirit typical of the essay form.
The curation of this programme was built on the understanding that the very nature of the essay film is constantly challenged by new creative voices, and that emerging filmmakers are a powerful source of original views and imaginative solutions, especially in these unprecedented times. Divided into two strands, the essay films, in direct dialect with each other, provide a multilayered look into an emotionally unstable and unsustainable reality, revealing the filmmakers’ fears, recollections and states of mind: while Here and Now shows the less stimulating state of being locked inside all day for months on end, having to endure the solitude as well as the monotony of isolation, Inside out presents films that show attempts to create bridges and find distractions in memories, art and creative practice. For these young filmmakers, the camera is not just a medium of self-expression, self-reflection and a memoir of emotions, it is the only vehicle to escapism, hope and creativity.
Curators’ Bios
Alexandra Kravariti is an MA Film Programming and Curating student at Birkbeck, University of London, having previously studied Media & Comms at Goldsmiths, University of London and at the University of Athens. She has worked on the production of independent short films in London as well as curating shorts for a series of film events called Screen Social. In Athens, Alexandra worked at the Greek Film Archive Foundation’s press office, where she helped with the coordination and promotion of the archive’s film festivals and events.
Valeria Calza is a Film and Screen Media with Film Programming and Curating (MA) student at Birkbeck, University of London, particularly interested in the current evolutions of the essay film on online platforms in her research. She works as a Box Office & Marketing Assistant at a semi-independent cinema in London, as well as in a small film collective, where she helps with promotion and social media.
Strand 1: Here and Now
Essay films on isolation and mundanity in lockdown (21min)
This strand explores the difficult reality of living in a confined space and the emotional impact this perplexing experience can have on oneself as the habitual becomes almost inevitable. In this newly-established reality, repetition occurs, feelings of loneliness arise, new habits emerge while the mundanity of everyday objects, online human interactions and short experiences of the outside are predominantly defined by the boundaries of physical space and the quick passage of time. - AK
“Unmasking 2020” (1:03min)
Dir. Hannah Burns, Pittsburgh 'Notes from 2020' Program, Autumn 2020
By unmasking her emotions, Burns reflects on the political, social and environmental turmoils that have come to define 2020. - AK
“End of Winter” (06:25min)
Dir. Yanchen Ge, Pittsburgh 'Notes from 2020' Program, Autumn 2020
“...You’re infected? You got it on the plane?”
A film about the brief passing of a season in isolation and the agonies of living and travelling in a pandemic world. - AK
“A Sunday Morning Quarantine” (1:49min)
Dir. Elaina Giaudrone, Pittsburgh 'Notes from 2020' Program, Autumn 2020
“I don’t feel like I’m really living for anything right now.”
Beautifully personal and touching, A Sunday Morning Quarantine encapsulates the whole palette of Giaudrone’s emotions reflected through visual memories of the recent past and moments longing for a better future. - AK
“A Quarantine Journal” (3:03min)
Dir. Vivian Zauhar, Pittsburgh 'Notes from 2020' Program, Autumn 2020
“Everyday is a carbon copy of the day before”
Zahaur’s journal navigates the uncertainty of the present by documenting her observations and inner struggles of a life in quarantine. - AK
“Patchwork City” (2:59min)
Dir. Anna Symonds, Phoenix-Making Images course, Autumn 2020
“The people who live here never pausing for air”
An ode to pre-pandemic London, presented through images of quotidian traffic, restless pedestrians and concrete buildings. - AK
“Healthy Eating” (03:00min)
Dir. Jin Jin Wu, Pittsburgh 'Notes from 2020' Program, Autumn 2020
“What I eat in a day, quarantine edition.”
From detailed food labelling and calorie counting to the rise of wellness blogs and low-carb diets, healthy eating is prevalent across modern societies. But when does eating healthy become unhealthy? And how can such dietary habits be exacerbated during self-isolation? - AK
“Being A Student During a Pandemic” (3:06min)
Dir. David Mash, Pittsburgh 'Notes from 2020' Program, Autumn 2020
“The things that seemed like simple inconveniences before are now what stands between you and the rest of the world”
Mash’s film explores the practical and emotional challenges of a cyclical and monotonous way of living and studying while in quarantine. - AK
Strand 2: Inside out
Essay films on memory and imagination in lockdown (31min)
This second strand presents essay films dealing with themes of memory, nostalgia and imagination. A yearning to get away from the ‘here and now’ pervades these films, as they explore the relationship between the physical restrictions of life under lockdown and the filmmakers’ recollections, youthful passions and creative aspirations. Ranging from home video remixes to daydreaming diary entries, the films lined up reflect on documenting selfhood, privilege and on making and consuming art as a form of escapism. - VC
“Journal” (7:10min)
Dir. Eliza Jevon, Pittsburgh-London Film Program, Spring 2020
“Page after page, dear Eliza dear Eliza dear Eliza”
Oddly enough, while living abroad in London, Eliza always left her private journal out in the open, just on her nightstand. As soon as she arrived home in the US, she hid it away in her closet. In this film, she contemplates her unstable relationship with her own vulnerability and the power of recording memories. - VC
“a message (to you)” (4:46min)
Dir. Rita Whittaker, Phoenix-Making Images course, Autumn 2020
“I hope you get to see these tapes”
Incorporating excerpts from films, interviews and speeches in a poetic voiceover with personal home videos, the filmmaker aims to reflect on human progress, existentialism and spirituality through the nostalgic lens of her childhood. - VC
“Timeline” (2:58min)
Dir. Nektarios Kasamias, Pittsburgh 'Notes from 2020' Program, Autumn 2020
“There’s comfort in the alternate timeline, too”
Can we trust our memory of a person? In the touching Timeline, a letter to a loved one is recited over shots of everyday objects in a desolated house, empty streets and natural landscapes, as the filmmaker, confined in lockdown, reflects on memorydreams. - VC
“Phenomena” (9:55min)
Dir. Bruno Arnabar, Pittsburgh-London Film Program, Spring 2020
“Film itself is a preservation of time”
Acting as a reflection on cinema, language and human nature, Phenomena is a self-aware psychedelic journey into the filmmaker’s creative process after leaving London because of the Covid crisis. - VC
“January 7 - March 13” (6:12min)
Dir. TJ Dougherty, Pittsburgh-London Film Program, Spring 2020
“Art bridges the lonely islands”
A personal meditation on the role of art and the privilege of studying it and making it, incorporating found footage, original footage and newsreels. - VC
Contact name:
Matthew Barrington