Issue 13 | November 2007
ARTICLE
Smoking Cabinet
The Smoking Cabinet is a festival of short films covering the time period in which cabaret / burlesque /music hall were at their most popular. These forms emerged in the late 19th century and promptly spread through both Europe and the US becoming principal forms of popular entertainment. The programme therefore starts at the birth of film in 1894/5, tracing innovation across various cities in western Europe until 1933, the year in which a fire tour though the Reichstag, the Nazis took control of Germany and the Reich Culture Chamber was established. All these events had a serve impact on the lives of European citizens and, or course, the tone and content of the forms of entertainment they consumed.
Content
ARTICLE
Earth: The Artistic Rendition of Reality
With the imminent theatrical release of Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield’s Earth, a 90 minute version of the hugely popular BBC TV series Planet Earth, public interest has focused more than ever before on the compulsion to observe and document the natural world...
ARTICLE
Doomed L’Amour de la Mer
In the universe of Jacques Demy, people arrive and people leave. Sailors turn up at towns such as Nantes, Cherbourg and Rochefort in search of passion – a transient happiness however, as their vocation never allows them to stay.
ARTICLE
Africa in Motion
By Mark Cousins
Most film festivals in the world claim to look to the future. They premiere new movies, often have discovery sections, and organise industry panels on issues like digitisation or new funding streams.
QUESTION AND ANSWER
Pawel Pawlikowski Masterclass: Between Documentary and Drama
By Doc House
Ending the 3 day conference Crossing the Line: Between Fact & Fiction at London’s Rich Mix, Pawel Pawlikowski's early BBC documentaries were screened, followed by a Q&A with the director.
ARTICLE
John Berger on Sally Potter
By Sophie Mayer
In the same week that Sally Potter’s highly-anticipated production of Carmen opened, John Berger visited London for the launch of his essay collection Hold Everything Dear (Verso), which was accompanied by two events for Vertigo. In between, Berger attended a performance of Carmen.
ARTICLE
Enter technology | Enter art | Enter perspective
By Amanda Egbe
Enter3 is an international festival of science, art and new technologies. Hosted in Prague over 4 days at the beginning of November, this third incarnation of the event organised by CIANT the International Centre for Art and New Technologies was a festival devised of three interwoven strands.
ARTICLE
Partition
Ken McMullen’s film Partition – a commission from Channel Four – was made in 1987, forty years after the events it explores, namely the handover of power by the British in India and the partitioning of the Indian sub-continent into the Dominion of Pakistan and the Republic of India.
ARTICLE
The Great Escape
Films from Eastern Europe were once a staple of art house cinema. Today one could be forgiven for wondering if they’re still being made in any quantity, and if the former Eastern Bloc countries are merely bases for runaway productions.
