Eternal Art in Walthamstow and Kingston

July is going to be a busy time for the Murder Minutes project with our latest film, Eternal Art of the Simulated Mind, reaching out into the wider community. First we premiere at one of our favourite festivals the Walthamstow International Film Festival.
www.e17films.com

Screening at....
Vestry House Museum
Community Room
Vestry Rd
Walthamstow, London E17 9NH
020 8496 4391
www.walthamforest.gov.uk/vestry-house
on the 13th-14th July.

I'll take some pictures and do another blogpost in due course.

Our second outing in July will be at Kingston University on Thursday the 25th.
It will be screened as part of the exhibition of the same name.
The exhibition documents two days on the simulated mental health ward at Kingston University. It was a unique experience and I felt privileged to be granted access to this high octane environment where students from the School of Nursing at the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, hone their mental health skills.
Although no stranger to sketching live performances, nothing could prepare me for this emotionally charged assignment. The artwork reveals what makes this programme so special and why it won Teaching Innovation Of The Year at the Student Nursing Times Awards 2012.

But...be warned! It is a strong film with sharp edges and has a very powerful score by two young bloods of the contemporary Jazz scene in London, Duncan Eagles and Leo Appleyard. Luckily we've had psychotherapist Harvey Wells as our Producer on the film so we've been in safe hands.

AL.

Schoolrun Strut wins Twickenham Film Festival Animation award

Accepting our award
photo credit - www.leothephotographer.co.uk

We had a fantastic night out at Twickenham Film Festival last Friday (26/04/2013) and yes we are proud to announce we walked away with an animation award for our film Schoolrun Strut. Held at Twickenham Stadium's Live Room and attended by members of the local Twickerati, including the Richmond-Upon-Thames' Mayor, it was slick affair with a broad palette of subject matter and genres.

Bill Mudge who wrote the score couldn't unfortunately be there so I accepted the award from Maria Walker of Twickenham Studios with the two stars of the film, my daughter's Effie and Jess.

I was really chuffed to receive this recognition and I rather embarrassed myself by doing a big Rocky style victory salute with the trophy thrust skyward I did some rapid fist pumps. Luckily they didn't let me anywhere near a microphone so I couldn't make a complete fool of myself.


The Trophy

 The film is already on Youtube but will also be carried by the Twickenham Alive Film Festival. They are launching the 2014 Festival right now, so if you would like to submit your film CLICK HERE.

In the absence of a trophy cabinet for the Murder Minutes project the award is currently taking residence on top of my Planar 3 Turntable surrounded by Barbie's and Action Men.

AL.

Alban Low & Duncan Eagles' Eternal Art

Eagles and Low's latest film

It's all in the bag.
After several weeks of work we've finished our film 'Eternal Art of the Simulated Mind'. It documents 6 hours spent by Alban in the simulated mental health ward at Kingston University.
A unique experience that is the closest that the project has got to documentary.
It will be screened as part of Alban's exhibition at Kingston University, Frank Lampl Building, Kingston Hill Campus, Kingston on Thursday 25th July from 4-6pm. Come along!

Although it's only 2 minutes long it has a raw edge to it, so be prepared. There's an original score composed by Duncan Eagles and performed by himself and Leo Appleyard. We've added a bit about Leo now on the pages to your right.

A special thanks to psychotherapist Harvey Wells who helped produce the film.

SchoolRun Strut - Twickenham Film Festival Award Nomination

Bill Mudge and I were bowled over this week with the news that our short film SchoolRun Strut has been nominated for an award at this year's Twickenham Film Festival.

Its great to be coming home after screening SchoolRun Strut in venues further afield. As you know I'm a Twickenham resident and this is a gentle film about my walk to school with my daughters. Every day is different when you walk to school, a strange shadow, the marks left in the road after roadworks, a view over a railway bridge. Of course it helps if the sun is shining!

Not everything is perfect and I hope the film represents that sometimes I'm absolutely knackered hauling my 40 year old bones along South London pavements.

If you would like to join us at the Award Ceremony and Screening evening the tickets are free and you can get them at HERE
Friday 26th April 2013, 7-9.30pm

Be warned that our film is seriously short, only 90 seconds long, so blink and you'll miss it.

AL

Dancing Mackerels in Aabenraa, Denmark

Last November (2012) I was commissioned by fellow artist Eskild Beck to make a film for the Danish town of Aabenraa.
I've worked with Eskild on exhibitions since 2010 but have never met him or even spoken by phone. As he explained the brief in a series of emails I wondered if this was some bizarre hoax or just another artist's pipe dream.

He didn't quite have any specifications or measurements or deadlines for me but he had a VISION!
In this apparition he saw that the 30 foot silos in his native town would be bathed in light and colour. These harsh totems dedicated to an industrial god would be transformed into a carousel of fun and dancing Mackerel.....

Now just wait a minute.....did he just say 30ft Dancing Mackerel.

Now me and Mudge looked at one another. Was this guy for real. This sounded like a chance of a lifetime or it could all end in a Quixotesque oblivion. So for the next 3 months we bounced ideas and emails back and forth, between London and Aabenraa. We relentlessly watched those gritty murder dramas that have defined Denmark here in England over the past year or so. Our Danish improved a little but our nerves we're frayed.
In the end we delved back into Aabenraa's glory days as port and it picturesque architecture.
Eventually it all came together and we sent it off, not thinking for one moment that it would ever make it onto those huge silos. Just a few days ago we got a surprise, a video and stills with our film in full flow.


Aabenraa Silos

We've made it as part of the Murder Minutes project and hope to perform it live sometime in 2013 with a quartet of Bill Mudge, Duncan Eagles, Max Luthert and Peter Ibbetson.

AL 2013

Luthert & Low in Sputnik Exhibition

Check out Max Luthert and Alban Low's most recent Murder Minutes film at the Sputnik Kino, Berlin this January. The British Shorts exhibition project at Sputnik Kinobar presents drawing, photography and special screenings by award winning experimental filmmakers from 12th-16th January 2013.
This will be the first time its been seen in public, so dont miss it!

Sputnik Kino
Ballhaus Ost
Filmkunst 66

ODD film in production

Our latest film in the Murder Minutes series is in production. Once again it takes it's original inspiration from the murder mystery novels of Agatha Christie.
Its not strictly a 'who dunnit' this time and doesn't unravel in linear form. I've concentrated on 11 of the chararcters from the book 'The Pale Horse'. My daughters and I spent a day re-inacting the mannerisms of the characters using only our hands.
For some time I've been wanting to create a film that was influenced by the film NY Export: Opus Jazz, performed by the New York City Ballet dancers and reimagining Jerome Robbins‘ 1958 “ballet in sneakers”. I was deeply affected by the way the music and art flow together and feeds from one another.
In its simplest sense I'm making finger ballet.
It should be finished around Christmas 2012 and then I'll send it onto Duncan Eagles to record the soundtrack.

AL