2013-05-22T13:15:46-04:00 Mark Cosgrove http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=mark-cosgrove Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Mark Cosgrove Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2143631 2012-11-16T08:53:35-05:00 2013-01-16T05:12:01-05:00

Mark Cosgrove http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-cosgrove/
Of that total two were from Africa: The documentary Benda Bilili about the Congolese street musicians rise to international stardom and from Chad Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Screaming Man a richly observed film about family life and the relationship between fathers and children. That represents less than 0.004% of films released in cinemas in the UK in 2011: A startling statistic given more magnitude given that Africa is a pretty big continent. There is a bigger piece of research to be done as to why this is the case, for example we know that most countries are dominated by Hollywood, economics obviously have a key role in film production. Indeed both films listed above were part or fully financed through Europe. However it is quite a figure to reflect upon.

Given that cinema along with television are two of the most important and influential platforms through which we get images presented to us and understand the world it is surely significant that images of Africa are limited: limited to either conflict, crisis or natural history. The refreshing thing about Mahamat Saleh Haroun's A Screaming Man was that it told an African story from an African filmmaker: a rare phenomenon for UK audiences to see.

There is however no shortage of African films and African themed film festivals. Just Google African films and see the list that comes up. Our own festival in Bristol, Afrika Eye, is one such festival. The aim of the festival's organisers is to present just some of the new work coming out of Africa and over a weekend in early November we had sell out audiences and positive responses to the range of work screened. One such success was festival opening film by Senegalese director Moussa Toure's La Pirogue which played in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival and which to date has no UK distributor prepared to invest in it to get it wider into UK cinemas.

Another aim of the festival is to build direct links with some of the African filmmaking communities and to work proactively not only to get their stories onto screens in the UK but also to explore possible co-production opportunities and develop creative exchange. This has been done primarily through attendance at some of the key African Film Festivals such as Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ougadougou and the Durban International Film Festival.

However an exciting development in this year's Afrika Eye was to use the infinite possibilities of digital technology to make that collaboration across continents more tangible. In the session African Interactive we had on screen in Watershed's cinema in Bristol three practitioners live from ihub in Nairobi discussing with Bristol filmmakers and festival curators the shared issues and challenges of developing films and getting their stories onto cinema screens.

The power of this moment was to have on screen a live image and sound of very real African filmmakers and creative practitioners discussing how we get more African stories told and disseminated and made me feel that we might just be able to make inroads into increasing that shameful figure of 0.004% African films released in the UK?]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1915269 2012-09-26T05:09:32-04:00 2012-11-25T05:12:01-05:00

Mark Cosgrove http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-cosgrove/
At the festival's heart is promoting, profiling and platforming new talent: Future Encounters drew together 10 distinctive voices from the festival programmes which offer new cinematic visions: remember you read about them here first!

In this digital era talent no longer needs to gravitate to the centre - long gone are the days when pounding the streets of Soho was part of a filmmakers apprenticeship - to get a foot in the film industry door. In the new digital landscape talent can appear anywhere. The equation has changed: the centre (the industry) now has to find the talent: they are as likely to be in Paignton and Kinlochbervie as they are in London.

To that end FilmWorks was launched at Encounters a networked regional talent development initiative with partners in Sheffield (Showroom) and Nottingham (Broadway) and funding from Creative England. This groundbreaking initiative in talent development with live transmition of talks and events across the partner venues whilst working with locally based film producers to train and mentor. (Julie Lockhart whose most recent film was Aardman's The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists is Watershed's professional partner). The aim is to develop regionally based film talent and help generate self supporting cross regional networks sharing skills and experiences: critically fostering a creative local environment where talent can grow without feeling that 'old' need to move to London. The event at Encounters featured award winning animator Peter Lord discussing where his ideas come from alongside first time feature director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz. The talk can be viewed here http://www.filmworks.org.uk

Another element of FilmWorks and something which the Encounters festival encapsulates is the sharing of skills across production and exhibition. As we know thanks to digital that the old models are being challenged. The film industry was based on the silo'd factions of production, distribution and exhibition. Very little exchange of ideas and practice would happen between these sectors. Rather the main form of exchange would be financial - what deal are we getting? Now however those boundaries are becoming more porous and discussions becoming more interesting. It was inspirational then to hear from experienced industry professionals such as legendary producer Jeremy Thomas who has worked with directors ranging form Nic Roeg and Bernardo Bertolucci to David Cronenberg and Miike Takashi, award winning documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto and cinematographer Lol Crawley who all generously shared their hard earned insights with the next generation of filmmaking talent.

The above talks will be published at:
http://www.watershed.co.uk/dshed/category/talks-watershed

Encounters award are winners listed at:
http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk
]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1574441 2012-06-06T12:48:34-04:00 2012-08-06T05:12:10-04:00

Mark Cosgrove http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-cosgrove/
Almost clairvoyant in its pursuit of digital technology as a cultural form, it is really only now, as I reflect on the past three decades in Watershed's life, that we can see the aspirations and vision of our founders truly realised: a vision in which cultural enterprise and technological innovation come powerfully together to nurture and inspire talent and build connected audiences.

Today's digital era is challenging existing business models while redefining the relationship between cultural venues and their audiences. Consumers no longer accept a passive one-way broadcast and now expect proactive two-way dialogue. So for Watershed, and core to its development, we are constantly looking for new ways to engage with younger audiences, offering them talent development opportunities as well as rich cultural experiences.

How are we doing this? I have been looking at the range of work we now do in this area ranging from cinekids screenings and workshops for 8-12-year-olds, developing the cultural producers of the future for 18 -25-year-olds, to setting up school partnerships for media literacy workshops across Bristol. We're also working with universities, local councils and schools to develop Citizen Journalism projects for teenagers reporting live from the Olympic sailing and Cultural Olympiad activities in Weymouth.

More recently we have launched FilmWorks, a pilot regionally networked talent development scheme for over 18s with partners in Sheffield and Nottingham to identify talent in the English regions. The aim is to not only develop participants' knowledge and skills of the film industry but begin to network them regionally and nationally: building the pathways for them to see beyond the local into the global.

To help us celebrate our 30th we've asked some of the UK's leading film and cultural practitioners to share with us what Watershed means to them. "The Watershed was central to my understanding of the history and possibilities of cinema," said Iain Canning, Producer, The King's Speech/Shame. "Without it I wouldn't have been inspired to produce the films that I have made, and for that I am incredibly grateful. Looking forward to another extraordinary 30 years."

I wasn't aware that Iain had any connection to Bristol until he came with fellow producer Gareth Unwin for a preview of The King's Speech (at this point no one could imagine the success it would go on to achieve) In conversation I discovered he was born in Bedminster, a solid working class part of Bristol. His family came along to support their son at the screening. A year and an Oscar later he came back, again with his family, to show his new film Shame. Later, Iain said to me that it was the cultural scene in Bristol during the mid/late '90s - which included the sound and international success of Bristol bands Portishead and Massive Attack that made him realise you could be from Bedminster and aim internationally. Iain's work is testament to that with offices in Sydney and London.

Beyond film, Watershed has stayed true to its pioneering mission to develop digital media within the arts, with the creation of Pervasive Media Studios, described by director Clare Reddington as "the best place in the world to work" because "we do all we can to encourage collaboration between different artists and digital creatives," a wide range of which will be showcased as part of the 30th birthday celebrations. Charlie Burton, now commissioning editor for GQ and formerly associate editor at Wired magazine adds that "Watershed - particularly the Pervasive Media Studio - has never failed to impress in its drive to identify future culture, and the innovative and exciting ways with which it explores that new territory."

Talent development, working with young people and enabling collaborations across different mediums is at the very heart of what we do and believe in. We're encouraging new audiences to see more culturally diverse work, with the very real possibility that those cinekids, future producers and citizen journalists could be the next Portishead or Iain Canning...

Follow the celebrations at http://www.watershed.co.uk/30]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1288995 2012-02-21T19:00:00-05:00 2012-04-22T05:12:01-04:00

Mark Cosgrove http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-cosgrove/
In his introduction to the catalogue, festival director Dieter Kosslick drew attention to the fact that it was one year since the Arab Spring; something that was addressed by a number of films across the programme. He also observed the urgent need to ensure freedom of expression for artists - another theme close to the festival's heart. These two strands found outstanding manifestation in two documentaries: The Reluctant Revolutionary and Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. This year it felt like truth was much stranger and more emotionally engaging than fiction: documentaries were getting to the heart of the matter more directly than drama.

Sean McAllister's The Reluctant Revolutionary follows Kais, a tourist guide in Yemen, as the revolution unfolds. His work is already perilous and drying up because of the Taliban and when a protest camp sets up in 'Change Square' in Yemen's capital Sana'a, Kais is non-committal partly feeling this is bad for tourism. Over time he begins to get involved and engaged. Film-maker McAllister is either a fool or brave or possibly both because he is obviously the only foreigner around, wondering in a volatile environment with secret police mingling amongst the crowds of protesters. What he captures is extraordinary with access conventional media flinch from. When the state troops shoot into the crowds the camera follows Kais into the makeshift hospitals. The scenes are devastating. But the mood of change and resilience is evident as it is in the charming reluctant revolutionary Kais.

The art of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is inextricable from his politics and for a Chinese artist, that can be life - or at least liberty - threatening. Ai Weiwei's work is not confrontation for the sake of it but draws attention to the state's wilful dismissal of its own people. This is most apparent in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake where the state never issued the names or numbers of fatalities, many of whom were children because of ill-built schools. Ai Weiwei and colleagues documented and published the names of nearly 5500. Later he would make an installation in the front of an art gallery with 5500 school bags. In this documentary, you get a real sense of the cat and mouse confrontation between artist and state until finally, he is arrested. Released after 81 days, he is fined $2.5m, banned from meeting people and using the internet. It is moving to see ordinary Chinese people leave money at Ai Weiwei's door - the power of the artist evident.

The artist himself could not be at the screening having restricted movements imposed on him, however he managed to arrange for fortune cookies to be handed out to each audience member, which contained a unique message from Ai Weiwei to share. Mine read "You can delete the words but you cannot delete the facts" and was immediately sent into the Twittersphere.

Where fiction really did matter, was somewhat surprisingly in the hands of the glamorous Hollywood star Angelina Jolie. The red carpet razzmatazz was very much in evidence when the "Brangelina" road show hit town to the extent of preventing me from getting into Angelina's own film as she had the paparazzi captivated. However she does not pull her punches in her film In the Land of Blood and Honey, which attempts to depict the horrors, inflicted on women in the 1990s Bosnian war. Whilst it dramatically slides towards melodrama at the end, the first half of the film brings us face to face with the horrific abuses of Muslim women in the conflict.

Similarly, Philippines director Brillante Mendoza's Captive started off with a bang, throwing Isabelle Huppert as well as the audience into the hands of terrorists in a dramatisation of the 2001 incident when Muslim terrorist group Abu Sayyaf took a number people hostage from a Filipino island resort. The first hour is compelling, disorientating filmmaking giving a glimpse into the ordeal. However, the film flags in the second half. I later discovered that the director had intended the film to be three hours. Longer would have actually been better, allowing the film to more fully explore the relationship between captors and captives, the tedium and terror of over a year in captivity.

Documentary and fiction were satisfyingly brought together in the Taviani Brothers' Caesar Must Die, a compelling testament to the transformative power of art that went on to win the top prize at this year's festival. Prisoners in an Italian jail perform Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and through the process realise and understand more about their own condition. One prisoner observes: "ever since I discovered art this cell has truly become a prison." The 80-year-old veterans Taviani Brothers effortlessly merge drama, fiction, documentary and real life. Through immersion in the drama of Shakespeare, the prisoners discover more about themselves and their world. Similarly we, Berlinale festivalgoers, immerse ourselves in films and discover more about our world and ourselves.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1095083 2011-11-15T19:00:00-05:00 2012-01-15T05:12:01-05:00

Mark Cosgrove http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-cosgrove/
This reveals itself in the quality and ideas that emerge whilst working my way through the short films. Yes, there are some poor films - whether amateurish or lacking direction or poorly scripted. These however are easy to notice, as indeed are the exceptionally good ones. It's funny that both extremes reveal themselves immediately. It's the ones in between that are the challenge. (More of that dilemma later.)

It does feel to me that despite recession, austerity, and depression taking up the slack, there is a sense of confidence and urgency within the global filmmaking community to explore ideas through short filmmaking and to communicate their visions. Subject matter ranges from the effects of an earthquake on a small village in Peru to the effects of mental fragility on a man in Iceland. In one breath you can move from a single take where the past taunts the present to a rich complex film where the past haunts the present or from a lyrical dream to harsh reality and from a harsh dream to lyrical reality. All the genres are covered: from comedy to horror, sometimes in the same film!

It is at festivals like Encounters that we can begin to see the new and the next generation emerge. If you take the current critical successes in the feature world of We Need to Talk About Kevin directed by Lynne Ramsay and Wuthering Heights directed by Andrea Arnold, both those directors emerged through and were known by the short film world before they made the transition to feature films. In fact both of them won awards at Encounters for their short films.

In order to profile and promote this next generation we have established a Future Encounters - our very own stars to watch. This year it includes filmmakers such as Karni and Saul who are currently developing a project with Will Self, Douglas Hart formerly of Jesus and the Mary Chain who has made an wonderful observation of the relationship between a father and son in Long Distance Information and which stars Peter Mullan.

Also from the UK included is animator Jessica Ashman who has just won a Scottish BAFTA for her film Fixing Luka. Further afield, Iranian born Danish director Behrouz Bigdeli's film To all my Friend is one of the most passionate and energetic depictions of multiculturalism in modern Europe and Icelandic director Bokur Sigthorsson's exceptional thriller Come to Harm. All of these are names to remember.

However, whilst we rightly celebrate these films and their makers I can never escape the twinge of guilt about the ones that got away. In my watching spree - usually mid-August - I always think about the guy who famously didn't sign The Beatles. His foolish lack of foresight sits heavy on my shoulder as I go from film to film discarding some, putting forward others, swapping it all around. In the final stages this can become a heightened state of anxiety, the bead of sweat forming as I possibly consign John, Paul, George and Ringo to the "not selected".

So this year I am doing a one-off special entitled The Programmer's Fear of Missing the Masterpiece wherein I will screen two films which were in the programme up until the 11th hour. I will be discussing with the filmmakers - who have kindly agreed to take part - their experience of filmmaking and festivals.

So if you want to take the pulse of the next generation of filmmakers either come to Bristol between the 16-20 November or go online to www.encounters-festival.org.uk. And if you want to experience some micro short filmmaking go to www.depict.org. ]]>