NEXT OF KIN will be showing some stunning, and at times painfully poignant, short
films exploring the affectionate, sometimes tense and always influential experience of 'family'.
A great opportunity to
enjoy an evening checking out new and established filmmakers.
JASON M ROBINSON El
Portal 7:48 mins
El Portal is
about the Cedar motor Lodge in El Portal, California(population 474) Combining
vintage home videos with footage shot last Summer, the film spans 25 years,
weaving together the complicated and tragic story of the lodge with the
family’s history
MARY BILLYOU Idyll
5:32 mins Fewer families
were born, lived, and died in the same place. People, especially young ones,
were ready for a new life, as far removed from the old one as possible. Living
space was much smaller and there were few, if any, servants. Many wives were
working outside the home and leisure was not to be spent doing housework, but
in being out of doors as much as possible. Emphasis was on informal living and
informal entertaining.
IAN NESBITT Don 6:51 mins
Don is a 69 year old man
originally from Nottingham. Having travelled and lived all over the world
working as a banjo player and gardener for the last 30 years or so, he
eventually found his way home in late 2011. When I met him, he was sleeping
rough, didn't know how he'd got back to this country, had almost no short term
memory, and no-one would take responsibility for his care. The film is one in a series of
idiosyncratic portraits of people living on the peripheries of contemporary
consumer society.
JOSH WEISSBACH 38 River Road 7:13 mins
The voice of a
figureless character is heard. The figure of a voiceless character is seen. A
sequence of estranged voicemails is framed by unidentified events. Fear resides
in the gesture of a telling.
KATE JESSOP
Dear Foreigner 5:10 mins
A woman's letter to the son she gave up at birth, 27
years later.
The screen adaptation of a real award winning letter, commissioned by Festival D'Elle
Lettere, Milan.
SHARONE LIFSCHITZ
Best city in the World-Looking after Belfast
(Raymond’s Loss) 19:26 mins
In early April 2010, the
artist placed an advertisement in several Northern Irish newspapers: “Israeli
woman visiting Belfast would like to meet people for advice about sharing a
country.” One respondent was Raymond McCord, a Protestant, whose son was
murdered by members of a Protestant militia during the conflict in Northern
Ireland. A year after their initial meetings, McCord took the artist in his car
to see the locations where his story is played out. The video was shot by the
artist with a handheld camera from the passenger seat.
GRANT PETREY Family Fortunes 2:30 mins
Family Fortunes explores the
tensions present within the family unit that are unveiled via play.
ANDREW HINTON Amar
9:40 minsAmar is 14 and top of his class.
Someday he'd like to be a professional cricketer, but for now he's the family's
main breadwinner, working two jobs six and a half days a week on top of attending
school in the afternoons. This short observational documentary is a simple
journey with Amar through his daily life.
