cambriDge fiLm feSTivaL

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B eneath the mysterious and “completely meaningless” codename

‘Project Trident’, the workers of Cambridge Arts Picturehouse hide their darkest cinematic secrets. The premise is simple: a collective with a passion for DIY filmmaking have teamed together to create lower-than-low-budget shorts complete with lo-fi special effects and bucketfuls of fake blood.

Describing themselves as “a small group of idiots making low-budget, high body-count films”, Project Trident’s nine shorts selected for the programme at this year’s Festival range from between three and thirteen minutes in length, with budgets of next-to-nothing proportions. Filmmaker Carl Peck’s double-installment

of shorts regarding a mysterious character known as ‘Mr Silverface’ open and close the programme, shrouding the films in a suitably macabre tone and leaving the audience aptly unsettled as the end credits roll. With various backgrounds in arts-related courses such as illustration, sound engineering and film itself, the collaborators of Project Trident are able to invest their skills and knowledge to create shorts, largely focussing on a heavy preoccupation with all things gore. One of the filmmakers, Andrzej Sosnowski explains how creating

horror films without a budget is ideal for practicing the skills of filmmaking: “Horror is the perfect genre to use because it gives us the opportunity to work on creating special-effects on a very low budget…it’s also great because little acting is required, more attention is on the thrill of the story and the [lo-fi] effects.”

This is the first time Project Trident have earned themselves a whole segment for their shorts at a festival, but Picturehouse projectionist and filmmaker Chris Lapidge tells of the successes that some of the shorts have already encountered over the past year, having managed to get INTERNAL AFFAIRS shown at Cannes as part of their ‘Cannes in a Van’ segment, as well as during ‘Halloween in July’ at The Rutledge Arts Centre,

Nashville, Tennessee. Yet while Lapidge and his friends are visibly pleased with such achievements, he believes the true success and merit of their efforts can be measured through the use of the internet, a valuable tool in today’s market for spreading the word and indeed allowing filmmakers to showcase their work worldwide.

Lapidge believes that zero-budget filmmaking is less constraining than having a substantial budget to work with, giving filmmakers the freedom to write and shoot as they please without... continued on page 2

iNSiDe Job

hoT TickeTS FRIDAY 18 SEPTEMBER

Don’t miss: additional screening of WHITE LIGHTNIN’ at 1.00pm

Must see: director Gareth Jones and producer Fiona Howe will be present for the UK Premiere of DESIRE at 8.30pm

First view: UK Premiere of KIN at 9.00pm with director Brian Welsh

Interview with some very local filmmakers from Project Trident By laura J Smith

Issue 2 // Friday 18 Septemberwww.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk

a heavy PreoccuPaTioN wiTh aLL ThiNgS gore

Codename: Project Trident © TC

Cambridge Film Festival Daily 2009

Supported by TTP Group

“ The history of Palestinian cinema is characterised by its losses”, says Sarah

Wood, programmer of Cinema Palestine. “I wanted to think about what it means to be denied knowledge of your country through imagery.”

It’s generally believed that Palestinian film began in 1935 with a documentary about a Saudi King’s visit to Palestine. Early films were lost in 1948 to the Naqba - the mass exodus of Palestinian Arabs from their homes - but late in the 1960s a revival was lead by a group of young Arabs, focusing on documentaries. But once more films were lost when the PLO’s Film Foundation/Palestinian Film Unit’s archive “disappeared” in 1982 when the PLO was forced out of Beirut.

Annemarie Jacir, a Palestinian filmmaker featured in Cinema Palestine, describes the necessity of image to Palestinians: “I well remember the time when it was illegal to show the colours red, white, black and green together

- for together they represented the Palestinian flag. Every day we saw new graffiti splashed on walls, and every day the Army would order someone to whitewash over it… Through our daily lives, we found out that colours, symbols and images were invested with dangerous or emancipatory powers.”

Cinema Palestine is divided into two parts. ‘Art for the Struggle/Struggle for the Art’ showcases political documentary filmmaking from between 1969 and 1984. “The fact that they were even making film made it political”, says Sarah Wood. “Just showing daily life and charting changes.”

Mustafa Abu Ali’s 1974 documentary THEY DO NOT EXIST covers conditions in Lebanon’s refugee camps and the effect of Israeli bombardment. A series of interviews conclude the 25-minute work, but

predominantly its juxtaposition of imagery and sound leave a lasting impression.

It opens with no narration or voices, a silent observer of daily life in the camp. Women tend plants; hang out washing; children play in the streets. Then from these bustling, intricate scenes it cuts to shining Israeli planes in a clear sky. A frivolous piano concerto accompanies the planes dropping bombs, seemingly as dispassionate as the gods of Greek tragedy. Then back to silent images of Palestinians wandering dumbstruck through the ravaged city. Men carry bodies wrapped in carpets with the same humdrum practicality as the women hung out the washing in earlier shots.

Sarah Wood was drawn to these political films because “by nature they’re experimenting, trying to communicate with an indigenous audience… How do

The STruggLe To be SeLf-coNSciouS

Interview with Sarah Wood, programmer of Cinema Palestine By Fiona Scoble

the stress of budgeting wisely. Emphasising the importance of the editing process in such low-budget work, he explains that the films require more post-production attention in order to ensure they reach the standards set at the beginning of each project: “You see so many zero-budget shorts that look like people have just given up halfway through post-production, as though they got bored of having to finish the films to a good enough standard…but I don’t think that using lesser-quality equipment should necessarily have such a big impact on the finished product. If it’s worked on enough, it can be just as good as something with a higher budget.”

With special mentions for INTERNAL AFFAIRS and KERPLUNK (amongst others) as examples of quality low-budget filmmaking at the Strawberry Fair Film Festival earlier this year, Cambridge seems to be warming towards the ideas that Project Trident preach; filmmaking is achievable for anyone, it shouldn’t matter whether you own a high-quality camera or expensive editing software, and as Lapidge puts it, “it’s not about professional photography, it’s about the story, and if you have one to tell, just tell it.”

Tridentfest is screened on Friday 18 September at 11.00pm and Wednesday 23 September at 11.30pm

“The facT ThaT They were eveN makiNg fiLm maDe iT PoLiTicaL”

PLANET OF THE ARABS - Cinema Palestine

a SharP criTiciSm oN The PubLiShiNg iNDuSTry

Interview with Sarah Wood, programmer of Cinema Palestine By Fiona Scoble

‘Black’ is the latest novel by Stephen Parker: a nervous, timid writer who’s desperate to see his book published. Just one man stands in his way: the agent, an egotistical number-cruncher who has no time to read manuscripts and has no interest in the soul that lies within the novel. Stephen has battled long and hard to get a meeting with his agent, and now he’s finally there, he won’t back down without a fight. The two set off on a day long battle of wit and determination, each will use whatever tricks they can muster to seal a deal.

A sharp criticism on the cruel publishing industry, THE AGENT becomes a relentless rant on how a desire for profit blinds the industry to possible works of art. As THE AGENT makes clear, because of the tribulations an artist has to go through to get noticed, it’s almost terrifying to

think of the body of work that remains unrecognised. However, both characters invoke sympathy and animosity, each a victim of the industry rather than the perpetrator.

For a film which is nothing more than a barrage of conversation on the deplorable state of the publishing industry, it’s strangely compelling. Once everything on the subject has been said, the events that unravel become immensely satisfying. THE AGENT is imbued with passion and anger, and like Stephen Parker, after seeing the agent, you’ll be seeing red.Carrie Dean

THE AGENT is screened on Friday 18 September at 10.45am

THE AGENT // Lesley Manning

you express a cultural identity? If you want to get people to engage in what’s happening – what will get their attention? Showing people documentaries of themselves doesn’t work so well.”

The second series of films, “Cinema Now” looks at more contemporary Palestinian cinema. Filmmakers have moved away from documentary to a more narrative style, and have become more self-conscious in their use of image. A diverse range of styles makes equally forceful points.

Humorous but hard-hitting, Jackie Salloum’s 2004 film PLANET OF THE ARABS is a fast-paced montage of Hollywood’s use of Arabs in film. Conversely Annemarie Jacir’s subtle and disturbing film LIKE TWENTY IMPOSSIBLES uses a documentary style to question artistic responsibility and the politics of filmmaking. A Palestinian film crew attempt to cross a small military checkpoint during their day’s work. Met by a callous soldier, as ID cards of

various nationalities are thrown about, the film calls in to question issues of power, responsibility, and identity.

What links these films is their struggle to find their own way to express Palestinian experience. “Film represents mass communication”, says Sarah Wood. “It’s a question of what gets shown of a country. In the West we receive images of war from this region. You can’t find an every-day street scene of Ramallah like you could of Oxford Street.”

“These films aren’t often talked about and are hard to see. The world is so dominated by image, and it’s dominated by those who control image.” Perhaps it’s incumbent upon every country and culture to explore and define its identity through image, because if they don’t someone else will.

Cinema Palestine commences on Friday 18 September at 8.30pm at Emmanuel College

LITTLE WHITE LIES is a troubling film that beautifully portrays the dark aspects of school life. Set in 1930s Germany, it tells the story of Alexander, a 13 year-old schoolboy so eager to please his peers that he gets entangled in a web of lies. Intent on winning a school art competition, he borrows an illustrated book from a friend in the opposite class. When ink spills onto the book, things start to go horribly wrong.

Based on a novel of the same name by Anna Maria Joki, Rosenmüller’s film has the feeling of a children’s tale – but a macabre tale which functions as a parable on lying. A hyper-real mise-en-scène exacerbates the film’s ‘literary’ quality: bad deeds take place in the shadows; Alexander’s red parrot (a well-known symbol for fictional

illusion) is the first to witness the spilling ink; blues, greys and earth tones make for a worn, story-book quality.

Given the era and location in which the film is set, its themes of bullying and punishment ultimately hint at situations far more serious than schoolyard politics. But, like the town baker whose delectable pastries Alexander so covets, Rosenmüller knows that sometimes the simplest creations are the most effective.Marina Bradbury

LITTLE WHITE LIES is screened on Friday 18 September at 6.45pm

LITTLE WHITE LIES // Marcus H. Rosenmüller

Cambridge Film Festival Daily © 2009Editor David PerilliSub-editorsChristopher Peck, Laura J SmithEditorial assistant Sara CathieFestival photographer Tom CatchesidesDesign Robin Castle

w w w. t t p g r o u p . c o m

I f you’ re the cultured , creat ive type ,you’ve found your workplace .

our Team (of SPieS)

Codename: J. Dazzle Alias: Johnny Davey, Festival volunteer coordinatorCover Story: Volunteer coordinator – supervising a whole host of jobs to ensure everything gets done on time!Point of origin: BedfordM.I. Spy - Movie Inspiration Spy: Jason Bourne from the Bourne TrilogyFor Your Ears Only: (Bjork’s) You Only Live TwiceSpecialist skill: Misdirection

eXPeLLeD: No iNTeLLigeNce aLLoweD

Beating back the most rudimentary empirical scrutiny, EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED advances the position not only that the theory of evolution and the faith-based hypothesis of ‘Intelligent Design’ are on near-equal scientific footing, but that the American Scientific Community itself is working Cabal-like to suppress any developmental view but Darwin’s, at all costs. Linking evolutionary theory to godlessness, fascism, euthanasia, and eugenics;

shamelessly and offensively, it invokes the Holocaust with films of Nazi death camps and mass graves. Seemingly every few seconds, ideologically unrelated footage from vintage science-fiction films, pulp movies and Communist propaganda appears to interrupt the talking heads. This is spectacle, not argument, underscoring (while attempting to distract from) the film’s contempt for precision and logical rigour Emma Firestone

EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED is screened on Friday 18 September at 8.45pm

Young CritiCs at the Cambridge Film Festival

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Festival Director Tony Jones opens the UK Premiere of IDENTITY OF THE SOUL © TC

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