This year’s Crossing the Line expands upon the relationship between cinema and visual art into the fields of music and poetry, with world premieres of unique experimental works, installations combined with live performances, and boundary-breaking productions from emerging artists.

Below are summaries of the ten screenings and events that make up this year’s Crossing the Line programme.

Nancy Holt: Sun Tunnels

19 February | CCA
Our Extra-Sensory Selves
Allison Gibbs’ new film is the result of research conducted with the Development Circle for Radical Subjectivity in France which shows participants’ journeys as they attempt to reach a higher state of consciousness. Allison Gibbs will be present for a Q&A after the screening.

20 February | Stereo
Square Legs, Round Bowls
A programme of new works using film to inform musical composition and by visual artists that use musical structures in their film work. The event will include work by Torsten Lauschmann, Rob Churm, Joe Howe, Beatrice Gibson, Richy Carey and Anneke Kampman.

22 February | CCA
Nancy Holt: Sun Tunnels / Revolve
Margaret Tait Award-winner for 2014 Charlotte Prodger will introduce this double-bill of work by pioneering American artist and filmmaker Nancy Holt (1938-2014). Sun Tunnels documents Holt’s eponymous site-specific construction in the Utah desert in 1976. Revolve, meanwhile, uses multiple camera angles and repetitions to modulate Dennis Wheeler’s personal narrative of his battle with leukaemia.

22 February | CCA
Beauty and the Right to the Ugly
This piece is set in the Dutch community centre of ‘t Karregat, Eindhoven, built in 1974 as a social project designed to perpetuate communal styles of living and to transfer ownership of living, working and recreational environments back to users.

23 February | GFT
Margaret Tait Award Screening
Named after acclaimed Scottish experimental filmmaker Margaret Tait, this annual award recognises Scotland-based artists who work within film and moving image in an experimental and innovative way. 2014 award-winner, Charlotte Prodger premieres her work.

24 February | GFT
Margaret Tait Residency: O.K. Rick
The Margaret Tait Residency aims to support and develop emerging Scotland-based artists working within film and moving image. Florrie James participated in the residency in 2014 and will screen her short drama set on a fictional island inspired by both Orkney and Shetland.

25 February | CCA
Reading in the Dark
Exploring the overlaps between language and film, Reading in the Dark is the second instalment of the research project of artist Suzanne van der Lingen, who will present this programme of artist film and video with work from Sarah Forrest, Laure Prouvost, Peter Rose and Gerard Byrne.

Reading In The Dark

AlgoRhythm

26 February | The Art School
AlgoRhythm
A series of collaborative art and music events that bring together practitioners from a variety of creative fields who specialise in the use of technology in their practice.

27 February | CCA
Letters to Max
Letters to Max documents the conversations between Maxim Gvinja, former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Abkhazia, a state which seceded from Georgia during the 1992-93 civil war, and acclaimed French artist and filmmaker Eric Baudelaire.

28 February | GFT
Sea Without Shore **WORLD PREMIERE**
André Semenza and Fernanda Lippi of the renowned Zikzira Physical Theatre mark their feature debut in Sea Without Shore: a mix of cinematic physical theatre and dance with sound design overseen by the Oscar-winning Glenn Freemantle and a soundtrack by The Hafler Trio.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

//////

Find more events in our weekly bulletin here.

The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival is back this October, bringing hundreds of arts events to venues all around Scotland, all with the aim of raising awareness of mental health and tackling stigma against mental illness—and (of course) presenting some awesome film, theatre, visual art, literature and much more to brighten up your October.

Of course, with nearly 300 events (did you hear that? 300!) it could be a smidge difficult to make it along to everything. Luckily, the hard-working SMHAFF festival team are here with some of their favourites to help you make up your mind.

Vanessa Coffey’s Mirror Mirror

(Gail Aldam, Festival Manager):
“Having worked on the festival for a few years now, it’s always great when we can form a brand-new partnership and bring our audiences something totally new. This year I’m really excited for our first literature weekend, created in partnership with Aye Write! Glasgow’s book festival.  For one weekend in October we’re teaming up to host discussions with some great literary names, including Alasdair Gray, Denise Mina and Sophie Hannah, around ideas of reading, writing and mental health.”

(Alex Queneau, Marketing Manager):
“The event I’m most looking forward to is definitely our screenings of Alan Berliner’s First Cousin Once Removed at GFT and Edinburgh’s Filmhouse, accompanied by Q+As with the man himself. I’m a real film person, and I love going along to Q+As where directors and filmmakers talk with such a passion and love for film—not just their own movie, but the genre. First Cousin is a deeply personal film for Berliner too, created over a period of five years as he filmed his great friend and cousin, Poet Edwin Honig, succumbing to the grip of Alzheimer’s disease. I think the film and the post-show discussion will be a great event for anyone interested in exploring mental health through film.”

(Christine Irvine,  Communications Officer):
“The SMHAFF theatre programme is really strong this year and I’m looking forward to it kicking off with a double-bill of shows at one of my favourite Glasgow venues, the Tramway, on 3 Oct. The double-bill is two shows (not surprising!): one called Mirror/Mirror, exploring eating disorders; and the other, Mental, looking at the intertwining of depression and artistic expression. I love theatre that gets right up in your face and makes you think about things, so this intimate show for an audience of just 50 is right up my street!”

Barrowland Ballet’s Tiger

(Melanie Bavajee, Festival Assistant):
“So hard to pick! At the moment I’m really looking forward to seeing Barrowland Ballet’s Tiger again—we went to the preview night at Platform, and although I had very little idea what to expect when I went in, the show just blew me away with its inventiveness, beauty and emotion. Tiger uses contemporary dance to introduce us to a family who have grown totally dysfunctional; their lives fully caged in. It takes the arrival of a tiger to remind them of how much they love each other.  The talent and stamina of the three dancers was just amazing! A definite must-see of the Festival.”

The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film festival runs from 1-26 October, all across Scotland. For more information on what’s going on near you, visit www.mhfestival.com.

The 2013 programme can be viewed and downloaded online here.

More: Website | Vimeo | Facebook | Twitter

//////

Browse through our event bulletin to find more events.

Writer, Alison Irvine tells us more about Glasgow Film Theatre’s (GFT) For All Project…

Glasgow Film Theatre has embarked on a large-scale project to ask questions of its audience and potential audiences. The project is part of GFT’s equalities research – ‘Cinema For All’ is emblazoned above the doorway after all – and its Head of Learning, Emily Munro, wants to find out what makes people go to the cinema – any cinema – and what makes people go to GFT in particular. On the flip side of the coin she wants to know what makes people not go to the cinema and not go to GFT in particular.

She’s commissioned nine writers, one writer/facilitator (me) and an illustrator/animator (David Galletly). The nine writers have written short stories or poems as their response to the theme of equalities. Some pieces are about the cinema, some aren’t. It’s an eclectic, passionate, poignant and humorous collection. David Galletly has created animations based on a short extract from each piece which will be shown before each film at GFT. We’re on week three now and there’ll be a new animation and a new piece of writing released for a further six weeks with people being invited to give their own responses to the stories, poems and animations. As well as that, there are weekly questions posed, aimed at getting people to articulate just what it is that makes the cinema special for them – the thinking being know your audience and be better able to serve it.

So, GFT is stretching its arms wide and trying to draw people into this conversation. There are many ways of contributing: via GFT’s facebook, twitter (#filmforall), blog and post-it notes in the cinema foyer. And then there are the good old-fashioned focus groups, which is where I come in.

I specialise in writing fiction based on real-life stories. My first novel began as a community arts commission as part of the Red Road Flats legacy project. I collected and then fictionalised the stories of many of my interviewees. I will be working in a similar way for the GFT project. With one of the commissioned poems or stories as a stimulus and jumping-off point, we’ll ask questions about cinema in relation to equality – in particular Glasgow City Council’s single outcome agreements: improving the lives of vulnerable people, reducing alcohol abuse and increasing youth employment. We’ll ask about disabled access, about programming, about people’s perceptions of GFT and we’ll ask about poverty. And from these questions we hope to hear about people’s experiences of going to the cinema; the anecdotes, the incidents, the surprises, the best and the worst. From this wealth of material I’ll write a story.

My story will be published, along with the other nine pieces, in a book later this year. And it will tie in with the launch of the cinema’s third screen and refurbishment of the building.

Emily Munro will then gather up all the audience and focus-group feedback and she and her colleagues will interpret it and act on it!

The For All equalities project is a creative approach to an important, information-gathering exercise. And it’s a way of working that has a successful track record. Artlink commissioned writer Anne Donovan to write a story based on interviews with parents and carers of disabled children. She wrote a delicate and moving story that illuminates some of the complex and contradictory feelings of the people she interviewed. The story is not only a piece of art but it is informative as well.

Obviously, the writer puts their stamp on the story, in that it’s up to them to interpret what they hear and to create the characters and tone and style of the piece, but if it works, the piece will ultimately be imbued with a kind of honesty and empathy and a richness that perhaps could only be there because of the material that came out of the focus groups.

I clearly have my work cut out for me, but I am very much looking forward to my role in this expansive and collaborative project.

The artists involved in the For All Project are:

Tawona Sithole
Robin Yassin-Kassab
Eleanor Thom
Matthew Fitt
Nalini Paul
Bernard MacLaverty
Ewan Morrison
Cathy MacPhail
Janice Galloway

David Galletly
Alison Irvine

Details of how to participate in the For All project are here.

Alison Irvine Portrait copyright C Dooks

Alison Irvine’s first novel, This Road is Red (Luath Press), was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year award. She is the recipient of a Glasgow Life Commonwealth Games residency and will be writing a book on Glasgow’s arts and culture in the context of the Games. Fond of collaborating with other artists, for the Commonwealth Games residency she will be working alongside artist Mitch Miller and filmmaker and photographer Chris Leslie.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Emmi Keane is a young designer based in Glasgow. Her designs were recently selected by the Glasgow Youth Film Festival Youth Team for the 2012 brochure after a tough competition featuring all members of Tramway’s Young Artists.  Emmi’s interests lie mainly in illustration.  Her artistic loves include Stabilo fine tip pens, fashion designer Helen Story, Turner-Prize-winning painter Tomma Abts and penguins.  In the near future Emmi aspires to go to art school to further her already promising career as a designer.

60 Seconds with Emmi…

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself?

Ah, tricky question! I moved to Glasgow from Cardiff when I was 9, I am 17 now and I love Scotland! I am currently doing a portfolio preparation course to help me get into art school. I like clothes with animals on them. His Dark Materials are my favourite books and I have a thing for contrasting colours and intricate illustrations.

Q.    How did you get involved with GYFF 2012?

I love the Glasgow Film Theatre and have friends that are involved with GYFF so when my tutor at the Visual Arts Studio told us about the opportunity to design the programme cover and poster, I jumped at it.

Q.    What inspired your design?

After chatting to some of the festival organizers I had an idea of what they wanted out of the design: something that represented youth but still appealed to most people. Picture frames and screens made an interesting medium to exhibit all the film stills that would be shown at the festival. I sketched out how I wanted the frames to be positioned with the intention to photograph real frames and compile them but I liked the sketch and thought the hand drawings would enhance the design.

Q.    How was it seeing your finished design in your hands?

Pretty surreal! Even now I will see the programme or walk past the poster and think, “Hmm, that looks familiar …” before realising it is actually my design.

Q.    What do you plan to do next?

At the moment I am applying to art schools with the hope of studying communication design or illustration. Fingers crossed!

Q.    What film do you recommend seeing at GYFF?

Umm, it’s going to have to be Napoleon Dynamite. I’ve only seen the final dance scene and it’s truly awesome so I can’t wait to see the whole thing on the big screen.

////

The Glasgow Youth Film Festival is offering Central Station followers 2 pairs of tickets to see Dragonslayer at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Wed, 15 Feb.

Dragonslayer is an evocative portrait of California’s outsider skate culture, winner of two prizes at the world’s coolest film festival SXSW, last year.

If you fancy winning a free ticket for you and a friend, leave us a message  in the comments below or tweet us mentioning @censta & @glasgowyouth. The deadline for entries is Tues, 7 Feb & winners will be notified by Fri, 10 Feb.

Here’s a bit of a preview to whet your appetite…

///

You can see more photographs of the day here, or go here to see the artists talks from Sunday’s event. Keep reading to find out what the weekend was all about and who joined us.

/////

WHAT? Day One…events round and about Glasgow, bus ride, special tours, private talks and a soundtrack launch / screening Full listings below.
Day two…tell us who you are, meet other members, have a drink or two on us, go to the pub. Bring a friend. Full listings below.
WHEN? Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of November 2009
WHERE? Glasgow

///

We’re taking the online community into the the real world, giving members an opportunity to meet us and each other over the course of two days.

Join us on our bus on Saturday 14th for a tour of some of Glasgow’s lesser and better known creative spaces. Bring yourself and bring a friend. See inside studios, galleries and facilities, meet the people who run them, listen to the people who work and exhibit at them. Then come along to a soundtrack launch and screening at the Panoptican in the evening, all for a feature film that hasn’t been made yet…

On Sunday afternoon we’re having a few glasses of wine at Sloans and listening to a selection of our members talk about what it is they do. After that we all get to join in. Chat around some of the topics that interest you, get your teeth into the issues, delights and problems facing creative people. All topped off with an evening of music, dominos and great beer at the State.

Saturday 14th
>11.30am…have a cuppa & meet the team at Mono
>12pm…Workshop tour: Sarah Raffel shows us around her jewellery workshop and store at Brazen
> 1pm…Artist talk: Colin Gray introduces In Sickness and In Health at Street Level
> 2.30pm…Designer talks:  John Galvin & Joachim King introduce us to their furniture currently exhibiting at Che Camille
> 2.30pm…Artist talk: Michael Thomas Jones introduces Modernista at The Lighthouse
>2.30pm…Exhibition: come with us to see Torsten Lauschmann’s exhibition at Mary Mary
>3.30pm…Artist talk: Afternoon tea & a chat with Erin McGrath about the new exhibition at the GFT’s Cafe Cosmo
>3.30pm…Artist talk: Artist in residence Edwin Pickstone gives a tour of the Glasgow School of Art’s letterpress facility
>3.30pm…Exhibition: PASSING PLACES: Landscapes of Glasgow and Western Scotland by Dan Williams
> 5pm…Gallery tour: Fun Makes Good give us a preview of their upcoming exhibition at Welcome Home
> 5pm…Artist Talk: Jennifer Nicolson talks to us about her exhibition at The Tiny Gallery at Maisonette
> 5.45pm…Meet the Artist: Ciara Phillips introduces her exhibition at Washington Garcia
>5.45…Exhibition: last chance to see Warehouse of Horrors exhibition at +44 141 Gallery
>5.45pm…Studio Tour: Exclusive tour of UK’s only Dolby Premier Mix Theatre at Savalas
> 7pm…Screening & album launch: Dummy Jim, The One Ensemble & Sarah Kenchington at the Panoptican
> AND…you can add your own event to the map. No matter where you are. We’re curating a mini cultural olympiad. Find out more here or see what’s already on the map here.

Sunday 15th
>12pm…Common of Houses Exhibition at George Square
>12.30pm…Scottish Digital Shorts Launch 2010 at GFT
>2pm…This Is… and Who Are You? at Sloans
> 5pm…GSA Mutual present Sunday School at The State

Images by Patrick MacDonald & Suzy Glass

In the very early days of Central Station, we asked members within the community to submit their ideas for our GFF Trailer competition. The call was open for one month and we were looking for proposals along with simple sketches, storyboards and materials to support the application.

We, and our partners the Glasgow Film Festival 2010, were delighted with the quality and the number of responses from the network. The shortlist worked with representatives of GFF, GFT and ISO Design, for their commission. They were: Allistair Burt, Lucy Elliott, Patrick MacDonald and Kim Stewart.

All four worked on the development phase on their project ideas with GFF and Central Station’s supervision, at the end of which one proposal was commissioned.

Read these blogs from the shortlisted creatives, find out about their processes and see the winning trailer:
Glasgow Film Festival 2010 – development by Alburt
Glasgow Film Festival… Now Even Bigger! by Kim Stewart
Glasgow Film Festival Trailer development by Kim Stewart
And they’re off by Paddy Mac
Glasgow Film Festival – cinema sudoku by Lucy Elliot
Iso-tonic by Paddy Mac
More GFF trailer development by Lucy Elliot
Glasgow Film Festival trailer…revised script by Kim Stewart
The Barter system by GFT
GFF final submission by Kim Stewart
GFF2010 Trailer – sound and music by Alburt
Gff submission yo by Lucy Elliot
Gff submission by Paddy Mac
Disbelief by Paddy Mac
Friday ramblings by Paddy Mac
It’s a Wrap! by Paddy Mac

No project would be complete without a last minute clash of opinions and technical complications, and this one was no exception. Dispite these, I think the end reuslt holds together well. Ofcourse there are a few things I would have liked to do differently or spend more time on to improve the technical quality, but unfortunately there just wasn’t the time available.

I have to say I was blown away by the musical composition Charlie from “Eardrum Productions” put together for the trailer. I think it really enhances the visuals and will sound great when the great unwashed get to experience it in theatres around the country. I met up with Jen from GFF and Charlie (Charlie’s partner in crime) down at Savalas to produce the 5.1 Dolby stereo mix. What a treat! Over 5k of surround soundsystem and a very nice technician, Chris, pulling all sorts of nuance out of the music to achieve maximum impact in the theatre.

Well, it’s been a fun ride, but it’s finally over. Now I just can’t wait to see how the 35mm print will look on the big screen!

I’ll leave it to the cSta guys and GFF to release the full trailer, so I’m afraid this blog post is just a tease…. All I can show is a collection of frame captures.

At my last meeting with Iso, my treatment was met with much head scratching and an uncomfortable silence. I left it resigned to the fact I’d blown it, becoming bogged down in narrative and losing touch with the graphic approach that got me shortlisted in the first place. Dispite this, there were some interesting suggestions that were worth persuing. Stripping the idea back to its core and throwing out any visual complexity seemed to be the only way I could put my proposal into a workable form. Thanks are due to the guys at Iso for leading me in this direction.

In the end my trailer is all about the history of cinema in glasgow. The forgotten screens that used to shine across the city. The sad loss of so many venues that entertained thousands, and the lasting legacy of film in the minds of the city’s inhabitants. It’s alot to ask from 25 seconds of film I know!

Thanks to all the other shortlisters for their support and to those who offered to help with the audio. I will be gettings in touch with the musician I’ve chosen shortly and look forward to hopefully developing a kick-arse soundtrack to test the soundsystems of cinemas across the country!

So, I’ve got a busy few weeks ahead… I’ll be keeping you posted with how the trailer is progressing, so watch this space

This is a bit late as was meant to go up on Friday but I thought I’d shove it up just to complete the GFF trailer competition experience! So here’s the material of my final submission with treatment and storyboards and stuff yo!

TREATMENT

The trailer involves a classic Glasgow tenement building and its inhabitants. The first shot begins by looking straight at the exterior the ground floor flat; it’s night time with orange street lamps illuminating the dark windows. To the beat of the music the lights in the flats turn on in sequence. This reveals the people inside carrying out an array of activities. These activities hint at stereotypical and iconic shots, scenes and concepts from famous films. One example is a red hoodie clad man pedalling furiously on an exercise bike with a large circular lantern behind him. The camera journeys at a constant speed up the tenement building staying locked straight on. More dark windows come into view and the lights come on to the beat. The hints become more abstract and some don’t involve people at all. The camera reaches the roof of the building carrying on to reveal the streets of Glasgow behind finally coming to a rest as the GFF logo appears.

The tenement building itself will either be a layered photo or a photographed and lit miniature model, similar to the technique used in my previous film Grandma & the Monster all the while keeping in mind Avril Paton’s iconic paintings of Glasgow’s tenements. The camera movement up the building will be achieved using After Effects. Rather than being filmed the action sequences will be created using looped photographs, forming gifs, a jolting style of animation. The people will be shot against a green screen and the sitting room sets slipped in behind them. The gifs will be animated to the beat of the music coherently fusing the audio-visual elements. The overall feel will be that of an automata sculpture; a multitude of miniature interlacing cogs, springs mechanisms working as one to create the rudimentary yet pleasing action.

Susan Boyle (of local band Vendor Defender) has agreed to collaborate to make the track for the piece. She has made a very rough mock up which hasn’t been mixed that she is thinking about using.

Window 1
A man wearing a red hoodie and sports gear peddling on an exercise bike in front of a round lantern lamp shade on his light – E.T.

Window 2
A woman watching a exercise video, one of the moves is to move your arms with fingers in ‘V’s across her eyes – Pulp Fiction

Window 3
Birds in a birdcage and birds hanging out – The Birds

Window 4
A man stands at the back of the room while in the foreground is a silhouette of a woman putting on her tights – The Graduate

Window 5
A shadow of a giant rabbit crosses the floor – Harvey

Window 6
3 People in red tracksuits – The Royal Tenenbaums

Window 7
This window is underwater, a squid floats by – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Window 8
A flashing television with static on it – Poltergeist

Window 9
The blind is down and there is a faint, distorted shadow of a hand holding a knife – Psycho

Window 10
This window is entirely bricked up – Brick

Window 11
A man wearing pyjamas with banages on his leg looking out with binoculars
– Rear Window

Window 12
A man taking off his glasses and ripping open his shirt – Superman

Cheers my dears

So I’ve been frantically trying to get everything together for the final submission by noon today. (Not an easy task considering I’m currently in Sheffield for the Doc/Fest!)

I’ve managed to get a studio space for filming in Film City Glasgow! Also managed to source a green screen and lights and a great rate! I’ve met my three actors who all seem brilliant! Below is a revised script (not too much changed here)…

SCENE 1

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING

Everything is in darkness. A beam of light suddenly reveals glimpses of ambiguous shapes and details. The stark contrasts of light and dark create an eerie atmosphere amongst the forests of gigantic cinema seats.

Another light flickers sporadically. This flickering cinema screen light shows the silhouette of a COUPLE holding hands. An USHER, whose torch emits a strong beam of light, leads them.

SCENE 2

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The COUPLE pass what appears to be a giant piece of paper crumpled on the ground. The USHER impatiently signals to the COUPLE to keep following him. The COUPLE appear worried and look back uncertainly towards the paper. They meet one another’s eyes and their mutual anxiety is clearly demonstrated.

The USHER continues, walking underneath the giant cinema seats, with the COUPLE following, until he abruptly stops. He checks the two tickets in his hand, looks up and nods to the COUPLE.

SCENE 3

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The COUPLE reach the USHER and look up in astonished confusion. The USHER looks very irritated, sighs and rapidly signals for them to climb onto their seat.

The MAN helps the WOMAN by offering a leg up. The WOMAN groans, removes her high heels and struggles to climb up onto the seat.

The COUPLE are seated comfortably and the MAN attempts to put his arm around the WOMAN. She pushes him away almost instantaneously and the line reads: “GFF10… Now Even Bigger!”

NOTES ON STYLE OF TRAILER

The trailer will be in black and white with a film noir feel. The music score will build up the suspense and eeriness of the unknown giant landscape the COUPLE are in. A rough scale of 1:10 will be used for shrinking the actors in After Effects. (Think ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ and ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’).

The trailer will be a combination of wide and tight locked shots (with a couple of moving point of view shots from the actors looking up at the chairs). The action will be filmed on a green screen and superimposed on pre-specified detailed stills of cinema seats. The whole sequence will include a continuous flickering light source to emulate light from the cinema screen.

ACTORS:

Actress Role: WOMAN – Vivien Louise Taylor

Actor Role: MAN – Jonny Boag

Actor Role: USHER – Alfie Wellcoat
Venue: Film City Glasgow

I have managed to arrange payment in kind through an arrangement with Glasgow Film Theatre for the hire of this venue. I visited the space on Tuesday evening and it’s perfect for what I require. It has a stage which will help when it comes to filming the shots from above the actors.

Equipment Hire: Progressive Hire

I have provisionally booked lights and a big green screen from Donald at Progressive Hire. I got a really great deal (thanks Yvonne!) and they are going to deliver the equipment on Wednesday 11th November for filming. I have also arranged separate insurance for this equipment.

Taster Images