Image from ‘TOIL‘. Photo taken by David Liddell.

Ruth Paxton is Scottish filmmaker and visual artist. Nominated one of Canongate Books’ 40 Scottish Storytellers of The Future in 2013, and winner of the award for Best Woman Director at this year’s 12th London Short Film Festival, for her short work PULSE.

Paxton graduated in 2007 with an MA in Film and Television from Screen Academy Scotland, having gained her honours degree at Edinburgh College of Art. Her films are bold and powerful and she has a unique way of visualising, stylising and capturing the intimacy and complexity of people and their stories. Her award-winning shorts have been exhibited and nominated in competition at numerous international events, including prominent film festivals such as Edinburgh International Film Festival, Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, London Short Film Festival and during Armory and Volta in New York.

Paxton is in development across a number of dramatic projects and is represented by Mark Casarotto of Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.

My Top Five

Ingrid Christie’s Tour of Summerhall

I’d LOVE to have had Christie’s experience touring the disused Summerhall building ahead of its regeneration. Abandoned spaces are wonderlands to me. Abandoned creepy institutional spaces with remains lying about: extra so.

Antonio O’Connell: Virus

It was brilliant to discover the author and genesis of this constructed explosion spilling from the Summerhall façade. It makes me feel sunny whenever I see it. And I love O’Connell’s pitch; that it hints at the vibrant happenings inside, because it does just that.

Ross Hogg: Spectators

I realllllly like Ross’ work.

BIG ISSUE: Pilot Programme

I found this pilot from Gillian Ritch, totally fascinating. I’m guessing the speakers were documented circa 1999/2000? Considering we’re roughly 15 years on from the climate discussed in this clip, concerning the difficulties faced by females working in television, I’d be so curious to know how these professionals view the landscape for female presenters and reporters in British TV today. Here, Edith Bowman tentatively suggests, “it’s becoming less about looks.” I suspect we’ve not moved on quite as far as she might have hoped.

Marcus Pickering: Pickering’s Gin

Because I really like gin, and I have sampled this heavenly variety, and I think it’s completely charismatic that Summerhall – the energetic, constantly evolving establishment – has it’s own Edinburgh distillery.

This is the fourth part of an ongoing series selecting films from SummerhallTV’s archive. Take a look at the first installment by Dave Rushton, the second by Bill Millett and the third by Alex Hetherington. For a chance to curate your very own SummerhallTV film selection, please email Central Station on hello@thisiscentralstation.com.

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Winner: Destroyer Of Worlds – Will Anderson

The winning film was produced by Edinburgh based animator Will Anderson, who in 2013 won the BAFTA for Best Animated Short for his graduation film, The Making of Longbird. Will’s film, Destroyer of Worlds, uses the medium of elegant shadow animation to tell the story of warfare from the earliest days of mankind to the atomic bomb.

Anderson, who premiered his latest short, Monkey Love Experiments, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Sunday, said::
“I found the recording from J. Robert Oppenheimer speaking on a television programme about the ‘Atomic Age’ to be particularly moving (see video below). This father of the atomic bomb describes the horror of the first successful detonation of the atomic bomb. When giving a 10 second film a go, I felt that this quote should be my starting point, and the challenge (as well as it being incredibly short) was to try to communicate how we seem to have been killing each other since the dawn of time. It strikes me that this is pretty heavy stuff, so that’s why I decided to make it with shadow play. It feels very simple, but it hopefully says quite a lot.

“When I make an animation, I always look to match the process with the story told, in some way… and there seemed to be clarity in trying to talk about something huge in the simplest way possible, and in hardly any time.”

Juror Beeban Kidron, director of InRealLife and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, said of Will’s film:
“To tell such a big story with such elegance is impressive. It does a lot of heavy lifting, but with amazing simplicity.”

Second place: Groundsman – Dave Young / Pod Films

Dave Young was awarded second place for his film, Groundsman which captures the friendship of two groundsmen at a rugby club. Both the third place winner, MHM Mubassir and student winner Kazi Ali Tamaddun live in Bangladesh – and unusually, both are pursuing advanced degrees alongside filmmaking. MHM Mubassir’s film Dependence was awarded third place. In it, he shows the tenderness between a young boy afraid of the dark, and his mother lighting a candle for him.

Third place: Dependence – M H M Mubassir

Student award: The Last Act – Kazi Ali Tamaddun

Stuart Cosgrove, director of creative diversity at Channel 4 and chair of the jury panel for 9.88 Films said:

“Will Anderson’s winning film blew everyone away. The storytelling skill, and lightness of touch with such a huge theme was fantastic to see. And at the other end of the spectrum, MHM Mubassir’s Dependence was almost portraiture – a study in calm, sparse, confident and simply beautiful storytelling.

“Groundsman was a wonderful example of a well-rounded and warm documentary in just a few seconds, while The Last Act was incredibly complex and meaningful. As with so many of the entries, it was amazing to think that all this was conveyed in just 10 seconds.”

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Creating PULSE from Royal Philharmonic Society on Vimeo.

PULSE is a mini-opera, commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, bringing together British/Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova and Scottish filmmaker Ruth Paxton to create a new score and film for the PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music Biennial in 2014, one of 20 new commissions selected from over 130 proposals.

Taking the ideas of ‘pulse’ and ‘place’, this collaboration pairs Tabakova’s rich musical language with Paxton’s bold filmmaking to create a film that explores the energy and diversity of life in a modern city and the driving forces behind how different societies and cultures mix. This is the first time that composer and filmmaker have worked together. They are collaborating on the narrative shaping of the film, which will be screened to Tabakova’s new score for piano, percussion and gamelan, performed live and recorded, nationwide.

PULSE will be performed throughout 2014 at a range of venues across the UK including:
4 – 6 July 2014 | Southbank Centre, London
2 – 3 August 2014 | Part of Commonwealth Games, Glasgow

You can get involved in this project by supporting PULSE here.

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Give us yer money.

Go on…

For the duration of our fundraising campaign to date I’ve fancied that appeal up, down and left of centre in attempt to marshal a non-aggressive but determined approach in raising money for the production of our new short film, NEVADA, which I’m co-producing with Cinematographer David Liddell.

David and I have worked together across a few projects now, including short films, PARIS/SEXY (2010), BLOOD IS THICKER (2011) and BAROQUE (2011). The last we made on a budget of about £500 + titanic favours, and filmed in a rat-infested crypt with no running water, nor toilet facilities. BAM. You can see a wee teaser for this film HERE.

BLOOD IS THICKER (2011)

We’re not doing anything as noble as running for charity, nor are we producing a film that shines light on a politically overlooked topic for debate. But we are endeavoring wholeheartedly to make a film that will be both beautiful and meaningful and explore in a small way, what it means to be human. The value of which will be greater to some more than others. The impact of which, I hope, will reach even more.

NEVADA is a psychological portrait of two lovers, who fucking hate each other; who are well beyond breaking point, and who must separate.  Taking the story and image of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller’s marriage as a springboard for content and style, NEVADA is a contemporary experimental study about humans and how exhausting hatred is, while also examining themes of identity and guilt.

PARIS/SEXY (2010)

The project has evolved from a small commission for award wining folk trio, LAU and will be made specifically for an arts festival, which the band are curating for Kings Place in October. Our film will premiere with live accompaniment by LAU during the same slot as KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS – details of which are HERE. LAU have generously provided a budget for this venture but it’s tight. Our previous experience has taught us that creative options become more and more narrow the lower the financial threshold goes.  Although I took some persuading at first, we agreed it was worth considering crowd funding.

Putting yourself out there is rough. Exposing yourself when you’ve made a film is tough enough.

All independent filmmakers in Scotland know that the opportunities to get work made with financial support are incredibly limited. For a couple of years now, I’ve battled with two ways of thinking about my approach to getting films made. The artist in me wants to produce work, and thinks, fuck it – let’s make it happen. Write something worthy of everyone’s skills, get your Granny to cook soup and pay your crew with endless gratitude.

It is a way to go, and I’ve taken that road many times.

But there’s another side for the eternally emerging filmmaker like myself, which seeks to assert that we deserve support to make more work of the type, which has been proven to interest and engage viewers in the past. My ego seeks the endorsement of film financiers.

But punishing the world by denying them Paxtonworks while I’m hanging about waiting for validation, isn’t going to significantly starve the world’s movie-watching appetite…

And despite how pretentious it might sound, films like NEVADA are the ones I need to make. This project comprises a collection of things I care deeply about, themes that preoccupy me. Any artist worth their salt knows the feeling of needing to make certain work to exercise demons. And thankfully collaborators including David Liddell and our other hugely talented Heads of Department feel similarly, and want to create this piece with me.

BAROQUE (2011)

So there it is, once more into the breach old friends…

We’ve got the team in place. We’ve got the story and we’ve got the drive in droves. But we really, really need some more financial support. And it’s the support of good-willed strangers that we desperately need to entice…

So, why should you, kind stranger, give us yer money?

With just two-weeks left to go, we really need to PUSH the campaign. It’s the boring compulsory costs like insurance and travel expenses, which are really stretching our resources and sucking funds from our design and camera departments, which we so passionately want to keep healthy.

If everyone we were friends with on Facebook donated $10 (just over 6 quid) – we’d easily double our target. And it’s that kind of donation we’re seeking from multiples of ALL YA’LL.

We SO don’t want to patronise anyone considering giving – we won’t try and tempt you with a meaningless credit in exchange for cash. There are some quite cool ‘perks’ on offer with our campaign but the biggest reward David and I can offer is our gratitude, and while it might sound unexciting, it is huge and very real. And if you are brassic lint, you can still help us significantly, by spreading the word like runny jam via Facebook, Twitter and old-school word-of-mouth style.

And it goes without saying in the artist’s community it is the flow and exchange of favours and resources that enables the best work to emerge. If there’s anything we can do to help you – all you need to do is holler.

Thank you very, very much -
RUTH

For further encouragement, seek enlightenment on the following paths:
RUTH’S BLOG ABOUT MARILYN | DAVID’S BLOG ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY
www.paxtonworks.com | www.davidliddell.com
@ruthpaxton | @davidliddelldop

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