BEEF II //

BEEF II

SODOBNI EKSPERIMENTALNI FILMI BEEF: Zavzeta zrnatost

The films in this program reflect both a material quality and a mindset. They are characterised by the surface granulation, texture and grain that arises from handmade analogue small-gauge film methods. Confronting often challenging and difficult topics, portraying marginal figures, perspectives and lifestyles and realised through small budgets and alternative practices, these films reflect determination, perseverance and tenacity. They could be considered to belong to the gritty realist tradition that characterises much British cinema: a persistence with practices and subjects that go against the grain and receive less representation in mainstream cinema.

BEEF collective

His and Hers and the Sun

Laura Phillips, Great Britain, 2022, digitalni format (shot on 16 mm), 1.78, colour, 4', no dialogue

An abstracted 16mm film made with Orwo UN54 16mm film, hand developed & then overlaid with cameraless filmmaking techniques using washi tape & cyanotype. The recurring motifs of the Blue Marble photo & water draining in a sink with the multiple layering of images can be seen as a reflexive statement about the processing of filmmaking & a playful visual pun about water detritus and waste management. The soundtrack was made by Mark Vernon, a sound artist who works with tactility & intimacy of radio, known for his recycling of field recordings & obsolete media. Both the soundscore & visuals use repetitive rhythms to simulate cyclical systems, beit the water cycles, refuge cycles or ways of looking.

Grit

Matt Davies, Great Britain, 2021, 16 mm, 1.37, black&white, 3'12'', no dialogue

A 16mm camera held against the artists stomach and pointed at the ground, takes a single frame every 12 steps during an 18 mile walk along the length of Chesil Beach in Dorset, UK.

Mental Falls

Louisa Fairclough, Great Britain, 2024, digital format, colour, 28', Slovenian video subtitles

Mental Falls is a short lyrical essay film weaving the voices of singers with Louisa’s own voice in a close observation of her sister Hetta Fairclough’s sketchbook. Prior to taking her own life, Hetta (1973-2008) produced a remarkable sketchbook of drawings which take the form of assemblages and visual poems made using handwritten text and materials such as thread, stone and cropped personal photographs. Many of the drawings describe the physical manifestation of anxiety and feelings of self-consciousness. Page by page, Louisa’s interpretation of her sister’s drawings – spoken and sung – becomes the soundtrack to the film.

Shedding

Vicky Smith, Great Britain, 2025, 16 mm, 1.37, black&white, 5', silent

A performance for the Bolex camera in which dimensions of stasis and movement are physically enacted by filming at varying frame rates. A still figure, saturated with light, appears to be highly overexposed. As layers of the image dislodge and peel away it becomes apparent that the exposure is correct, and that actually the brightness is caused through repeated multiple superimpositions.

Oram's Piano

Kathy Hinde, Great Britain, 2026, digital format (shot on na 16 mm), 1.33, colour, 5', no dialogue

This is a new film being made for this film programme and includes photogram and frottage, alongside 16mm footage of Daphne Oram's piano and tower folly.

“My work grows from a partnership between nature and technology expressed through audio-visual installations and performances that combine sound, sculpture, image and light. I frequently work in collaboration with other practitioners and scientists and often actively involve the audience in the process. Drawing on inspiration from behaviours and phenomena found in the natural world, I create work that is generative; that evolves; that can be different each time it is experienced.” - K.H.

Forest Coal Pit

Siôn Marshall Waters, Great Britain, 2021, digital format (shot on 8 mm), 1.37, colour, 14', Slovenian video subtitles

Two elderly brothers live together on a small farm in Forest Coal Pit. This super 8 mm portrait explores the mundanity, vibrancy and intimacy of their relationship and hyperlocal world. As they feed their livestock, tend to their garden, the brothers discuss elephants in China, lobster fisherman, ghosts and each other.

The Covers Are The Eyelids

Dani Landau, Sanja Sarman, Madhuja Mukherjee, Anouk Hoogendoorn, Josh Wagner, Great Britain, 2022, digital format, colour, 6'20'', Slovenian video subtitles

The Covers Are the Eyelids was made using a method of projecting moving images onto objects and then re-filming the projections. The method of synthesis of components is made visible as the multiple layers can be seen simultaneously. This layering through a video projection method was used to combine components made by practitioners from diverse disciplines. The combination of components is a creative event that results in the frames towards the completed film. The film could be written about in many ways. This text concentrates on the layering-in because this filmmaking method produced a mode of collaborative practice.

Ripple Effect‍ ‍

Niyaz Saghari, Great Britain, 2023, digital format (shot on S8 mm), 1.37, black&white, 9', no dialogue

The video of a young man who was executed in Iran in 2020 went viral a few days after his death. He ran in slow motion and dived in a pool. Like an act of preservation, Niyaz Sghari films the video with a Super 8 camera. The camera becomes a tool for magnifying and grieving.

The program was curated by members of the BEFF collective—Bristol Experimental Expanded Film.
There will be an introduction before the screening.