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Animation Art Immersive Movies Shorts

Water Body

Water Body

Artists / Directors – Barney Steel, Ersin Han Ersin, Robin McNicholas – 2026 – UK – 25m

*****

A sensory experience centred around a moving image of the Thames as part of the global water network based on data sets – installation at St. Martin-in-the-Fields crypt 12:30-21:00 hours from Saturday, October 3rd to Sunday, October 18th as part of the London Film Festival’s LFF Expanded strand

A little waiting area shows a series of hand-crafted hangings by artist Elena Landinez showing various river tributaries before you enter the experience space proper. Before entering that space, you are alerted to the fact that the experience includes a total blackout section, also that there are pottery vessels handmade by ceramicist Ludmilla Balkis inside the space for you to take containing water that was cloud some two weeks ago, from which you can drink. Seating is mostly bean bags on the floor, and a single row of conventional seating at the back.

So I’m sitting on a seat at the back – or is it the back? – not really knowing what to expect. The lights go down: total blackout. All around me, sounds. (These started, I think, before the blackout, as if little rivulets of water were running somewhere.)… Read the rest

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Documentary Features Live Action Movies

South

Director – Frank Hurley – 1919, Restoration 2022 – UK – Cert. U – 81m

*****

One of the earliest documentaries ever made charts British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s disastrous expedition to the South Pole – out in cinemas on Friday, January 28th

Made over one hundred years ago, and one of the first feature documentaries, this record of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 expedition to the South Pole on his ship The Endeavour proves fascinating on a number of levels. It comes from a time when the cinema was in its infancy: film stock was monochrome, sound film was still a decade away. A time when large parts of the world remained unexplored, when the new cinema audiences could be attracted by real life tales of faraway, unknown lands. A time when Britain still considered itself one of the great world powers, largely on account of its Empire and maritime achievements.

Taking a camera on an expedition to the South Pole perfectly fits these last two ideas. And because shooting film was at this point in history unencumbered by the additional equipment required to record sound, it could be as simple as one person such as Frank Hurley joining an expedition as a photographer or cinematographer.… Read the rest