Thursday 27 May 2010

Running parallel to the Tricycle Theatre's focus on women in British politics, the extraordinarily lovely Tricycle Cinema are running a Women, Power and Politics Film Festival from 13th June to 27th June.


The Cinema will screen international documentaries with discussions, debates and Q&As celebrating politicised women and the grassroots campaigns that have united them in their struggles for change globally.

It's an amazing programme of inspiring docs from around the world.

Check out the full programme here: www.tricycle.co.uk/festivals/women-power-and-politics-film-festival/

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Two opportunities from Britdoc - get busy!

1. The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program announce the call for entries for the 2010 edition of the Good Pitch UK


The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP) are delighted to announce the second edition of the Good Pitch UK will be held in London on September 6 & 7th 2010.


The Good Pitch brings together inspiring social-purpose film projects and a group of expert participants from charities, foundations, brands and media to form powerful alliances around groundbreaking films. ‘It’s a perfect marriage. NGOs get access to some of the world’s best filmmakers, and filmmakers get access to research, distribution and funding.’ The Guardian.   
The call for film projects is now open – deadline 28th June, 2010.  For more information, trailer and to apply visit http://britdoc.org/goodpitch
For more information contact: elise@britdoc.org


2. Films For Good Workshop - 23rd-25th July - Call for Applicants

The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Working Films UK are delighted to announce the third annual Films for Good Workshop weekend. Follow in the footsteps of hard-hitting, powerful films and previous workshop alumni - Sundance and Berlin Winner Wasteland, the Inconvenient Truth of the seas End of the Line and cinema hit and surveillance sensation Erasing David.



Join this inspiring and informative weekend workshop designed to create campaigns and identify a range of potential outreach partners - including leading non-profits and social entrepreneurs as well as corporate and branding agencies.

The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Working Films designed this workshop to create effective strategic outreach campaigns around documentary films. Working Films co-founders Robert West and Judith Helfand and their team have masterminded campaigns behind feature docs such as Rory Kennedy's Emmy Award-winning The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and Helfand's Everything's Cool resulting in significant shifts in the marketplace, public and political opinion in the US. Working Films' new full-time partnership with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation brings this high-level expertise to the UK filmmaking community.
Applications Close: Monday 28 June, 2010

For information and to apply – 
http://britdoc.org/real_good/filmsforgood
For further information, contact Sarah Mosses sarahm@britdoc.org

Thursday 6 May 2010

Branchage at Sexbeat - part of Stag & Dagger

As part of the astoundingly good line up at this year's multi-venue extravaganza Stag & Dagger, Branchage is joining forces with Sexbeat (well if you can't sexbeat 'em, join 'em eh?) to add film and visuals to five hot live bands.  The chosen filmmakers all have connections with Branchage (like they've had work screened at the festival, or they've had a hand in running it at some stage... that kinda thing).

If you're not familiar with Stag & Dagger, it's a 'one-ticket-gives-access-to-all' annual festival taking place in London on Friday 21st May.  Your ticket gives you access to 20 official venues around East London where you'll find over 100 of the best new live music acts, djs, art shows and film screenings.  The full line-up's amazing... but don't go to any of that stuff, come to Cafe 1001 off Brick Lane for Branchage's bit.  It'll blow your socks off, quite literally.*

* not literally.


To entice you to come down to see Sexbeat (and Branchage) at Cafe 1001, here's the tantalizing list of live bands and filmmakers who will be providing your aural and visual pleasure...

Pulled Apart By Horses - filmmaker Carla MacKinnon

Banjo or Freakout - filmmakers Helena & Jake Astbury

Tweakbird - filmmakers Gemma Atkinson & Fred Grace

Friendship - filmmaker Kate Jessop

Wax Fang - filmmaker Bella Fenning

Quite simply, it's going to be aces.  There's biogs of each of the filmmakers on the facebook event page if you'd like to know more.

Stag & Dagger tickets are available from www.seetickets.com here - and remember, one ticket gets you into all the venues that night.  Here's a tip: buy your ticket online in advance, because it's cheaper than buying on the door.

x

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Potato Salad Contest: RECIPE 11 - Dawne Langford (TV editor and food enthusiast)

And one for good luck...

Here's some tips from across the atlantic...

'THE AMERICAN'

Boil some Jersey Royals
Cube them
Stay away from nasty mayo and use things like dijon mustard, cider vinegar, curry powder
Have crunchy things in it because too much mushy texture is gnar-gnar
Crunchy things include fried capers, pickles that have been diced, cucumber, pretzels? evil hot peppers
Fresh herbs are also tasty in potato salad
And a tip... soak the potatoes overnight in water with bouillon

Potato Salad Contest: RECIPE 10 - Simon Chambers (Filmmaker)

From the wonderful Simon Chambers.  We call this recipe...

'THE DOCUMENTARIST'


Put a splash of oil in a pan and fry up some turmeric powder and coriander seeds or any other spices that you fancy - just for about 20 seconds. 
Add boiled potatoes and any other cooked veggies that you like. You could put onions or garlic if you want.



Potato Salad Contest: RECIPE 9 - Melissa Hogenboom (Journaliste)



"JERSEYLICIOUS"


Green beans
Sweetcorn
Bacon
Red onion
Fresh dill

Mmmmmmmm.



Monday 3 May 2010

Potato Salad Contest: RECIPE 8 - Emma Rozanski (Filmmaker)


'ANTIPODEAN POTATO SALAD'


5 Large Potatoes
3 or 4 Green Apples
A few large sticks of Celery
5 or 6 hard-boiled Eggs
Mayonnaise

Boil potatoes (peel if desired) and leave to cool. Hard boil eggs, peel and leave to cool.
When the above are cool to the touch, chop potatoes into small chunks. Slice Eggs.
Peel and chop apples (similar size to potatoes). Chop celery into small bits.
Mix all ingredients into large bowl. Add and stir in mayo to taste.

Mighty fine I say!

Saturday 1 May 2010

Potato Salad Contest: RECIPE 7 - Ben Blaine (Charlie Productions)


'POMME ON POMME DE TERRE'


For reasons of health and safety I had to eat sausages last night so I made up this recipe to go with them. On the grounds that sausages like apples I threw caution to the wind and this is roughly what happened.

Boil a bag of Jersey Royal potatoes exactly as it says on the back, bringing them to the boil and then simmering for 15 minutes. 15 minutes feels like 5 weeks but it's surprisingly perfect.

Meanwhile peel and core an apple and cut it into chunks. I used a Braeburn but anything with a bit of bite will do. But if you bring any Pink Lady to the table I'll know and there'll be trouble. I once went to an food related event where the people responsible for the Pink Lady apple were selling the damn things out of a bright pink mini. They were all dressed in pink. And they were ladies. It was a glimpse into a nightmarish vision of my own private five-a-day hell. So anyway, you've peeled an apple.

Add some salad leaves. I'd like to pretend that I went out into the garden and plucked them fresh. I got them from a bag. I don't even know what they all were though there was definitely some Rosso action on the lettuce front. To be honest I don't think they're that essential to this salad but there was only a few left and if I didn't eat them now I'd have to throw them away or give them to the rabbits and the have an entire garden to eat as it is.

Right, now comes the one bit I was proud of. I took a quantity of dried rosemary, an amount of maldon rock salt (yes Jenny, you're dead right, it does matter), an amount of black pepper corns and a clove of raw garlic and I put them all in a pestle and ground them into a paste. My only recollection of quantities was - much more than I intended (rosemary), a fair amount for a man who likes a lot of black pepper (black pepper), as much as my heart and my conscience will allow (salt) and a very small one (garlic).

To this divinely scented paste I added a teaspoon of Taylors Original English Mustard and a tablespoon of Mayonnaise. 

I then put all of those things together with the drained potatoes and discovered that I'd burnt the sausages. This though actually worked in my favour because it made the whole thing smell and taste like the most perfect first barbecue of the year. Smokey, sweet, tangy and hearty it was the perfect thing to eat on a spring evening that had turned surprisingly cold.

Then Polly the dog caught a rabbit in the garden and would not be deterred from eating it inside. Oh yeah, said her dark little eyes as she glared at me from over the corpse of her velveteen victim, two can play at this cooking shit. I call this Lapin Al Fresco...

(For decency's sake I've photographed only my dinner, not the dog's)


Potato Salad Contest: RECIPE 6 - FleaCircusDir (Animator)

'POT-O-CHIVE'

New potatoes
Mayo
Freshly cut chives from the garden

boom