Its not been easy but here is just a taste of some of the work created through Film Oxford over the last 30 years. Also check out all of the special ‘Celebrating 30 Years’ events below alongside the latest PRESS RELEASE
Film Oxford is 30!
2016 marks the 30th Anniversary of Film Oxford – Oxford’s flagship centre for Film and Digital media. To celebrate this milestone we are running a series of 5 Special Anniversary events between October and December 2016 at top venues across Oxford.
1 – Moving Borders
Poppadom Pictures @ Pegasus.
Friday 7th October: 5.00 – 9.30pm
An evening of film around themes of prejudice, difference and moving borders explored through a compelling children’s story for our younger audience Ernest and Celestine (5.00pm), followed by a short experimental film about the experiences of a young Kurdish refugee living in Oxford ‘Not Just War’ and Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (7.30pm) a ground breaking BBC documentary, broadcast over the summer, about migration. Following the screening there will be a Q+A with Oxford based filmmaker James Bluemel who directed the Exodus series.
Poppadom Pictures started as a local ‘cinema and curry’ at Film Oxford for residents around Howard Street. Offering a children’s film followed by curry (supplied by our local Nepalese restaurant – The Everest) and then a later adult film. From these beginnings the group has gone onto run filmmaking workshops, bring in directors to talk about their films and expand their footprint through outdoor screenings in Rose Hill and Florence Park.
2 – Creative Bridges
The Shadowlight Artists @ Modern Art Oxford
Tuesday 11 – Sunday 16 October (Tues – Sat 11.00am – 6.00pm, Sun 12.00 – 5.00pm)
Film Oxford presents a body of new work by the Shadowlight Artists, an independent group of six artists with learning disabilities based in Oxfordshire. Working in a variety of media but with a shared interest in digital forms, their work is personal, moving and at times challenging. The group presents work spanning sculptural installation, painting and theatrical production alongside digital media, and encompassing subjects ranging from urban regeneration to our neolithic ancestry.
Through this body of work we are offered a glimpse into the lives of six talented individuals setting out to challenge perceptions of learning disability.
https://www.filmoxford.org/shadowlight-artists/
https://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/event/film-oxford-shadowlight-artists/
Shadowlight Artists, running since 2008, is an independent group of artists with learning disabilities supported by Film Oxford. Nurtured by the Arts Council over the years Shadowlight has become a beacon of successful inclusive art with its emphasis on co-creation – working with other artists with and without disabilities.
3 – Say it with an e Card! Electronic Christmas greeting workshops
The Digital Youth @ Bodleian Weston Library
Friday 25th Nov (6.00 – 9.00) and Saturday 26th (11.00am – 4.00pm)
As part of Oxford City Council Christmas Lights festival Film Oxford Digital Youth offer young and old the opportunity to create their own animated digital messages at the new Bodleian extension on Broad Street. Come along, be inspired and get creative – and then ‘send’ to your nearest and dearest. Workshops are open to all and free!
Film Oxford Digital Youth have been around for 4 years supporting the next generation of filmmakers and digital creators through a series of projects in the community. Films on safe ‘wild swimming’, eating healthily, and bullying as well as multi screen arts projections have all formed part of their journey over the last 2 years. Many have gone onto Film School whilst others work as freelancers or have set up their own companies.
4 – Elstree 1976
Film Oxford @ Ultimate Picture Place
Wed 30th November – 6.30pm
Elstree 1976 is a feature-length documentary looking at the lives of the people behind the masks and beneath the helmets in the original Star Wars movie. Over the summer of 1976, a wide array of North American and British actors, along with an inexhaustible supply of film extras, donned crazy costumes and headgear to populate George Lucas’s universe. Few of them understood what the film even was, let alone the impact it would go on to have culturally on a global basis. Filmmaker Jon Spira has tracked a cross section of these people down and explored the bizarre community they have formed, to find out what it means to exist in the shadow of such a phenomenon.
Director Jon Spira did his first course at Film Oxford when he was 14 and from that point wanted to make films. After Scottish Film School he returned to Oxford where he started writing screenplays for TV whilst developing new film and screenwriting courses through Film Oxford. With support of Film Oxford he produced his first independent documentary ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’ about the Oxford music scene over the last 40 years. He met Hank Starrs, his producer, at Film Oxford whilst Hank was directing/producing ’Banger’ for Carlton TV in 2000.
5 – Finale Celebration
Festive Special @ The Bullingdon
14 December – 8.30 – midnight
A mix of past, present and future as Film Oxford celebrates 30 years at the heart of independent filmmaking in Oxford. Come along and get a sound and visual taste of some of the ground breaking films, projects and festivals that have been nurtured through Film Oxford since 1986. Also find out more about what is happening today and plans for the future – meet the people behind Open Screen, Digital Youth, Shadowlight Artists, Poppadom Pictures, Screenwriters @ Film Oxford, the Digital Creatives and more.
A Community of Filmmakers. Filmmaking is a collaborative process and a key element in the success of Film Oxford over the years has been in its ability to bring people with a passion for film and digital art together. Volunteers at Film Oxford have been instrumental in building new platforms to develop and create work, screen and exhibit work or simply explore the latest technologies. This evening will be a celebration of their continuing commitment to film in the city.
