FLUX Moving Image Festival Turns International.
In early 2020, Film Oxford had to put a halt on all their practical project work with young people due to coronavirus restrictions. This included their innovative FLUX Moving Image project.
FLUX is a new platform bringing together artists from diverse disciplines to create new moving image work together; while supporting young creatives on vital work placements.
Images from FLUX 2019 project.
During the first lockdown, Film Oxford were thankful to receive an emergency grant from Arts Council England. This enabled them to bring their staff back from furlough to support young people remotely and connect with the creative communities. The idea was to create a small Moving Image Festival online under the FLUX umbrella. As cinemas, theatres and galleries closed their doors, this free festival aimed to support artists, animators, dancers and poets by showcasing and promoting their work digitally to new audiences.
From a small idea to a big success…
Through the wide reach of social media, the digital festival opened-up entries to film makers across the world receiving submissions from USA, Japan, Germany, Spain and Brazil. ‘The FLUX festival started as a small idea. We did not envisage that it would grow to be an international festival bringing together a community of moving image artists worldwide.’ Nicola Josse, filmmaker & FLUX Founder.
The winner of the Audience Choice Dance Film Award was ‘Knowing togetherness’ created by the dancers from ‘SLiDE project an inclusive dance company based in Croydon;
‘FLUX helped SLiDE tremendously over the summer and gave our dancers a huge sense of achievement during such a difficult time. We were so thrilled to be part of a high-quality film festival with entries from around the world. Film is a great medium for our work and means we can reach a wide, global audience. We have been inspired to make more films as a result of being part of FLUX and we are so grateful to Film Oxford for making this happen’. Gemma Coldicott, Artisitic Director of SLiDE.
Good Timing…
As the festival ran during August and September, many of the film submissions had been created during the early part of the global lockdown and showcased how artists have adapted to new ways of working. The entries demonstrated how many artists are now using the medium of the moving image to express their reflections of our changing world and share their ideas digitally.
The Lockdown films
Best of the Fest Winner João Bacelar created a gigantic coronavirus molecule drifting through the empty streets of Lisbon in ‘COVID Blues’. In ‘Infodemic’, created by Derek Curry & Jennifer Gradecki, celebrities and social media influencers morph together spreading misinformation about the pandemic; a sharp contrast to the quiet internal reflections of ‘Lockdown Whispers’ by Van Bui. Artist Claudia Figueiredo invites us to join her in an alternative sensory mediation ‘Love Yourself’, while dancers Izzy Caterhill, Anna Watkins and the SLiDE project, created new performances in accessible locations. (See links to all the films in the festival below.)
The Awards & Winners. On 4th September 2020 we held our FLUX Awards Ceremony online with hosts Nicola Josse (FLUX founder) and filmmaker Andi Reiss. Audience members voted for their favourite films from each category online before the festival.
Film Oxford plans to fundraise to continue the FLUX residency project throughout 2021 to continue to support young people on work placements. If you require any further information on the project, please contact nicola@filmoxford.org
By Sarah Halliday Writer & Designer
The Winning Films…
Best of the Fest & Best Animation : Covid Blues by João Bacelar
Best Lockdown Film Award : Judges Pick : I Lost Myself by Izzy Catterill
Best Experimental Docu: What I Eat in a Society of the Spectacle By Roísín Anderson
Best Spoken Word film : Decoys by Audrey Thevenin
Best Artist Film : The Painting in the Lobby by Mycle Scheuer
Best Dance Film : Knowing Togetherness by SLiDE
Other films from the festival:
Follow us on instagram @flux.moving & Twitter @Flux_moving to keep in the FLUX loop.
Editors notes
FLUX Residency Project 2019
In our first year, 2019, we ran a pilot residency with film artist Nicola Josse, dancer Anna Watkins and sound artist Nicholas O’Brien who together created the dance film Mortelle. The project also recruited 12 young people to hands-on work placements; they were responsible for all the behind the scenes work including social media, production design, photography, graphics creation, technical support and events management.
Film Oxford
Film Oxford is a film and creative arts charity, based in East Oxford, which has been providing training and activities for over 30 years. We have had great success in running community projects with local & national partners. We attract people from all over the UK and beyond, and also support local filmmakers, artists, digital creators and young people through a programme of training, creative support, networking and exhibition: Learn, Network, Create and Exhibit.
Film Oxford works with complete beginners, emerging talent, artists and industry professionals and is committed to supporting socially and economically marginalised groups. We are a non-profit company and registered charity (1041014) which has run under several different names – and at other premises – since 1975.