Guest blogger: Salthouse 09 by Daniel Bell

The annual exhibition of contemporary art at Salthouse Church in North Norfolk, this year carries the theme of ‘Salt of the Earth’. Curated by Simon Martin the show features the work of 50 artists with a Norfolk connection, encompassing painting, printmaking, ceramics, film and installation.

The exhibition touches on the biblical metaphor of ‘salt of the earth’ with drawings and sound recordings for example that tell the stories of archetypal honest country folk. Predominantly though, the theme is explored in more literal terms, with work that looks at the local landscape, the marshes and the sea, often using salt as a material (crystallized, carved, ground or polished). Interestingly, many of the pieces use the earth as a starting point to venture into more celestial imagery and ideas. Ian Starsmore’s installation (A Step at a Time) for instance is a peculiar assortment of carved ladders, poetry and etchings – all on a very small scale, but spiraling upwards past floor, windows and walls. Jane Wheeler’s hand-built vessels are similarly ethereal, using earthy materials to create curious-looking implements that relate to such ‘rituals’ as Fermentation, Preservation and Fertilization.

Even Brian Whelan’s religious paintings (You are the Salt of the Earth – The Light of the World) look exotic and almost otherworldly with their dazzling colours and intricate configuration. There is further humour in Colin Self’s playful collage The Fishy Tale of the Battered Wife, complimented by more solemn elements such as his delicately detailed etchings of dead birds. Wildlife, earth, ocean and weather feature strongly in Salthouse 09, and they are all distilled most succinctly in Jo Hincks’ linocuts that hang in a column reaching high into the church. Like a lot of the work in the show they use stark symbolism and a high level of craft to explore very down-to-earth struggles.

For me, it has been a chance to exhibit somewhere far away from a typical gallery or cinema, and with my video installation in the church pulpit I have experimented with my take on a uniquely changeable rural landscape.

Salthouse 09

Kinofilm Call for Entries

The 11th edition of the KINOFILM Festival will take place in Manchester from 23-28 February 2010, as a European Short Film Festival and invites submissions from all over Europe including former Eastern Europe and Baltic States.

Kinofilm has a unique reputation for showcasing the best short films from around the world, whilst being renowned for seeking out diverse, challenging and groundbreaking new film. The festival maintains a high standard with many European & International award-winning shorts featuring in the Festival but also includes special programmes in low/no budget shorts, students shorts and underground cinema, giving new and emerging filmmakers the opportunity to have their work screened alongside that or critically acclaimed, established short filmmakers.

Though the 2010 festival focuses on Europe there will be a limited number of entries considered from non-European countries for award-winning films or for those of outstanding merit, for a special International showcase.

Main categories include:
short drama, animation, experimental, digital shorts, Documentary, Romantic Tales, Cinema Extreme, Comedy, Horror, Fantasy & Sci-fi, Erotica, music videos, Lesbian & Gay, Polish Cinema, and Bluefire (Kino's Black and Asian section), however, the Festival welcomes shorts of any type and genre. The festival will also feature a youth and community led film event and welcomes submissions from those working with youth based organisations.

Submissions Requirements:
Short films should be no longer than 25 mins (except documentaries which will be allowed up to 35 mins) and must be made within the last 18 months prior to the festival. The festival does not have a premiere policy but there is a small entry fee from £5.00 to submit a film. There will be a extended deadline for late submissions to the 30th September though this will incur a higher submission fee of £15. Distributors, agencies and educational institutions are exempt but should contact us first to register the exemption. Please note. Exemptions for filmmakers that submitted to the 2007-8 festival and paid the entry fee of £5 will be able to submit their film free (but must provide their reference number and details of previous entry).

Submissions are open from 1st July closing on 10th September. To submit a film please email the Festival for the festival rules, regulations and procedures and application form: info@kinofilm.com

MeetMarket submissions for Sheffield Doc/Fest now open – artists welcome

Sheffield Doc/Fest invites submissions from artists working in single-screen and/or cross-platform/interactive media, to our flagship documentary and cross-platform marketplace pitching event, MeetMarket.

MeetMarket is Doc/Fest's pitching initiative designed to match documentary makers' most innovative project ideas with UK and international buyers. MeetMarket generated £7.5m in negotiation in 2008, with the one-on-one matchmade personalised format meaning you can discuss your project creatively in detail with specialist funders and commissioners, and without the usual pressure in public pitches of pitching to a large room of people. Artists should be making work which in some way fits the category of documentary/factual in subject. Although no financing needs to have been secured already, projects will be favoured which are at an advanced stage of research and development, if not in production, with projects having being developed beyond a conceptual proposal.

At MeetMarket, buyers, commissioners, funders and executive producers from broadcast, cinema, internet, mobile and beyond view online one-minute pitch teasers of innovative documentary ideas, along with one-page treatments, in advance of Doc/Fest. From this, they select which projects they would like to discuss in one-to-one meetings at MeetMarket. Projects can be in development, production or post-production, and cross-platform projects are also very welcome. MeetMarket will give artists an opportunity to present new projects to funders and commissioners from across the spectrum of the documentary and art worlds.

Participants to pitch to comprise major international factual funders, including Wellcome Trust, ICA, Tate Media, Channel 4, BBC, ITVS, Arte France, ARTE GEIE, Sundance Institute, Britdoc, ZDF, AVRO, Cinereach, NPS, RTE, ARD, YLE, and over 80 more.

Also at Sheffield Doc/Fest will be a special conference session and networking event on the meeting of factual and documentary production and artists film and video. This will be for documentary producers, artist filmmakers, documentary and web funders, and anyone else interested in this crossover area. It is strongly recommend artists attending Sheffield Doc/Fest participate in this session, at which there will be excellent networking opportunities to meet the documentary community.

Applying to MeetMarket is an online submissions process, and more information can be found here.

Artists are welcome and ecouraged to contact MeetMarket producer Charlie Phillips in advance of applying for full advice by emailing Charlie@sidf.co.uk

Deadline for submitting to MeetMarket is strictly Friday 4th September.

Internships available at Animate Projects

Animate Projects is currently looking for two part-time volunteer interns: one to assist with marketing, the other to help with production and distribution.

If you’re interested in finding out more, check out the Opportunities section of animateprojects.org.

Deadline for applications: 24 July.

Engine: moving image transmission

We are excited to announce that in the autumn we'll be launching Engine. It's a new online channel for debate and discussion across a broad range of moving image practice, and from a range of perspectives. It will be a place in which to encounter and engage with different creative and critical ideas, that encourages comment and discussion.

We will have vodcasts and interviews with artists, filmmakers, producers and curators, as well as movers, shakers, and policy makers. We’ll have lots of opinion and ideas, and a film or two too.

To celebrate the launch of Engine we’ll be hosting a special event at onedotzero’s Adventures in Motion at the BFI Southbank in September.

Engine is supported by UK Film Council's Publications Fund.

AnimateTV: suspended animation

We are very sorry to say that there will not be an AnimateTV Open Call for UK artists and animators this year. Channel 4’s arts commissioning is on hold, but we are pursuing other funding possibilities with Arts Council England.

If you think AnimateTV should continue, we would really like to hear from you - via this short survey. It will only take a couple of minutes, and it could really help support the argument that the scheme should continue. Many thanks.