London College of Communication blog

A 30-minute documentary directed and produced by London College of Communication (LCC) MA Documentary Film graduate, Holly Cocker, was last week shown on BBC1, BBC2 and CBBC. Part of the critically-acclaimed My Life series, the film explores the lives, thoughts and feelings of five children born 10 years ago in America on 9/11.

Johnny in Montana

Throughout the film the children talk about what it’s like to have a birthday on a day that nobody feels like having a party, the impact of the events of 9/11 on their families and how being born on this unforgettable date has already affected their lives.

Cocker decided to make the film following the tragic death of Christina Taylor, a victim of the 2011 Arizona shootings who was born on 9/11 and featured in the book Faces of Hope. Cocker says: “…I wondered what the others were up to and whether their birth date had affected their lives in any way.”

After coming up with the idea, Cocker carried out extensive research and self-funded a taster tape in America. She pitched the tape to various TV channels before the BBC commissioned it.

Lexi in Kansas

The film has been chosen as ‘Pick of the Day’ in The Sunday Times, The Mirror and The Daily Record, My Birthday Shook the World is available on BBCiPlayer until 3 April.

Read an interview with Holly Cocker on our website.

For the first time four research disciplines taught within London College of Communication (LCC) are brought together in one PhD exhibition, ‘Research in progress: pushing boundaries and practises’.

The exhibition is a celebration of interdisciplinarity and the coming together of different artistic practices in one event. Nineteen students will be exhibiting a variety of different works in areas of film, photography, design and sound arts from 3rd to 16th March with a Private View on Friday 2 March.

Author: Rosalind Fowler, 3rd year full-time (Film)

Filmic installations will explore topics related to archive, space, place and belonging. Rosalind Fowler, 3^rd year Film student showcases work that comprises extracts from a feature length documentary currently in production. She says: “It is about performative folk traditions, senses of place and belonging in England, from the perspective of a fictional female character living in the city. The research is strongly informed by ideas surrounding experimental and auto-ethnography, phenomenological experience and the embodied camera.”

Author: Corinne Silva, 3rd year full-time PhD student (Photography)

In photography, images deal with issues of memory, domestic space, geo-politics and identity. Third year Photography student, Corinne Silva, tells us about her work: “The landscapes of southern Spain and northern Morocco share many geographical features including climate, flora and fauna, as well as a history of trade, migration and invasion. To consider these interconnected Mediterranean landscapes I photographed northern Morocco landscapes and then installed three of these images on billboards in Murcia, Spain. The act of placing one landscape inside another – the southern hemisphere into the northern – creates a space to contemplate not only their shared topography but also the complex web of their ongoing connections of mobility and colonisation.”

Author: Francico Laranjo, 2nd year Full-time (Design)

Design students will showcase various works related to data visualization, space and branding, screen typography, and communication design. Franciso Laranjo, a 2^nd year Design student explains his research: “The Architecture of Gambling is an unfinished project that seeks to analyse and map visual tactics used by aggressive ‘brand-led businesses’ that occupy a significant part of today’s urban landscapes. They have been contaminating public space with promiscuous and obsessive relations with sports and finance whilst operating in tax havens such as Gibraltar, Isle of Man or Malta.”

Author: Mark Jackson, 5th year part-time (Sound)

Sound arts students showcase audio compositions and sound experiments who address issues of listening, performance, radio art, and the relationship between sound and light. Fifth year student Sound, Mark Jackson, tells about his work: “Exteriorisation Exercise #2: Playback Experiment #2 is the orchestration of a William S. Buroughs ‘playback’ experiment. It consists of individuals visiting the exhibition over the course of its run to covertly record and replay the exhibition’s audial environment with different generations of audio technology. The recording devices will not be visible and the data recorded will be played back at a level potentially indistinguishable from ambient noise. The exercise is a re-imagining of paranormal acts of metaphysical sabotage and the perversion of a not-art proposition. Potentially indistinguishable from its absence, it may nonetheless incite instances of interference, distraction and delusion.”

Download the exhibition catalogue that accompanies the exhibition.

Pratap Rughani, Course Director of LCC’s MA Documentary Film course, is Co-Investigator of the AHRC Artists’ Moving Image Research Network. The network is hosting an international group of historians, theorists, critics, curators and practitioners, who debate issues of contemporary relevance to the theory and practice of artists’ moving image. The third debate, ‘Documentary & Ethnographic Avant-Garde’, is scheduled for 25 January and is hosted by the CCW Graduate School and LCC, both part of the University of the Arts London.

The debates have shaped the publishing of the Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), a peer-reviewed publication devoted to artists’ film and video, and its contexts. The next issue will be published later in 2012 and features themed articles on ‘Documentary & Ethnographic Avant-Garde’.

Rughani, documentary filmmaker, journalist and artist says: “In the lead up to the next episode of this Journal, network members will discuss the most pressing issues that will set the terms of debate, and give it the momentum and backing it needs to make an ongoing contribution to knowledge.”

The Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ) is published twice a year in collaboration with the University of the Arts London. MIRAJ offers a widely distributed international forum for debates surrounding all forms of artists’ moving image and media artworks.

More information about the network and the journal can be found on their website.

Since the last MA Documentary postgraduate shows in November 2011, three documentaries made by LCC graduates definitely turned some heads in the film world.

The film ‘Romanian Monarchy’ by alumna Nora Angeleshku has been bought by Romanian TV.

Chloe White’s film ‘This Life That Chose Me’ on transgender life has been picked up by the British Shorts Film Festival in Berlin.

Anahi Aradas’ film ’Indign@dos’ has been shortlisted to be screened at the Student Film Festival London taking place from 3rd to 5th of February 2012.

All filmmakers graduated from the MA Documentary Film course at the College last November.

MA Photography set-up in the Upper Street Gallery

Tomorrow (22 November) sees the opening of LCC’s Media Postgraduate Show. The exhibition, open to the public until 26 November, showcases diverse new work by students graduating from MA Photography, MA Documentary Film and MA Sound Arts.

MA Photography, noted for its experimental and research-based approach to practise, exhibits work by 48 students in the Upper Street, Lower Street, Well, Atrium and Refrectory Galleries. Work on display ranges from still image to video and sculptural installations. You can get a sneak preview of the work via the iPhone and iPad app available at the App store or via their website.

MA Photographers get their hands dirty in the Well Gallery

In the Gallery MA Sound Arts present new works by 15 sound artists. The show, titled Abbey Road and Other Stories, offers an in-depth enquiry into the languages and systems of sound in the arts. It has been curated by Mark Jackson and Morgan Quaintance and supported by the Centre for Creative Research in Sound Arts Practice (CRiSAP). More information about the work can be found on their dedicated exhibition website.

See MA Sound Arts in The Gallery at LCC

Screening in the Podium Lecture Theatre throughout the week are 16 outstanding films by MA Documentary Film students. “The films and subjects are as diverse as the filmmakers experiences themselves”, says Course Director, Pratap Rughani. “Our students have come to the course with a wide range of professional backgrounds. Their stories range from documenting current global issues such as the 15-M movement in Spain, human interest stories in London, a horse racetrack in Kent and from as far as Burma and Romania.”

MA Documentary Film near the Lower Street Gallery

The Media Postgraduate Show is the first of three postgraduate exhibitions showing at LCC until January 2012. From 1 – 8 December postgraduate design students showcase their work in the College Galleries and MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography students will show their work in The Atrium and Upper Street Galleries from 13 Dec – 12 January 2012.

For up to date information about all shows visit  http://bit.ly/pgshowslcc or join the conversation via our Facebook page and tweet us your highlights via #pgshowslcc

Alana McVerry, an MA Documentary Film student has had her graduation film shortlisted in this year’s Grierson Awards.

The film, ‘Words That Echo’ provides an intimate portrait of the lives of three teenagers who are the first generation of teenagers born with HIV.

It looks at how new drugs and technology have allowed them to lead healthy lives but despite this they still live in secrecy and are unable to tell even their closest friends. Alana McVerry says “through their eyes we come face to face with the stigmas of society.”

Shortlisted films are to be judged by a jury of five industry experts made up of documentary makers, broadcasters and critics. They will be looking for evidence of quality, integrity, creativity, originality and overall excellence.

The Grierson awards was established in 1972 and aims to recognise and celebrate documentaries from Britain and abroad. They commemorate pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker, John Grierson, who is known as the father of documentary and famous for films such as Drifters and Night Mail.

Looking for documentaries that have made a significant contribution to the genre and that demonstrate quality, integrity, creativity, originality and overall excellence, the awards are available in a number of categories and is open to first time and student filmmakers.

‘Words that Echo’ was previously premiered at the “British Shorts” film festival in Berlin and was winner of the Short Documentary award at the Indie Festival, USA.

Winners for the Grierson Awards will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will take place on 1 November 2011 at the British Film Institute (BFI) Southbank.

Words by Dominique Major

‘Cueca In London’ by MA Documentary Film graduate Sahba Saberian has been selected for the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF).

Made by Sahba during his MA at LCC, the film documents Chilean expatriates amidst intense rehearsals of the traditional dance Cueca; which, according to this group of friends, is something only their elders would be caught doing back home. The film explores the themes of national identity and patriotism through their eyes.

Now in its fourth year, the LIDF has expanded from a one day event to become the UK’s largest documentary festival, spanning 16 days and showcasing more than 130 works from 36 countries.

The festival will screen films across London from 13 May – 28 May, the screening time and date for ‘Cueca in London’ is to be confirmed, but keep an eye out here for updates.

In the meantime, congratulations Sabah!

We’ve just learned that not one, but two graduate films from the 2010 MA in Documentary Film were premiered at the “British Shorts” film festival in Berlin earlier this year.

Alana McVerry’s documentary Words that Echo and Holly Cocker’s Young, Deaf and CF (featured earlier this month) were among ten documentaries selected for the festival.

We caught up with Alana to find out more about her film, how it felt to show her work for the first time to a new audience and what she’s up to now.

(more…)

Earlier this year, former MA Documentary Film student Holly Cocker, travelled to the “British Shorts” film festival in Berlin to see her graduation film Young, Deaf and CF make its film festival debut.

The 20 minute short, produced as part of Holly’s MA here at LCC, was selected along with ten short documentaries for screening at Berlin’s tallest cinema, Sputnik Kino. Now in its fourth year, “British Shorts”, showcases an eclectic range of British films from documentary to animation.

Directed, filmed and edited by Holly,Young, Deaf and CF tells the story of 25 year-old Cystic Fibrosis sufferer Pete Franklin as he tries to decide whether or not to go through with a double lung transplant that could save his life.

Holly comments on being selected for the festival:

It was a great experience showing my work to a new audience – when I arrived I was told that I had to do a Q&A at the end which was a bit nerve-wracking but it was also really interesting hearing people’s questions and what they thought of the film. Thankfully it went down really well!

This has been a great start to 2011 for Holly, who on the back of this success is hoping to see her film selected for the Sheffield Doc Film Fest. We wish her the best of luck.

If you missed the class of 2010 MA Documentary Film degree show, there is a second chance to see the films at the Barbican on Friday 18 February.

Read a Q&A with Holly on our website

This year sees the first batch of MA Documentary Film students graduate from LCC and their films will be shown at The Podium Lecture Theatre on Thursday 25 November.

Pratap Rughani leads the newly developed course and speaks of the first round of filmmakers. “This is our first postgraduate filmmaking course and the first graduation year have made a fantastic start. The seventeen new films include personal portraits, observational and investigative films, with students exploring stories from organ transplants to paparazzi, filming across the UK and internationally including shoots in Iceland, Turkey, Romania and Ghana.”

The new MA Documentary Film has been as exciting a project to produce as anything I’ve done for BBC TV or Channel 4, with many works achieving film festival or broadcast standard.”

Previews have been aired ahead of the Private View this Thursday, and here are a few to look out for.

In Making Dough Anne Loriot asks five workers from the Old Post Office Bakery in South London, ‘why become a baker?’ The film promises to be revealing and quietly observes themes of capitalism. Personal stories include one man’s bid to ‘banish ambition’ and step off the corporate career ladder. This, original take on a well-worn topic (along with plenty of oddly satisfying bread-kneading imagery) makes for compelling viewing.

Cueca in London by Sahba Saberian also casts a languorous gaze on a pocket of South London life, but an altogether different one. Chilean expatriates are filmed amidst intense rehearsals of the traditional dance Cueca; which, according to this group of friends, is something only their elders would be caught doing back home. The film explores the themes of national identity and patriotism through their eyes.

Some films are even more intimate and focus on an individual’s story: Young, Deaf and CF by Holly Cocker meets 25 year-old Cystic Fibrosis sufferer Pete Franklin as he tries to decide whether or not to go through with a double lung transplant that could save his life. The fact that he has been made deaf due to a hospital blunder makes his decision harder, but ultimately Holly seeks to paint a portrait of “courage, determination and positivity”.

Pratap describes how his “students have really blossomed through the year and developed completely new skills in many areas. Individual graduates develop as rounded documentary filmmakers with skills in research and reflection, shooting, directing and editing. They are guided by some of the key documentary theorists and practitioners in an intensive year.”

He adds, “It’s a great time to launch our first postgraduate films, adding to the strengths of LCC’s practice-MAs.”

Watch all the trailers on Vimeo

More information about the screening is available on our News & Events blog.