Season's Greetings from Close Watch

2016 has been a year for cinema marked by death. Christmas is shadowed by the passing of Michele Morgan (1920-2016). On another Christmas, already a quarter of a century ago, as a young teenager I received the (much nagged for!) gift of three recently released VHS tapes of French poetic realist films from the '30s. One of these was, of course, Quai des brumes and my consciousness was all set to merge with the atmosphere, aesthetics and sweet despair of these films. Some rare works of art can change you as a human being, cause you to grow. But even rarer are those that you feel were already somehow inside you: the confirmation and recognition of some sort of feeling or suspicion now given form. Discovering Antonioni was such an encounter, Ruiz another. Films we are waiting for. These three French movies also. I never got over them and I never will. And implicit in this admission is the fact that I never got over Michele Morgan...  

But cinema is, after all, death work and it is still very much alive: changing, shifting, mutating, becoming harder to grasp by the minute. Close Watch faces 2017 with exhilaration in the face of a whole slate of exciting projects. Signing off for now, but check back in after the new year for further adventures... And have a great Christmas, one and all.    

Introduction Text for Keimena @ documenta 14

I've contributed an introductory text to CAMP's documentary From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf that was broadcast on Greek TV on December 19th as part of this remarkable documenta 14 project curated by Hila Peleg and Vassily Bourikas:

Keimena: a documenta 14 Film Program on ERT2.

Mondays at midnight from December 19, 2016 to September 18, 2017 Keimena is a weekly broadcast of films presented by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), and organized by documenta 14. By relying for its presentation on ERT, Greece’s public television broadcaster, the project aims to extend documenta 14’s scope into viewers’ homes, imagining and constituting new and different publics. Keimena’s program focuses on the fields of experimental documentary and fiction, presenting films whose approaches and topics engage social, political, and poetic concerns and whose concepts, themes, and positions are in dialogue with the overall curatorial visions of documenta 14.

Television, both public and private, is a key factor in Greece’s recent history and development. Its important role in mediating and reflecting upon the country’s current socio-economic predicament cannot be overstated. Despite suffering severe budget cuts which affected its operability, ERT remains the official “public” medium, especially in Greece’s collective consciousness; ERT’s controversial closure in 2013 as part of austerity measures generated immediate and extensive protests nationwide.

EFS @ Berlin Experimental Film Festival

There will be a strong Experimental Film Society presence in the first edition of the Berlin Experimental Film Festival (December 17-18). The official selection features films by Rouzbeh Rashidi, Atoosa Pour Hosseini, Michael Higgins, Jann Clavadetscher and me as well as a live performance by Vicky Langan.

Light / Sound

A huge thank you to all who helped make the Light/Sound event such a good one, especially the participants - as depicted above: Mick O'Shea, Rouzbeh Rashidi, Paul Hegarty, Karen Power, Vicky Langan, Atoosa Pour Hosseini and your sincerely. Photography by Natasha Bourke.