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VIVA
B R I G H T O N
#69. NOV 2018
EDITORIAL
...........................
.......................
Viva Magazines is based at:
Lewes House, 32 High St,
Lewes, BN7 2LX.
For all enquiries call:
01273 488882.
Every care has been taken to
ensure the accuracy of our content.
We cannot be held responsible for
any omissions, errors or alterations.
I’m always amazed that movies ever get made.
It’s such a rigmarole. First, you’ve got to write
the thing and then find the funding to make it.
There’s casting, and planning the shoot: the hair,
the makeup, the costumes and those tricky location
logistics. Then all that post-production wizardry:
the editing, the sound track, the special effects…
Every time the credits roll I feel I ought to applaud
the herculean task.
And things were even harder in the pre-digital
movie-making business, before the days of
CGI. Whilst rooting around in The Richard
Attenborough archive this month, we found a call
sheet for the funeral scene in Gandhi that called
for a crowd of more than 300,000 extras! The
mind boggles. (Although catering were required to
provide breakfast and tea for *only* 5,500.)
With all the effort involved, it would be rude
of us not to spend hours holed up in a darkened
room watching the fruits of those labours. Lucky
then that we have some of the most comfortable
cinemas around, especially if you count the
ultraluxe Depot in Lewes and the Towner’s swanky
new auditorium (both of which host Cinecity
screenings this month).
In case you haven’t guessed yet, this issue is all
about the movies. Who made them first, who
makes them now, and how, just maybe – if a certain
Hove resident spots you on a station platform –
you might end up starring in one yourself.
So, switch your phones to silent, please, sit back
and pass the popcorn.
VIVA
B R I G H T O N
THE TEAM
.....................
EDITOR: Lizzie Lower lizzie@vivamagazines.com
DEPUTY EDITOR: Rebecca Cunningham rebecca@vivamagazines.com
SUB EDITOR: David Jarman
ART DIRECTOR: Katie Moorman katie@vivamagazines.com
PHOTOGRAPHER AT LARGE: Adam Bronkhorst mail@adambronkhorst.com
ADVERTISING: Hilary Maguire hilary@vivamagazines.com,
Sarah Jane Lewis sarah-jane@vivamagazines.com
ADMINISTRATION & ACCOUNTS: Kelly Mechen kelly@vivamagazines.com
DISTRIBUTION: David Pardue distribution@vivamagazines.com
CONTRIBUTORS: Alex Leith, Alexandra Loske, Amy Holtz, Andy Darling, Ben Bailey,
Cammie Toloui, Charlotte Gann, Chloë King, Chris Riddell, JJ Waller, Jacqui Bealing,
Jay Collins, Joda, Joe Decie, John Helmer, John O’Donoghue, Lizzie Enfield, Mark Greco,
Martin Skelton, Michael Blencowe, Nicola Coleby, Nione Meakin and Thomas Dadswell
PUBLISHER: Becky Ramsden becky@vivamagazines.com
Please recycle your Viva (or keep us forever).
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Every purchase supports the work of Glyndebourne
CONTENTS
...............................
Bits & bobs.
10-25. Rebecca Cunningham’s cinematic
curtain call is on the cover; we’re
on location at the Royal Pavilion, and
experimental filmmaker Jeff Keen is on
the buses. Elsewhere, JJ Waller spots
some star potential; Joe Decie shares his
showreel; we’ve cats and kites and khazis,
and much more besides.
Quentin Blake, The World of Hats, mixed media, 2018, © the artist
My Brighton.
26-27. Director and screenwriter Eva Riley
on movie-making and coming home
to Brighton.
Film.
29-35. We swap our photography feature
for film, with a root around in Lord
Attenborough’s Archive, at The Keep.
63
58
Columns.
37-41. Lizzie Enfield turns Wi-Fi
detective; John Helmer takes in a movie
matinee, and Amy Holtz has a theory
about Bradley Cooper.
On this month.
43-59. It’s the 16th edition of the Cinecity
film festival from the 9th until the
25th, so expect all sorts of adventures in
world cinema and a diverse programme
of events, from ACCA to Eastbourne.
Elsewhere, Ben Bailey rounds up the
best of the Brighton gig scene; we meet
the Artistic Director of the Brighton
Early Music Festival, and there’s a
celebration of queer poet Audre Lorde
at ACCA. Plus, Will Gregory geeks out
with his Moog Ensemble at the Dome;
there’s a Numbskulls-esque anatomical
odyssey at TOM; Matthew Floyd Jones
is not quite Richard Carpenter at Komedia,
and we visit an exhibition of movie
memorabilia at Rottingdean Grange.
....7 ....
CONTENTS
...............................
Art & design.
60-73. We get our heads around Psychorealism
at the De La Warr Pavilion; meet
illustrator Ryan Gillett ahead of the Brighton
Illustration Fair, and visit the studio of
ceramicist Yolande Beer. Plus, just some of
what’s on, art-wise, this month.
The way we work.
75-79. Adam Bronkhorst snaps some
cinema sorts.
Food.
81-85. A Saturday lunch to savour at Pascere;
beetroot bourguignon at The Better
Half; Caribbean curry at Irma’s Kitchen
in Kemp Town, and a soupçon of the city’s
food news.
75
Photo by Adam Bronkhorst
82
Photo by Adam Bronkhorst
Features.
87-95. We talk shop with the photographic
film fanatics at Zoingimage; meet a woman
who is casting actors from the street; take
a look back at the city’s first movie-making
pioneers, and meet the latest with a peek
behind the scenes at the Brighton Film
School. Plus, the filmmaker who is helping
to keep the memories of lost faces alive in
the wake of the Rwandan massacre.
Wildlife.
97. The enigmatic otter is caught on camera
in a Sussex waterway.
Inside left.
98. From Swingtime to roundabout. The
Vogue Cinema, 1979.
....8 ....
THIS MONTH’S COVER ARTIST
.......................................................
In January 2014, when I was still editor of
this magazine, I went with art director Katie
Moorman to the University of Sussex to
kick-start a project whereby their final-year
Product Design students designed a cover
for us, with the idea that the best one would
be used to front our March edition (#14).
There were two or three that were good
enough to use. One, however, stood out:
that of Rebecca Cunningham, featuring
three iconic Brighton & Hove buildings in
subtle pastel shades of yellow and blue. It
was, she now tells us, the first time she’d
ever used Photoshop.
The name ‘Rebecca Cunningham’ should
be ringing more than a few bells. We
were so impressed with the cover, and
the way Rebecca presented it, that
we asked her if she’d like to do some
work experience with us, over the
subsequent summer. Within a very
short time she was
on the payroll,
proving herself
an all-rounder
capable of
writing great
stories, taking
fine pictures,
and helping
with the
lay-out and
production of
the pages. She
eventually rose
to Deputy Editor
of both Viva
Brighton and its
viva
brighton
ISSUE#
march 2O14
The Brighton Centre
Hove
Museum
sister publication, Viva Lewes.
Four-and-a-bit years, and 50 issues down
the line, Rebecca is moving on from Viva, in
order to travel round South-East Asia, “until
my money runs out”. Once we’d got over
the shock, we thought it would be a neat
idea to ask her to design this month’s cover,
following our theme of ‘film’.
“If the cinema I’m depicting looks familiar,”
she says, “it’s because it’s based on the Duke
of York’s… with a lot of artistic licence.”
There’s some continuity there: Brighton’s
oldest cinema was one of the three buildings
she included in her original cover.
The masthead – in the place of the cinema’s
name – is a Photoshopped version of a
....10....
REBECCA CUNNINGHAM
......................................................
by Olivia Waller (#52). “I’ve
realised I like covers with people
in them,” she adds.
And so this image is peopled with
a variety of characters, stylised
from photographs Rebecca has
found on the internet. The girl,
hand-in-hand with her date, is
based on her; the projectionist is
from her own photo of the Duke
of York’s 35mm projectionist,
Jimmy, who she interviewed for
Viva a while ago.
We love it, of course, and we’re
delighted to say we’ll see it again:
Rebecca has promised to take the
issue with her and send us back
a pic for our Spread the Word
section in the December issue.
Bon voyage! Alex Leith
20s-looking font she found in a photo on the internet.
“I’ve added some shine, and roughed up the edges, and
added some skew, because the picture isn’t straight on,”
she says.
The colour scheme might look familiar, too. “It’s funny,
when I think back to my favourite Viva covers, a lot
of them have had yellow (or orange) and blue as the
prominent tones,” she says. In particular, she cites the
hipster on the seafront one, by Tommy Pocket (#28),
and the characters sliding down a printing press one,
....11....
TRIPS AND BOBS
...............................
SPREAD THE WORD
Here’s Kevin Wilsher (a very accommodating
chap from the Regency Society who helps us
select the James Gray archive images for our Inside
Left feature) taking his ‘adventure’ issue on
its own escapade. ‘I’m just catching up with Viva
while on holiday in the Canadian Rocky Mountains,’
he reports. ‘Taking a break after a hike
along the Marble Canyon in Kootenay National
Park and wondering what the next James Gray
image is going to be. While everyone back home
has been enjoying the long hot summer I’m two
thousand metres up in the mountains ‘enjoying’
about five degrees centigrade! Ho hum.’
And Pete Bemmer was inspired to take his copy
into the great blue yonder. He spent a couple
of weeks kitesurfing (and catching up on what’s
what back home) in the waters off Fuerteventura.
“The shots are taken at Flag Beach,” he
writes, “one of my all-time favourite beaches to
kitesurf, but Shoreham is definitely in my top
five…” Impressive multitasking, Pete. Consider
the gauntlet thrown. Anyone want to take us
base jumping? Keep taking us with you and keep
spreading the word. Send your photos and a few
words about your trip to hello@vivamagazines.com
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ON THE BUSES #43:
JEFF KEEN (Routes 5, 5B & 7)
Jeff Keen’s work defied easy categorisation. He was a pioneering and
prolific experimental filmmaker, Beat poet and artist who, despite
not picking up a film camera until he was in his late 30s, made
upwards of 70 films in his career.
Born in Wiltshire in 1923, his studies at Oxford were curtailed by
his serving in the army in World War II (a formative experience that
he would later explore in his films). Demobbed, he studied commercial art in Chelsea before moving
to Brighton where he worked as a landscape gardener. In 1956 he met and married his muse, Jackie
Foulds, an art student who suggested that Brighton Art College needed a Film Society, which Jeff obligingly
founded. He produced his first 8mm movie Wail in 1959 and would make many of his films in and
around the streets of Brighton, enlisting Jackie, and other friends and family, both on and off camera.
Inspired by Surrealism and Dadaism, Jeff experimented with ‘expanded cinema’, incorporating multiple
projections, poetry and experimental sound with live performance. He contributed to the artistic ‘happenings’
that typified the period and helped to set up the London Filmmakers’ Co-operative in 1966.
Rayday Film (named after his self-published magazine, Amazing Rayday) was screened at the International
Underground Film Festival at the National Film Theatre in 1970, and his films were shown to national
and international acclaim. Prolific until the end, he also made an enormous number of drawings,
paintings, sculptures and poems. He died in Brighton in June 2012, aged 88. Lizzie Lower
Illustration by Joda (@joda_art)
....13....
CURATOR’S CITY
...............................
Andrew Nicholls filming in the Banqueting Room, 2015
BRIGHTON’S PALACE OF DREAMS
THE ROYAL PAVILION ON SCREEN
In 1948, almost 100 years after Queen Victoria
sold it to Brighton City Council, the Royal
Pavilion first appeared as the centre-piece of a
feature film. The First Gentleman was set in Regency
times and tells the story of the attempts of
George, the Prince Regent, to find a husband for
his daughter, Princess Charlotte. The burlesque
depiction of George contrasts with Charlotte as
the tragic heroine who dies in childbirth. One
scene shows crowds cheering her as she appears
at the window of the Royal Pavilion, turning to
boos as George replaces her.
One of the most dazzling films shot in the Royal
Pavilion is Vincente Minnelli’s On a Clear Day
You Can See Forever, produced in Hollywood in
1970. It starred Barbra Streisand as Daisy, with
extravagant costumes by Cecil Beaton. Working-class
Daisy Gamble lives in contemporary
New York, but, under hypnosis, she remembers
her past life in Regency England as aristocratic
Melinda Wells. The Royal Pavilion is the setting
for a dream-like banquet attended by exquisitely
dressed Regency fops and beauties, with Melinda
in a crystal and silver décolletage. Against the
shimmering settings of the Banqueting Room,
the Music Room and the Saloon, Melinda
seduces Robert Tentrees, and the Royal Pavilion
is transformed into a place of seduction and
eroticism. The Brighton Herald (11 April 1969)
reported that ‘Barbra Streisand swept out of Brighton
yesterday and most of her 240,000 dollar
entourage went with her. After eight days and
that amount of money, Paramount had filmed
just 10-15 minutes of screen time of their lavish
musical… The rest of the film will be completed
in Hollywood.’
The Music Room is used in a very different way
in Richard Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely
....14....
CURATOR’S CITY
...............................
Andrew Nicholls filming in the Banqueting Room, 2015
War (1969), as part of the film’s kaleidoscopic sketches
narrating the history of the First World War. The Royal
Pavilion’s exotic interiors also appear in Richard III
(1995), starring Ian McKellen and Annette Bening, with
the Banqueting Room as the King’s private dining room
and the Music Room transformed into his bedroom. In
Neil Jordan’s The End of the Affair (1999), Ralph Fiennes
and Julianne Moore attend a concert in a much more
sombre Music Room, reflecting the film’s melancholy
atmosphere. More recently, The Current War (2017) sees
Benedict Cumberbatch as the energy mogul Thomas
Edison striding through the Royal Pavilion.
The exterior of the palace appears in Rita Coolidge’s
opening theme ‘All Time High’ in Octopussy (1983), when
the singer is briefly shown against a soft-focus, palatial
Indian setting, recognisable as the Royal Pavilion. Its
Chinoiserie interiors have equally had an enduring
appeal for artists; in 2007 Fiona Tan made A Lapse of
Memory, in which an old man wanders the interiors
of the Royal Pavilion in a dream-like world exploring
eastern and western heritage. And, in the summer
of 2015, a group of Australian artists filmed ethereal
scenes inside the palace (pictured) and dramatic footage,
complete with a stallion, in the Royal Pavilion Gardens.
With its exotic backdrops and sumptuous
interiors, the Royal Pavilion holds
an enduring fascination for filmmakers.
Nicola Coleby, Partnerships & Development
Manager, The Royal Pavilion & Museums
Video still by Andrew Nicholls, acted by Luca Gatti, 2015
....15....
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....17....
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BITS AND PUBS
...............................
PUB: THE IDLE HANDS
The Royal Standard at
59 Queens Road was
recorded as early as 1859,
but its showy façade – it’s
worth taking a good look
at the building from over
the road – dates to the
turn of the last century,
probably 1899, when it was
taken over by a William
Frederick Baker. It gets a
mention in Pevsner’s Architectural
Guide, which praises
the ‘relief decoration to its
shaped gable’. Note the
little cupola on the roof.
It was subsequently run by a
succession of landlords; it’s
a fair bet that the one who
got the least trouble from
his customers was Tommy Farr, who took over
in 1956. Tommy, nicknamed ‘The Tonypandy
Terror’ was the British & Empire heavyweight
boxing champion, who in 1936 took World
Champion Joe Louis the full fifteen rounds.
I imagine Mr Farr ran quite a tight ship, which
can’t be said for the two landlords in charge in
June 2016. The place had become well known as
a hotspot for football-related violence, and when
it was raided by the police that month the pair
were found to be selling illegal smuggled liquor.
The pub was closed down, and only kept its
licence on the condition that the landlords were
banned from running the premises.
It’s since had a complete makeover, and a
change of name. It’s now called ‘Idle Hands’,
and, between the two terracotta hands that
stick out of the doorframe
greeting those who walk
in, you can read ‘…Are
the Devil’s Playthings’.
It’s an independent joint,
which has been running
for four months; walk in
and you’ll soon forget
you’re amid the gritty
bustle of Queens Road.
They’ve given it an early
20th-century look, with
wooden floors, claw-footed
tables, and black-andwhite
photos on the wall,
subtly defaced – Chapman
Bros-style – with pen
marks. There’s the skull of
an ibex wearing a jaunty
cycling cap, and a stuffed
crow above the bar. The menus are carefully
stacked in an elegant 30s sideboard.
On the window is written ‘craft beers, fine wines
and artisan spirits’: it’s clearly now a place which
takes its alcohol very seriously. There’s a menu
board for beer, with prices, strength, and the
slogan ‘we accept cash, cards or blood sacrifices’.
I choose a Redchurch Brick Lane Lager (4.6%,
£4.50) which goes down pretty well: in a more
adventurous frame of mind I would have tried
the whisky-aged cider (6.9%, £5). I’ll get that
next time, to wash down one of their interesting-sounding
‘Cub Burgers’, perhaps the ‘Wolf’
(4oz patty with Swiss cheese, avocado salsa,
lettuce, criolla onions, crispy pork belly and
pineapple salsa, at £9.50).
Alex Leith
Painting by Jay Collins
....19....
Photo by Ben Bentley
CHARITY BOX #31: INTO FILM
What do you do at Into Film? We support
a network of 9,000 extra-curricular film clubs
across the UK. We train teachers in how to use
film in the classroom, to teach about film as well
as through film. We provide teaching resources
for use in clubs, in the classroom and beyond, to
help teachers get the most out of each screening,
giving them preparatory work to actively engage
the children in the film and follow-up work for
afterwards. Then there’s a whole industry-access
arm to what we do, which is about training
young reporters and encouraging young people
to consider film as a career.
Which age groups do you work with? The
whole lot: 5s to 19s. That’s predominantly children
in education (including home education).
What do they gain from it? If we’re talking
about trips to the cinema, the real benefits of
coming out of school to learn about film are that
it opens their eyes to new cultures and ideas and
stories. We introduce some young people for the
first ever time to their local cinema, and to films
they might not normally choose to see. And then
within the classroom, there are a whole range of
benefits: we tie in with the curriculum in each of
the nations around the UK and find direct links
to each subject area.
How do you choose which films to show? We
have a team who pick from the best of the output
and select films that speak directly to teachers,
tying in with what they’re teaching throughout
the year, or with calendar events, like Anti-Bullying
Week or Black History Month. We try
to create a bit of a journey that the teacher can
lead the children on – maybe they’ll watch a big
mainstream animation, and then move on to
some classical or stop-motion, and even some
Japanese anime – taking them from something
they’re familiar with onto some more challenging
content.
What’s on during the Into Film Festival?
Across the UK, we’re holding 2,500 free screening
events, divided into several topical strands.
The Year of the Woman is a particularly strong
strand this year. We’re working with F-Rated
to show films that are directed and written by
women, starring women, like The Breadwinner,
which is a beautiful animation – if you haven’t
seen it, it’s definitely one I would recommend.
There will also be workshops and discussions: in
Brighton we’re running a film stunt workshop
at Fabrica, where the students will get to learn
a fight scene. The events are all designed for
teachers or educators to bring groups of students
along to – all they need to do is go to the website
(intofilm.org/festival) and find out what events
are happening near them. They can filter by age
group, sensory impairment – we have access for
the visually and hearing impaired – and there are
autism-friendly screenings as well.
As told to Rebecca Cunningham by Sam Wilson
Into Film Festival, 7th – 23rd November
....20....
BITS AND MOGS
...............................
CATS SEEKING LAPS #6
Extrovert Chair-Scratcher Seeks Conversation Partner
Name: Tigger.
Age: 11.
Occupation: Windowsill Bird Traffic Controller.
Me: My mother was a farm mouser but I grew up in the
great indoors. I’m super chatty and will discuss any topic
at length, even when by myself. They say I carry a few extra pounds, but I say this makes me extra cuddly.
Occasionally mistaken for Ed Sheeran.
Interests: Early morning callisthenics, indoor climbing, chairleg-whittling, ginger beer, watching from the
window for your return home and searching your shopping bags for treats. Bird watching.
Seeking: Generous human with a penchant for leaving the fridge door open and who is willing to share
their pillow. Must have an abundance of chairs for sculptural endeavours and sleep surfaces.
Dislikes: Jokes about my famous name-sake in Winnie the Pooh, house-proud fusspots, restrictive diets, ginger-based
discrimination, lad culture, being man-handled (or woman-handled) and generally being rubbed
up the wrong way. Words and picture by Cammie Toloui, cammietoloui.com, Instagram: @cammie669
Find Tigger and friends at Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare. raystede.org
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JJ WALLER
...............................
“The low winter sunlight throws up a cinematic feel to the city’s streets,”
says JJ Waller. “There are certain magical corners where, for short moments,
the lighting looks straight out of a Hollywood feature. And, Brighton being
Brighton, it doesn’t take long for the star to walk into shot.”
....23....
BITS AND BOGS
...............................
MAGAZINE OF THE MONTH: MAKING YOUR OWN MOVIE
Can a magazine shop review
a book? Is that allowed?
Should magazine shops even
stock books? Do we want
Waterstones to start carrying
independent magazines? No,
we don’t. It’s a small audience
we reach at the best of times.
It would probably kill us.
So, why do we stock books,
then? Here’s the rule. Unless
it’s December when we stock
a few as gifts, all of our books
are connected in some way to our magazines.
That’s the rule.
Little White Lies is a film magazine. Opinionated
but with a great classificatory system including
‘does this film match your hopes and expectations?’
I love the reviews of films we all expect to
be turkeys that turn out to be way better.
We’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next
issue, but what we do have in the shop – and
have had to keep re-stocking all year – are copies
of the Little White Lies Guide to Making Your Own
Movie in 39 Steps. We’ve sold
lots of them. With that title,
the book doesn’t need much
explaining but here’s the gist
of it from the introduction:
‘What you use to shoot your
film isn’t important. What you
choose to shoot, and how you
choose to shoot it, is.’ The
book is stuffed with the key 39
lessons that are going to help
you do that better.
What’s cool, though, is that
there is even more. Dotted throughout the
book are lists of films to watch and learn from.
The last 20 pages provide you with a budgeting
guide, a layout for a shooting schedule, an
equipment checklist and, as we keep on saying,
much, much more.
One small book with lists of films to watch, great
advice on how to make your own movie and
checklists to keep you on track. That’s a pretty
good deal for close to the cost of just one cinema
seat. Martin Skelton, Magazine Brighton
TOILET GRAFFITO #46
Really? It seems a little beneath Banksy to deface a picture of
the Smurfs’ nemesis, Gargamel. And if he had been here, this
bathroom stall would be worth a bomb. But you’d better
beware the toilet roll dispenser just in case. Your fingers
might be in for a shredding.
But where is it?
Last month’s answer: Marwood Bar & Coffeehouse
....25....
INTERVIEW
..........................................
Photo by Adam Bronkhorst, adambronkhorst.com
....26....
INTERVIEW
..........................................
MYbrighton: Eva Riley
Director and screen writer
Are you local? I’m originally from
Edinburgh, but I’ve been living in Kemp
Town since 2012. My boyfriend moved
here to do a PhD at the University of
Sussex. I think I’d only been to Brighton
for half a day before that and I hadn’t seen
my flat when we moved in, but I’ve loved it
since we got here. I studied at the National
Film and Television School in London
and would come home to Brighton at the
weekend. Since I graduated I’ve been living
here full time.
Is Brighton a good place to be a
filmmaker? I spend most of my time
writing and I find it’s a peaceful place to
work. There isn’t tons of directing work to
be had, but I’ve just shot my first feature
film here. The main locations were in
Woodingdean and Portslade. I love the
different areas in and around Brighton, but
I also chose to shoot it here so that I could
sleep in my own bed. The film is called
Perfect Ten, and it’s about a teenage gymnast
who has lost her confidence. When we were
looking for actors, we met a lot of young
people in gymnastics clubs and youth clubs
in the city and around the south east. We
found one of the lead actors in the crowd
at a boxing match in Hastings. I’m very
passionate about casting people who haven’t
been to drama school; there is so much
talent out there. Lots of the young people I
got to know were extras in the film. It was
nice to involve local people.
Are you always walking around Brighton
scouting for locations? Not so much for
locations but definitely for ideas. I used
to work in a café in town, and there were
always interesting people coming in and
passing by. I would sit in the window seat,
people watching.
What do you like most about living in
Brighton? These past few weeks I’ve been
editing my film in London, and I love the
feeling of coming home on the train. It’s
fresh and airy. I’m very much at home here,
and I can cycle everywhere. I’m not that
much of a party girl. For eating out, I like
Planet India and Terre à Terre, and the
Hand in Hand is my favourite pub.
What do you like least about the city?
That there are so many homeless people; I
feel so bad for them. It’s a place where you
can see the disparity between rich and poor.
It’s a great place to be if you have money,
but it’s not so nice for everyone. And train
fares to London drive me insane.
Where would you live if you didn’t live
here? I’d like to live in Glasgow. I love
Scotland. I like the culture, the people and
the politics. Glasgow is quite a happening
place with lots of art and culture and a good
film industry. Things like Netflix, Amazon
and the renewed interest in TV are putting
money back into the industry. It feels like
not a terrible time to be making a living as
a filmmaker.
Interview by Lizzie Lower
....27....
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FILM
....................................
The Richard Attenborough Papers
Lights, camera, archive
The papers tell the story of
Lord Attenborough’s life and
work. There are examples of his
early work, and items relating
to him and Sheila Sim, who he
met at RADA and who went on
to become his wife. Others refer
to films he made in the 40s, 50s,
and 60s, and to Brighton Rock,
and then it becomes apparent,
from the 60s onwards, he was
thinking about making Gandhi.
Of course, it turned out to be an
eight Oscar-winning film, but
his involvement started early.
There are letters relating to
the lack of financing, and to people who didn’t
want to do it.
His papers contain information about
everything that was needed to make a film
in the pre-digital age. There are call sheets
detailing who’s coming on to set at what time
and what everyone is going to need; notes about
casting; letters to the producers; letters back
and forth to the cast, and annotated scripts. It’s
probably the last big, pre-digital collection that
we will receive.
The call sheets are really interesting. There is
one that is a Guinness World Record holder for
the number of extras; 300,000 for Gandhi. The
call sheet lists ‘breakfast for 5,500’! It’s never
been beaten, and it won’t be now, because of
CGI. These were supreme undertakings and are
documented almost day by day. It’s fascinating.
He kept everything about his work, his
personal and business life and his philanthropy,
so you can really get a sense of him as a person.
His correspondence is extensive. There are
letters from everyday people, from actors
wanting to work with him,
Prime Ministers and Princess
Diana. He had a huge reach
and, from what I’ve gleaned, was
universally liked. When he was
casting Chaplin, he wanted to
use a child actor who was also
appearing in a Stanley Kubrick
film. There are letters between
him and Kubrick about whether
they could both use this boy.
They are ever so civil, ever so
polite. These two prominent
movie pioneers just having a
civilised chat. He seemed to
speak to everyone like that, from
the production runners to the script editors.
The archive now belongs to the University
of Sussex. It arrived here in 2015. Lord
Attenborough was at one time the chancellor
of the University, and his son, Michael, who
attended Sussex, asked if the archive could
come here. It took two archivists and an intern
working full-time for 18 months to catalogue the
collection. There are 700 boxes translating to
around 8,000 catalogue entries. Anyone can access
the catalogue online, and the archive is available
for people to come and see at The Keep.
It’s a starry collection. At the University of
Sussex, we are famous for the Mass Observation
Archive, containing the stories of everyday
people, which are just as valid, but, when you’re
looking through the Attenborough material,
there are 1980s pictures of Michael Keaton and
Tom Cruise, letters from Clint Eastwood and a
signed photo from Picasso. Just as a fan, those
things make it fun. As told to Lizzie Lower by
Karen Watson, Special Collections Archivist at the
University of Sussex
From the collection of Lord & Lady Attenborough. Accepted in lieu by HM Government in 2018 and allocated to the University of Sussex
....29....
FILM
....................................
From the collection of Lord & Lady Attenborough. Accepted in lieu by HM Government in 2018 and allocated to the University of Sussex
Actor ‘mock ups’ for casting the role of Gandhi, featuring Ben Kingsley. Photographs and acetate
....30....
FILM
....................................
From the collection of Lord & Lady Attenborough. Accepted in lieu by HM Government in 2018 and allocated to the University of Sussex
Actor ‘mock ups’ for casting the role of Gandhi, featuring Ben Kingsley. Photographs and acetate
....31....
FILM
....................................
From the collection of Lord & Lady Attenborough. Accepted in lieu by HM Government in 2018 and allocated to the University of Sussex
Call sheet no 55. Call sheet for filming Ganhi’s funeral procession, 31st January 1981
....32....
FILM
....................................
From the collection of Lord & Lady Attenborough. Accepted in lieu by HM Government in 2018 and allocated to the University of Sussex
Call sheet no 55. Call sheet for filming Ganhi’s funeral procession, 31st January 1981
....33....
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FILM
....................................
From the collection of Lord & Lady Attenborough. Accepted in lieu by HM Government in 2018 and allocated to the University of Sussex
The making of Brighton Rock
....35....
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COLUMN
.........................
Lizzie Enfield
Notes from North Village
Illustration by Joda (@joda_art)
“Goodbye Chloe Banks,” I say, as I leave the café,
doing something I have always wanted to do but
never before had the nerve.
She looks over her shoulder, a little mystified, and
her expression says ‘do I know you?’
She doesn’t but I know her name from her Wi-Fi
hotspot.
It always makes me feel a little Sherlock
the way they come up: Ian0345’s phone,
Rachel1992’s phone – or often more playful
variations: chattycassie’s phone, shazzathedazzler,
jackthehack etc.
You can learn a lot about people just by sitting
near them in cafés and on trains and on this
occasion I learn that the young woman sitting
opposite me, busily checking her Instagram
feed, is none other than Chloe Banks (not her
real name).
For years I have given nothing away in return,
retaining an air of mystery by being the person
whose Nokia brick phone barely allows internet
access.
I’ve had my reasons: being a luddite, being rooted
in the past, not liking change, not liking change
for the sake of it, liking the fact the battery on
the brick lasted about two weeks, liking the fact
that the only contact people can make when I am
out is by text or phone (and that’s enough), not
wanting to become the sort of person who sits in
a café checking their Instagram feed or posting
every moment of their life.
But there’s been pressure from lots of different
directions: my phone provider, family, friends,
publisher, and agent…
I think it was my publisher’s assistant who
laughed so much when I produced said Nokia
that I started to think about it. And a lot of press
trips this year where I began to realise it would
make sense when travelling hand luggage only,
not to be carrying a laptop, camera, phone, iPod
and kindle but just one phone that could do
everything and fit in my pocket.
So, I made the leap, bought an old iPhone off
eBay, took it away on a trip somewhere, had to
admit I found it quite useful having all those
functions in my pocket but switched the sim back
to my trusted brick on my return.
Then the next trip came around and I switched
the sim a few days before leaving and left it in
a few days after my return. One thing led to
another and now I appear to be a fully-fledged
card-carrying member of the iPhone community
– albeit one who is still a bit slow to get to grips
with it.
“Why does my phone come up as your iPod?” I
ask my son, as I plug it into my computer.
“You just need to rename it,” he replies.
That’s easy for him to say. I enlist his help.
He sorts it.
My phone no longer claims to be son’s iPod; it is
clearly labeled “Old Woman!”
Now, whenever I am on a train or in a café,
everyone will know….
....37....
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COLUMN
...........................................
John Helmer
Tubs
Illustration by Chris Riddell
“Oh no.”
In the foyer of the Duke of York’s cinema,
pensioners queue to take advantage of their
midweek free coffee offer. It’s our wedding
anniversary, and Kate and I have decided to
celebrate with a good lunch followed by an
afternoon at the pictures; skipping pudding in
favour of the excellent ice cream they serve. But
now this grizzled horde of antediluvian cineastes
is clogging up the refreshments area. And the film
is about to start.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get the ice cream and see you in
there,” I volunteer selflessly.
Kate smiles and disappears through the door into
the already darkened auditorium.
Having purchased our tubs of dairy deliciousness,
I belatedly realise that I don’t know whether
Kate is upstairs or down. I plump for the balcony,
figuring that if she’s not there, I will have a good
vantage point from which to spot her down below.
Luckily there is almost nobody in the balcony
(perhaps the pensioners don’t like the stairs), so
I get a good front row seat. I place the two ice
cream tubs on the balcony rail in front of me and
start scanning heads.
The smell that rises in the popcorn-scented dark
triggers early memories of when my mother
would send my little brother and I with a few
coins to the local Mascot in Southend. Sitting in
the front stalls, we would eat ice cream from tubs
just like these, skimming their cardboard lids at
the rats who liked to run back and forth along the
back wall below the screen. Oh, the memories.
Before I really know what I’m doing I have taken
the lid off my tub and started eating the ice cream.
Double chocolate. Gorgeous.
Meanwhile, I am doing a very poor job of locating
my wife. Though her beauty shines out in any
crowd I always feel, from the back, her look is, to
be honest, not all that distinctive.
Distracted by the big faces on screen, another
memory comes to me – of the time when I
found myself, for a time, on the other side of the
camera. Turning up for a shoot one morning
with a whacking great cold sore, I appealed to the
makeup lady, who seemed to be able to perform
all sorts of miracles, for help.
“No problem,” she said, diving for her box of
tricks. Perhaps I expected some extra-heavy
panstick to be produced – instead of which she
surfaced with a pair of tweezers in one hand and a
bottle of surgical spirit in the other.
“This is going to hurt,” she said.
“Where have you been?” whispers Kate when I
finally slip into the seat beside her.
“Looking for you.”
“Where’s my ice cream?”
“It was melting,” I say, “so I had to eat it.”
“You ate both of them, mine and yours?”
“It seemed the only sensible course of action.”
She sighs heavily. “Happy Anniversary.”
....39....
cards and gifts
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0 1 2 7 3 7 2 2 4 3 7
COLUMN
...........................
Amy Holtz
The truth is, I’m a Minnesotan
It’s a rainy Saturday night and
we’re trying to agree on a
movie to rent, which usually
takes as long as the movie itself.
“I bring forward Pitch Perfect 3.
And you’ve chosen... Solo.” My
partner nods as I sigh. You may
sense where this is going.
“What’s yours about?” He
sounds diplomatic, but it’s
delivered on sardonic wings.
“Well, I’d imagine you got the
gist from the first and second iterations of the
franchise – which, YES – don’t shake your head
at me – you’ve seen,” I say, my voice rising to a
soprano squawk. “Besides, you fancy the redheaded
one.” A blank look, another swig of beer.
I sigh again. “How about we watch both trailers
and take a vote?”
The Pitch Perfect 3 trailer is a delightful
confection and I’m singing along, really selling
it, but I can tell from his face that he isn’t having
it. “What’s wrong with you – don’t you like
American college girls singing? They’re doing
Freedom! ’90!”
“And now,” he says, cutting off the final fireworkpunctuated
notes, “Let’s watch the Solo trailer.”
His fingers can’t hit the ‘back’ button fast
enough. “This one has Khaleesi in it.”
“Oh God.” There’s no hope now. I sit crossarmed
as the room fills with pew-pews and
ker-burrrrrrrrrghs. A minute later and when
I’m getting another beer, he accidently selects
‘purchase’ I can’t even be bothered to protest.
Because I actually do want to watch Solo too.
But what tends to happen when he picks out
the movie is that they turn out to be complete
rubbish. It’s like a curse.
“Remember when you made me watch Silver
Linings Playbook?” I say.
“I liked Silver Linings Playbook.
Besides you love that Dylan
song in the middle.”
“The one where Dylan and
Johnny Cash howl over each
other like sexually frustrated
rhinos? That’s the only good
part.”
“Hey,” I say, excitedly, “do you
want to hear my film theory
about Bradley Cooper’s face?”
His face says no, but I know
he’s secretly very thrilled by my film theories, so
I lay it out over that bit of Star Wars where it’s
just writing on the screen and therefore not that
interesting.
“So, if Bradley Cooper’s face is really shiny and
his hair is clean, the movie is a frat-boy fistbump
of a turd. BUT, if both are dirty, the movie is 50
gazillion times better. That’s why Silver Linings
Playbook is so meh. But Guardians of the Galaxy –
that was good.”
“He’s a raccoon in Guardians.”
“Yup, very hairy. You can’t see his face.”
“Ok, what about The Hangover?”
“Ah, I’m glad you asked. That film only gets
marginally better when Bradley gets messed up.
And punched.”
“That one where he takes the pill and gets really
smart was terrible.”
“Precisely; he’s super shiny in that.”
“But he was good in A Star is Born.”
“Yes, exactly – see? Because he looks and sounds
like Jeff Bridges. And his hair is super greasy.”
“Personally, I think it’s a half-baked theory.” His
eyes are now permanently glued to the screen.
“Hey look, it’s Chewie!”
“Now if Bradley Cooper were Chewie?” I
summarise, “that’d make this movie really
phenomenal…”
....41....
FREDDY KEMPF
Piano/Director
Rossini
Overture:
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Beethoven
Piano Concerto No.3
Dvořák
Symphony No.7
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MUSIC
..........................
Ben Bailey rounds up the local music scene
SAM WALKER & SHONA FOSTER
Thu 1, Brunswick, 8pm, £8/6
Another double headline show
from a pair of musicians who
shared the same stage almost
exactly a year ago. Sam Walker
is something of a one-man
band whose talents on guitar, keys and percussion
give his solo sets more grooves and a wider set of
sounds than you’d expect from a singer-songwriter.
He used to release music as The Muel and also
played drums for Shona Foster (pictured). We’ve
not seen much of Shona in quite a while, but it
seems she’s back with a bunch of new songs and
a different band in tow. Having released a couple
of classy ballads back in 2011, she shouldn’t have
a problem recapturing audiences with her pensive
and pristine vocals.
COMMIE COCKTAIL
Sat 10, Quadrant, 1pm, £5
Brighton promoters Fresh Lenins put a crazy
amount of effort into their shows, ensuring they all
feel like unique one-off events. Whether the duo
behind the gigs are actually hardline leftists remains
to be seen, but they sure like balloon animals. This
all-dayer features a mix of weird rock, art punk and
uncategorisable guitar noise. Ham Legion make
mischievous and inventive math-rock, while headliners
Dog of Man’s accordion-driven acid punk
entices you to dance while aiming to wrongfoot you
at every turn. Frank & Beans are a Brighton-based
Northern Irish ‘anti-punk’ duo; Light Brigade claim
to be inspired by Clint Eastwood and Hermann
Hesse; and four-piece Paramnesiac say of themselves:
“If this band were a Disney princess it would
be a DeviantArt depiction of Jafar in a catsuit.”
Photo by Steve Gullick
THE WYTCHES
Thu 8, Green Door Store, 9pm, £11
Fresh from their annual Halloween
shindig in Hackney, The
Wytches are back in town for
another tongue-in-cheek horror
show at the Green Door Store.
Originally scheduled for June, this gig sees the
garage/grunge band making a rare local appearance
to help launch a new live music club night
called Crest of Death (original tickets still valid).
The line-up also includes DJ sets from Laura
Mary Carter of Blood Red Shoes and Rhys Webb
of The Horrors. Do you spot a theme developing
here? We’re also promised horror movie projections
– just in case you’ve not had enough Halloween
by then. At least the wigs and spooky tat in the
corner shop will be nice and cheap.
Steve Gullick
LEVELLERS
Thu 22, Brighton Dome, 7pm, £30.50
Levellers were huge in the 90s,
a fact eclipsed by a backlash
that probably owed more to the
lifestyle politics of the day than
the music. In any case, they never went away. This
year the band marked their 30th anniversary with
a new album called We The Collective, for which the
folk-rockers dropped the rock and focussed on the
folk. The result was a largely acoustic and semiorchestral
collection of old songs, re-recorded with
extra strings provided by musicians from Brighton’s
Mountain Firework Company and Moulettes. The
calmer arrangements don’t mean Levellers have
mellowed over time – the two new songs on the
record are politically charged tunes about the plight
of refugees and the travesty of undercover policing.
....43....
towner.gallery/film
REGGAE AT 50
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11 NOVEMBER
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17 NOVEMBER
LAST DAY
OF FREEDOM
19 NOVEMBER
CINECITY
01273 678 822
attenboroughcentre.com
University of Sussex, Gardner Centre Road, Brighton BN1 9RA
2018
FILM
.............................
Blue Live
Jarman in Brighton
Derek Jarman, outside The Duke of Yorks in 1988, photo by Barry Pollard
Avant-garde filmmaker, artist, diarist, gardener
and gay rights activist Derek Jarman’s final
offering was Blue, 79 minutes of pure blue
screen with various narrators, including DJ
himself, talking poetically, politically and
autobiographically, punctuated by ambient
music and found sounds. Four months after its
winter 1993 release, Jarman died of an AIDSrelated
illness, aged 52.
25 years on, and the soundtrack’s composer,
Simon Fisher Turner, who also did the honours
for other Jarman films, is at the helm of a live
performance of Blue at the Duke of York’s, as
part of Cinecity. In the early 70s, Turner came
near as damn it to being the UK’s David Cassidy,
with a recording career overseen by Jonathan
King, a heap of children’s TV roles, frequent
appearances in Jackie magazine, and a fling with
Britt Ekland.
“I first met Derek when I was living in a flat off
the King’s Road, this would be 1978 shortly after
he’d finished shooting Jubilee (Jarman’s singular
take on the punk movement). It was a crazy,
drug-crazed area; Marianne Faithfull was in the
basement flat below me, rents were ridiculously
cheap. The people who looked after Derek asked
me if I wanted a job, and could I drive? I did,
and I could, and I started driving for Adam &
The Ants, and for Derek. When they got the
money to make The Tempest (1979), Derek said
‘go and get 3,000 beeswax candles from the
Catholic Church in Clerkenwell’ and I did, so I
was now the driver and the runner.
“By the time of Caravaggio (Sean Bean and
Tilda Swinton’s first film roles) I was hiring
the extras and listening to all the cassettes that
the potential composers had sent in. I’d given
Derek an album I’d made on my own label, and
after he listened to the other composers he still
wasn’t 100% sure about any of them, so he said,
‘look, why don’t you do the music?’ And that
was it. So I danced down Charing Cross Road,
thinking ‘this’ll be a laugh’. I didn’t have a clue,
not an iota, but I thought ‘right, classical plus
found sounds from the shoot’. I recruited some
brilliant musicians and we were away.
“Derek first mentioned Blue to me maybe five
years before it was made. Initially it was adapted
from a story he wrote as a student, a strange
political fantasy based on old English tales.
Later, when he was diagnosed with AIDS he
changed the whole concept and made it more
about his life, and about the state of the world.
It’s actually the most uplifting piece of work
I’ve been involved with. It’s a visual radio play,
a mood piece. It’s very brave; a good grown up
way of looking at things.
“The last time I saw Derek was when he was
dead. He was lying in a room at the morgue, and
he’d been dressed up like the Pope. He looked
fantastic. I spent five minutes chatting to him.
‘Thank you, what an amazing man you were!’”
Andy Darling
Blue Live, Duke of York’s, 25th Nov, 7pm.
cine-city.co.uk
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PERFORMANCE
.............................
Thinking Queer
Responses to Audre Lorde
The Marlborough Theatre’s Abby Butcher is
struggling to summarise all the reasons they
have chosen American writer and civil rights
campaigner Audre Lorde – a self-described
‘black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet’ – as the
subject of their forthcoming Thinking Queer
event. “I don’t know, man,” she sighs eventually,
“She’s just wicked.”
Those not familiar with Lorde’s many novels
and poetry collections may recognise lines taken
from them – ‘Your silence will not protect you’,
or ‘I am not free while any woman is unfree,
even when her shackles are very different
from my own’ – many of which have acquired
renewed weight more than 25 years after her
death in 1992. “We thought, wouldn’t she be
an amazing person to respond to?” explains
Butcher, the theatre’s creative producer. “So we
did an open call for artists and were immediately
inundated with applications – which highlights
how influential a figure she is.”
The four commissioned to produce new,
15-minute pieces for the event are all “black,
queer women making stuff that responds to
different elements of Lorde’s work, her identity,
her practice.” Butcher says Paula Varjack’s work
is “especially fascinating” because of the parallels
between her life and that of Lorde’s. Like Lorde
– who lived in Berlin after the fall of the Wall
and witnessed the rise of racist violence in the
city – Varjack too has spent time in Berlin, and
experienced racism while there. “Paula’s working
with video and I think is planning to go back to
Berlin to explore this idea of shared history.”
Toni Lewis will look at “ritual practices” around
Lorde’s work, while spoken word artist Mia
Johnson is “a young queer woman, gutsy, blunt
and really smart in the way she uses language”.
Lastly, there is dance artist Zinzi Minott, who
underlines the ongoing relevance of Lorde’s
writing with a piece informed by her thoughts
on the Windrush scandal.
The Audre Lorde event is the second in the
theatre’s Thinking Queer programme, an informal
night of ‘reflection, resistance, poetics and
power’ held in ACCA’s café-bar – “So it’s pretty
chilled.” It follows a launch last year inspired by
the Bloomsbury Group that featured artist Jacob
V Joyce, from whose 2018 ‘Black Herstory’ calendar
of radical black women the above image of
Audre Lorde is taken.
Joyce spoke of the problems they had with some
of the Bloomsbury Group’s attitudes – and, says
Butcher, that was great. “Performers don’t have
to respond positively to the subject. They can
say ‘This work is really alien to me, really dense
and heavy and I, as a queer person in 2018, just
don’t get it.’ That’s totally fine. We want people
to feel they can be honest. Although, you know,
no one has had that response to Audre Lorde.”
Nione Meakin
Thinking Queer, ACCA, 7th Nov, 8pm
From the 2018 ‘Black Herstory’ calendar by Jacob V Joyce
....47....
FILM
.......................
The Modern Marvels Film Booth
Brighton’s movie-making heritage reimagined
George Albert Smith and James Williamson,
Brighton’s pioneers of film, have inspired a great
many movie makers since their first forays into
the moving image, in the 1890s. Most recently,
their films have been reimagined by a group of
young people with learning disabilities.
In a collaboration between disability-led arts
organisation, Carousel, and Screen Archive South
East, 30 students from Downs Park School,
Downs View Life Skills College and Headstart
School have been exploring filmmaking with
Jason Eade and Tina Dickinson, two of Carousel’s
experienced artists, and facilitators including local
filmmaker, Kitty Wallace.
“We work really inclusively to involve everybody
in the workshops,” explains Kitty. “There’s no
judgement or expectation. We teach the skills and
then enable the young people to explore them,
letting them be creative and wild. There’s no
right or wrong answer. Sometimes a story line
comes out of it, and sometimes it will go off-piste,
and that’s alright.”
Sessions included scriptwriting, storyboarding,
sound effects and creating original soundtracks
with the Carousel House Band, and the
participants studied early filmmaking techniques
like stop-frame animation, as well as more
contemporary technology. “Because we didn’t
have the budget to film on location, we took all
the equipment into the schools and would shoot
against the green screen, and then edit in the
background during the post-production back at
the office. We had a space scene, a graveyard, a
train, all using the young people’s artwork for the
sets and backgrounds. We had props, makeup and
hired costumes. The students had a great time.”
“We find a way to include everyone in whatever
way they are able, working with the staff to
involve people as much as possible. Teamwork is
a big part of it. If someone can’t think of a way
to express an idea, someone else will.” Titles like
Ghost Train and Spooky Horrors hint at a popular
genre, but, Kitty explains, they also made a film
“about a magical teapot, which smashes, and a
laser cat comes out and zaps them all up into
space. It gets a bit surreal.”
The four films were launched at an event at
ACCA in the summer, and the hope is that they
will be screened at Carousel’s biennial Oska
Bright Film Festival next year, but they’ll have
to get past the selection committee first. For
now, you can see them – and the early films
that inspired them – in the Modern Marvels
Film Booth, which you might have encountered
on its tour of the city over the summer. This
month you can find it at the Duke of York’s
Cinema, from the 9th until the 25th. “Bring an
open mind” concludes Kitty. “Carousel is about
enabling artists to explore their creativity and
be recognized for their art. Imaginations can go
wild.” Lizzie Lower
carousel.org.uk
....48....
FILM
.............................
Dead Good
Caring for our dead
Do you remember the 2008 Japanese film
Departures? About a young man working in
an undertakers? So beautiful. And I was put in
mind of that when I first read about Dead Good,
Rehana Rose’s feature documentary about the
ritual of care after death, which is screening at
the Depot on 13th November.
It too is a beautiful film, full of moving testimony,
as it follows three groups of mourners,
each supported by ARKA Original Funerals,
based in Brighton. “I think the women there are
pioneers”, Rehana says. “They’re empowering
people about the ritual of care that’s disappeared
from our society.”
The film includes footage of the mourners tending
to their dead – washing and dressing them,
for instance. It took just under three years to
make. “It took the first six months of filming for
me to work out what part of the death process
to focus on, but that is it: the uncharted territory
between point of death and ceremony.”
Rehana said her interest came when, in three
consecutive years, her mother, an ex-partner and
a young friend died. “If you’ve never organised
a funeral before,” she says “you go with what
you’re told to do. You can be on autopilot, too,
because of your state of mind. But the third of
these funerals was supported by ARKA, and it
opened my eyes. There were choices you could
make. Death is a normal part of life.”
There’s a striking lack of pomp or pretension
around all the interactions we witness in the
film. The two funeral directors, Cara and Sarah,
are so matter of fact, while clearly compassionate
– “we’re just normal people” – and this seems
to reassure as well as empower their customers.
Cara is our main guide throughout the film. Her
inspiration to become a funeral director also
came, partly, from the personal experience of her
own mother’s death: “it just happened”, she says
in the film, of the funeral. She felt she herself
had no real, hands-on involvement.
“It’s all about offering people choices”, says
Rehana. “There’s a growing movement of people
wanting to open up the conversation around
death. More and more are realising that they
can decide what they want, and how involved
they personally want to be.” It’s clear she feels
strongly.
I ask about the practicalities of making the film.
“It was very difficult. It was a big ask, for my
camera to be invited in: I knew that. But people
allowed me.” The music in the film was important
to her too – to reflect how music is used at
ceremonies – but getting permissions can be a
minefield. (Any music can be used in a funeral,
but for her to film and then release this, not so.)
“Robert Smith of The Cure was great”, she said.
“After watching an early edit, he re-recorded a
track especially for our film! Such generosity.”
Charlotte Gann
The Depot, Lewes, 13th Nov, 6pm.
Part of Cinecity, cine-city.co.uk
....49....
FREE EXHIBITION
Reuben Mednikoff, March 20, 1936 (The Stairway to Paradise)
Private Collection, Photo: Ivan Coleman
A TALE OF MOTHER’S BONES
GRACE PAILTHORPE, REUBEN MEDNIKOFF
AND THE BIRTH OF PSYCHOREALISM
Continues until 20 January
Installation image courtesy of Rob Harris
CHARITY NUMBER: 1065586
MUSIC
.............................
The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble
‘There’s certainly a nerdy side to it’
As one half of
Goldfrapp, Will
Gregory has twiddled
his way around more
synths than most, but
his latest tour finds
him on an almost
evangelical mission
to spread the love
for classic analogue
instruments.
We’re ten people playing monosynths of a
certain vintage. The idea is that there’s nothing
digital, it’s all analogue. It’s basically listening to
circuits. There’s certainly a nerdy side to it. I’m
not saying we’re all on the spectrum, but there’s
an element to it that appeals to that kind of
personality and another that appeals to us purely
as musicians.
The Minimoog was the first affordable
electronic instrument to go into mass
production. That’s what things like Popcorn
were played on and funnily enough Roobarb and
Custard. The Beatles used it all over Abbey Road,
and it was there with The Beach Boys. One of
the things that made it popular is the fact it
didn’t use patch cables, so you didn’t need to be
like a telephone engineer to operate it. If you
look at any synthesizer made since then, it looks
more or less like a Minimoog.
The idea for the ensemble came when I
was driving and Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On
Bach came on the radio. It sounded incredible. I
thought if that was done in the studio as a multitrack
project, why has nobody tried to play this
music live? At that point I’d done two or three
records with Goldfrapp and I had collected quite
a lot of synths. Alison and I share a love of the
Photo by York Tillyer
melancholy, wistful
quality that some of
these instruments
have. There were a
load of them lying
around and I thought
well, I’ve got enough
synths to play Bach’s
Brandenburg No.3
which is in nine parts.
Why don’t we get a
bunch of people together and try it out?
The people in the ensemble are all amazing
musicians in their own fields. Adrian Utley
from Portishead is one of them, he’s been a
synth aficionado for many years. Then there’s
Graham Fitkin who’s a contemporary composer.
Eddie Parker is another one, he’s a Loose Tubes
jazz musician. It’s a real mixed bag, but they’re
all wonderful players.
We are trying to show off the instruments
to their best advantage. We do some Bach
in honour of Wendy Carlos, but we also write
new music and do a couple of film scores by
John Carpenter and some Kubrick stuff. What
we don’t want to do is become a 70s film score
tribute band.
The Moog was seen as a novelty when it first
arrived. But how many instruments can you say
were invented in your lifetime? People think
of them as retro, but they’re not. We moved on
quickly to digital instruments, but we’re saying
hang on a minute... these synths are instruments
that we might still be playing in two hundred
years, like violins. I could be wrong, but isn’t it
worth trying that out?
As told to Ben Bailey
Brighton Dome, 7th Nov, 7.15pm
....51....
COMEDY
.............................
Richard Carpenter
...is Close To You
Photo by Mark Dawson
When Matthew Floyd Jones struck on the idea of
writing a show about Richard Carpenter, he didn’t
have to look far for inspiration. The pianist had
spent nine years performing with vocalist Laura
Corcoran in cabaret double act Frisky & Mannish
and knew just how it felt to play second fiddle to a
charismatic frontwoman. “I thought that if Laura
and I were The Carpenters of cabaret, then I was
definitely Richard,” he says. “Karen Carpenter
was the one people really responded to; she was
the one with the iconic voice, that face, whereas
Richard is a bit awkward, a bit more controlling
and cerebral.”
The more he learned about the sibling stars, the
more parallels he saw in his relationship with
Corcoran: “I remember doing a TV interview
with Laura and I barely said one word because the
interviewer was only interested in Laura. When
you’re sitting side by side like that, you can’t help
but feel overlooked and that’s when paranoia and
jealousy settle in.” It is this tension – the desperate
desire to step out of someone else’s shadow and
be seen as a talent in one’s own right – that drives
the black comedy of Close To You. It imagines
Richard, the man who was once ‘on the top of the
world, to the left of (and slightly behind) Karen’,
finally telling his story.
“I didn’t want it to be a biography or a tribute
because I wanted to tell some of my story, based
on my experiences in Frisky & Mannish. But also,
there are legal difficulties in doing a show about
a real, living person. I was advised to make it very
clear this is a parody.” Jones doesn’t use actual
Carpenters’ songs in the show for similar reasons.
But his thinly disguised versions of classic tracks -
‘How come fish jump out of the sea, when you’re
walking on a beach next to me?’ – only underline
Richard’s attempt to take back control. “This is
a show that’s all about Richard and as he tries –
and fails – to show he can do it alone, it just adds
another layer of poignancy.”
It seems something of a departure from the camp,
high-energy pop fun of Frisky & Mannish but
Jones insists his sensibilities have always leaned
towards the darker side. “What Laura and I did
was pure entertainment. But the comedy I love
is darker stuff, stuff with heart. I like subverting
people’s expectations.”
In real life, he is on good terms with Corcoran
– in fact they are planning a tenth anniversary
Frisky & Mannish show next year – but he says
it has taken time for him to make peace with his
role in their partnership. “I used to be desperate
to control how people saw me, as Richard is in
the show, but now I’m through the other side of
that and feel much more relaxed in my own skin. I
guess that’s really what the show’s about – how to
stop worrying about what other people think and
accept yourself.” Nione Meakin
Komedia, 29th Nov, 8pm
....53....
LEWES CHAMBER MUSIC
FESTIVAL
C hristmas
C oncert
1st December 7:30pm
Trinity St John sub Castro, Lewes
Schubert
Beethoven
Ysaÿe
Mozart
Maria Wloszczowska, Tim Crawford, Beatrice Philips - violin
James Boyd, Adam Newman - viola Hannah Sloane - cello
Come and join musicians from the Lewes Chamber Music Festival for
their annual Christmas fundraising concert!
Mulled wine and mince pies included
TICKETS: £15 || FREE for 8-26yrs
www.leweschambermusicfestival.com
Charity No 1151928 01273 479865 and at Baldwins Travel
CLASSICAL
.............................
Brighton Early Music Festival
Early music, contemporary themes
The Brighton Early Music
Festival reaches its climax
this month with a concert
entitled Reformation
Remainers: Musicians,
zealots and loyalists in Tudor
England. When I talked to
Artistic Director Deborah
Roberts it was clear that
Brexit, and parallels with Reformation England,
are much on her mind. “Musicians have always
been migrants. If freedom of movement becomes
restricted, what will it mean for them?”
BREMF started the way so many creative
projects start – the question “what if...?” over
a cup of coffee. Singers Deborah Roberts and
Clare Norburn had recently met; Deborah was a
member of top vocal group The Tallis Scholars,
but, she says, “interested in more than just
singing.” The women discovered a shared desire
to bring early music (from the 12th to the 18th
centuries) to a wider audience – both listening
and performing.
From its beginnings in 2002 the Festival has
morphed into Brighton Early Music – a yearround
programme of concerts, workshops and
educational outreach, with several choirs drawn
from the community and a mentoring scheme
for young musicians. The appeal is broad. Many
BREMF Community Choir members join
without being able to read music, “but they want
to learn, and they do. There’s a thirst for this.
Not all newcomers to choirs want to just sing
show songs.”
Fine musical programming is one part of the
mix, then there’s the drama. “It’s vital to inject
contemporary energy into the music – the same
energy it would have had five or six hundred
years ago.” explains Deborah. “Most of this
music was never meant
to be listened to in the
traditional concert setting
we see today, with the
audience sitting silently.”
Strong themes and
unconventional stagings are
characteristic of BREMF
events. This year features
a Swedish wedding celebration at which the
audience sits cabaret-style, eating and drinking
while the music is performed around them.
“Dressing up is encouraged!” Deborah assures
me. At another concert you’ll encounter street
dance. And young musicians taking part in
BREMF Live! will sing and play in city pubs. It’s
classical music, but possibly not as we know it.
Reformation Remainers features three English
composers who were writing in times of religious
and political upheaval. The Catholic John
Taverner converted to Protestantism – at which
point, Deborah tells me, he stopped writing.
Thomas Tallis was also Catholic but “took the
strategic view”. And William Byrd was Protestant,
but converted. It’s not difficult to find hidden
political messages in much of the music of this
period, according to Deborah, “as well as sorrow
at what the country was going through.”
You can hear the BREMF Consort of Voices
directed by Deborah Roberts in the dramatic
interior of St Bartholomew’s on 10th November.
“St Bart’s is great – you can perform from
different spaces, have the sound circling around
the audience. There’s an element of surprise,”
says Deborah, “and ultimately it’s an uplifting
message – there’s always music. And there’s more
to music than pop.” Robin Houghton
St Bartholomew’s Church, 10th Nov, 7.30pm.
Tickets £18, under 12s free. bremf.org.uk
....55....
COMEDY
.............................
Intronauts
Microscopic maintenance crew
When I was a kid
I used to buy The
Beano and there
was a strip called
The Numbskulls
about people who
lived inside the
human brain. I was
just fascinated by it.
Then I saw a 1966
sci-fi movie called
Fantastic Voyage and,
in the early ’90s, Inner Space – two Hollywood
movies that took the idea of miniaturising
people, putting them in submarines and sending
them through the human body. I thought these
were ideas just ripe for a theatre production,
and particularly for a company with expertise in
puppetry – which allows you to do things that
would otherwise be difficult to stage.
We started thinking about why you might
be sending people inside the human body
and came up with the idea that in the future we
might have personal cleaners – we call them
intronauts – to carry out body maintenance.
So if you had, say, an ingrowing hair they
could go to that part of the body and push it
out from the inside. Intronauts use a sat-nav
to get from one part of the body to the other
and, using automated machinery, they can carry
out tasks. But of course the body has its own
defence mechanisms – and those can cause huge
problems for someone inside it.
The beauty of using puppetry is that it allows
you to do these cinematic things on stage.
Our intronaut appears not only as a physical
actor but also as a micro puppet of 12cm and
a taller one of 35cm. If we want to do a big
cinematic wide shot
of her floating away
or repairing her
craft we can choose
to do that on one of
those three scales
and switch between
them.
That’s how we
approach puppetry
– it’s about using the
right tools for the
job. I teach puppetry and I get a bit despondent
when someone wants to make a puppet show just
because they think puppets are cool. I encourage
them to think the other way round. Start with
the story you want to tell, work out if there’s a
scene that actors can’t do and that’s when you
bring in the puppetry.
There’s been a great sea change in the
way puppetry is seen. When I joined Green
Ginger in the late ’80s we stopped using the
‘P word’ to describe what we did. We’d say we
did ‘animations for street and stage’. The word
puppetry did not exist on our publicity and it
wasn’t just us. A lot of companies were trying
to get away from the stigma of being defined as
children’s entertainment. Now we’ve had huge,
large-scale, populist shows like The Lion King or
War Horse that have changed the way it’s seen.
It’s the continual challenges that appeal to
me. Every time I approach a new performance,
I have to come up with innovative ways to grab
and hold onto an audience’s attention. There’s
always more to learn.
As told to Nione Meakin by Chris Pirie, artistic
director of Green Ginger
The Old Market, 10th & 11th Nov
....57....
FILM
.............................
Cinema By The Sea
Sussex on celluloid
“I’ve always been intrigued by the show
business associations that Rottingdean has with
the rest of the world,” says Marcus Bagshaw,
self-confessed film fanatic and curator of the
Cinema By The Sea exhibition at The Grange
Museum in Rottingdean. “This exhibition is
a celebration of the Golden and Silver ages
of British Cinema and their associations with
Sussex, Brighton in particular.”
The associations are numerous: the 1953 comedy
classic Genevieve was partly shot on location
in Brighton, as was, of course, the 1947 film
noir Brighton Rock. Both are explored in the
exhibition. Other displays showcase glamorous
Hollywood idols with local connections: In April
1969 Barbra Streisand spent eight days filming
in the Royal Pavilion for the fantasy musical On
a Clear Day You Can See Forever. And Elizabeth
Taylor, whose breakthrough film was the 1944
Hollywood adaptation of Enid Bagnold’s National
Velvet, became lifelong friends with Bagnold and
regularly visited Rottingdean to see her.
“Another star attraction is Audrey Hepburn”,
says Marcus, “she was photographed by Illustrated
magazine as a 23-year-old starlet in June 1951
on Rottingdean beach, by the village pond and
posing next to Rottingdean windmill, much
of it in vivid colour. This was one of the great
discoveries of the exhibition, for me. To have
those associations with a star who became so big
and is still loved, revered and celebrated today.
It truly did start in Sussex and ultimately in
Rottingdean, who could have predicted that?”
The photographs offer an extraordinary glimpse
....58....
FILM
.............................
of a future icon on the threshold of superstardom.
“This exhibition reflects the time in history
when people really did go to the cinema, and
a lot of people went three, four or five times a
week. When I put this collection together one
of the most difficult things was deciding what
to include because I was absolutely spoilt for
choice.” The exhibition celebrates down-to-earth
cinema-going and the displays are constantly
evolving. One is currently being developed about
Gracie Fields, a huge name in 1930s stage and
screen: “she was a massive, massive star of her
time and we have her gold-plated gramophone.
She was the highest paid entertainer in the world
and she made her home in Peacehaven where
she also founded an orphanage.”
“Cinema By The Sea is made up of rare ephemera
by the way of dazzling film posters, lobby cards
and costumes. It is proving to be really captivating
for visitors. Most people can relate to film, they
grew up with film, they went to the cinema in
the days when cinema was at its height. They
remember these films, they remember the stars
....59....
that are highlighted here and for them it’s really a
rush of nostalgia. What I hope this achieves is that
there will be a reawakening of interest in these
stars and their cinematic triumphs. The very fact
that it was all happening under the Sussex skies is
quite something.” Thomas Dadswell
‘Cinema By The Sea’ continues at The Grange
Museum, Rottingdean until Easter 2019.
10am-4pm Tuesday to Saturday, 2pm-4pm Sundays.
Entry is free.
ART
.............................
Reuben Mednikoff, January 3, 1938, 11am – January 4, 1938, 6pm. Private Collection. Photo: Andy Keate
A Tale of Mother’s Bones
Dali meets Freud
Reuben Mednikoff and Grace
Pailthorpe met at a party in
February, 1935. He was 29,
a graduate of St Martin’s
School of Art and an ad
designer. She was 23 years
older, a psychoanalyst, who
had been a surgeon in WW1,
and a doctor in a goldmine in
Western Australia.
Sparks must have flown when
they met. They soon embarked
on an investigation that was
to last them the rest of their
lives, living and working
together, exploring how art
could be used to free the mind
and prevent violence and
oppression. One of them would
paint a picture, and the other
would concoct a psychoanalytic
study of what it revealed.
And vice versa. They called it
‘Psychorealism’. She got better
at painting; he got better at
psychoanalysis.
The first exhibition of their
work for 20 years – A Tale of
Mother’s Bones – has started at
the De La Warr Pavilion, cocurated
by Dr Hope Wolf, of
the University of Sussex, who
shows me round the gallery
two days before the exhibition
opens. It’s an absorbing
experience.
The pair were well known, in
British Surrealist circles, in the
1930s, Hope tells me, as she
walks me through paintings
which represent six phases
of their career together. In
....60....
ART
.............................
1936, they were shown in
the International Surrealist
Exhibition in London,
alongside works by the likes of
Duchamp, Picasso and Dali.
André Breton was said to have
called their art ‘the best and
most truly Surrealist’ of the
contributions by English artists.
“Early on, the subjects that are
coming through include the
trauma of birth – how it was
thought to be the root of adult
emotional complexes – and
sibling rivalry,” Dr Wolf tells
me, as we examine powerful,
colourful images. There are
stylised wombs, and foetuses,
and figures emerging from
small houses.
The couple escaped to America
and Canada during WW2, to
protect their growing archive
of notes, texts, photographs,
and paintings from bombing
raids. Their work had by then
become more political, though
no less psychoanalytical.
Hitler and Mussolini were
seen as “greedy ex-babies,
unable to share their cradle
with others…” Pailthorpe also
had much to say about wars
between the sexes, and argued
that better ideas would be
created by men and women
working together.
In later life, back in England,
they became interested
in Buddhism, Creative
Meditation, and Agni
Yoga, and their paintings
– particularly those by
Pailthorpe – became more
abstract, and even more
colourful. It all seems a lot
freer, perhaps. Dr Wolf
ponders whether they found
release from the demons that
haunted their earlier work.
“Or do the monstrous and
maternal forms that emerge…
suggest they were unable to
start afresh?”
The couple spent their last
years in Sussex, running ‘The
Little Georgian Antiques
Shop’ in Battle. Despite their
age difference, they died a
year apart, in 1971 and 1972,
not as celebrated as they once
were, but not quite forgotten:
their paintings were exhibited
in Hastings in the last year of
Pailthorpe’s life. Alex Leith
A Tale of Mother’s Bones: Grace
Pailthorpe, Reuben Mednikoff
and the Birth of Psychorealism
is at the De La Warr Pavilion
until 20th January 2019.
Reuben Mednikoff, The Blue Hill. Private Collection. Photo: Ivan Coleman
Grace Pailthorpe, Private Collection. Photo: Ivan Coleman
....61....
The
Everyday
Extraordinary
and
An Arts Council Collection National Partners Exhibition
29 September 2018 –
6 January 2019
Towner Art Gallery
townereastbourne.org.uk
Free entry
Conceived by Birmingham Museums Trust, in partnership with Towner Art Gallery
as part of the Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme 2016–19
Image: Jean-Luc Vilmouth, Five Heads, 1981. © The artist’s estate. Arts Council Collection,
Southbank Centre, London. Installation photo by David Rowan, courtesy of Birmingham Museums Trust
ART
....................................
ART & ABOUT
In town this month...
It’s getting to be that time of the year and, with Christmas in mind,
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery has a real treat for the kids
(and their parents) with an exhibition of artworks from Raymond
Briggs’ much loved The Snowman, until the 5th of January. The
Christmas Artists Open Houses festival, as ever, sees artists’
houses and studios open to the public along several trails right
across the city and beyond, on the last weekend of November, and
the first two of December. Check aoh.org.uk for the full line-up.
Hello Marine at MADE Brighton
And whilst you’re gift shopping, there’s the design and craft fair MADE
Brighton (24th) in St Bartholomew’s Church for the third year
running. It’s right across the road from the home of organisers Tutton
and Young at Atelier 51 (well worth a visit). Also, this month, Philippa
Stanton, the synaesthetic photographer who has half a million Instagram
followers (and a new book out), is showing her work at 64 Sandgate
Road (Nov 17th-18th / 24th-25th). Check out the King’s Arches on
the seafront, where Castor & Pollux has a new batch of owner Mike
Levy’s prints
and ceramics, while the nearby Brighton
Photography Gallery sells glorious Sussexshot
scenes, and the 2019 Brighton & Hove
Calendar. This Christmas staple features 52
photos by 21 photographers, the full year’s
tide tables and local event diary. Also available
from City Books (Western Road) and
Kensington Gardens. [brightoncalendar.com]
Brighton & Hove Calendar 2019
It’s a busy month for the city’s independent galleries. Cameron
Contemporary Art, in Hove, continue their exhibition of Kevin
Hendley’s stylised portraiture (see VB #68), while down the road at
Whistleblower Gallery you can see Radiohead cover artist Stanley
Donwood’s Watermarks until the 4th. At 35 North, in North Laine,
there’s an exhibition with a difference… The Mitre’s Touch sees the
framers choose the artwork, rather than vice versa (Nov 22nd - Dec
22nd). [35northgallery.com]
Fall by Stanley Donwood
....63....
© Snowman Enterprises Ltd, 2018
An exhibition of the
original illustrations
20 October 2018
to 6 January 2019
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Free with Brighton
Museum admission
Open Tue-Sun 10am-5pm
Closed Mon, 25 & 26 Dec
03000 290902
brightonmuseums.org.uk
Contemporary
British Painting and
Sculpture
We look forward to welcoming
you to our gallery in Hove.
OPENING TIMES
Mon—Sat 10.30am—5pm
Sunday/bank holidays 12pm—5pm
Closed Tuesday
For more details visit
CAMERONCONTEMPORARY.COM
ART
....................................
In town this month...
Marcelina Amelia at Brush Gallery
At Brush, in Gloucester Road, you can see the latest of Marcelina Amelia’s
dreamy and darkly innocent folk-inspired work. At Gallery 40 there’s a
solo show featuring work by our February cover artist Mark Charlton
(12th-25th). And at ONCA, Lily Rigby’s semi-abstract land and seascapes
form the show Where Sky Meets Land (Nov 3rd-11th). If you want, in the
meantime, to check out some more modern design and art, try the new
Design Renaissance Gallery, at 70 Western Road in Hove, featuring oneoff
and collectible furniture from France and Italy,
as well as contemporary art, all for sale. If you’re
looking for something a little quirkier, check out
the Hans Christian Andersen show The Nightingale
(at the Old Ship Hotel on Nov 29th-Dec 2nd), where all the locally made
props, costumes and sets will be on sale, to pick up after the last performance.
The Nightingale
Out of town...
There are two related exhibitions at Ditchling Museum of Art
+ Craft that run till April 28th. MacDonald ‘Max’ Gill is famous
for a body of illustrative advertising which embraced the modern
age while drawing heavily on the past. Much of this is on display in
Max Gill – Wonderground Man, alongside the show Changing Lives –
Ditchling Artists in WW1, telling the stories of three artist-soldiers:
Joseph Cribb, Louis Ginnett and David Jones.
Beachy Head Lady
© Eastbourne Borough Council
Towner Gallery in Eastbourne continue with
their exhibition The Everyday and Extraordinary,
featuring artists’ use of the found object, drawn
from the Arts Council Collection (till Jan 6th).
While you’re there, check out oil painter Simon
Ling, famous for depicting the dilapidated urban
buildings he finds near his East London studio
(till Jan 27th). The Devonshire Collective and
Writing our Legacy are putting on a show in the DC1 Gallery in
Eastbourne called Diverse Sussex (5th-24th), featuring artists who
have responded to Sussex’s diverse heritage, including Maria Amidu,
Akila Richards and Amanda Jobson. There are other exhibits,
including a forensic facial reconstruction sculpture of the skull of
Roman-era sub-Saharan Beachy Head Lady.
Lewes’ Martyrs’ Gallery
offers a real treat to art lovers
between 10th Nov and 16th
Dec: Something Glowing and
Alive, an exhibition featuring
work from three veritable
luminaries of twentiethcentury
art, Marc Chagall,
John Piper and Graham
Sutherland, originally
commissioned by Walter
Hussey, former Dean of
Chichester.
Marc Chagall
....65....
BRUSH Gallery
84 Gloucester Road BN1 4AP
www.brushbrighton.co.uk
@brushbrighton 07535 118513
ART
....................................
Out of town...
Photo by Axel Hesslenberg
At Charleston you’ve got till the 6th of Jan to see Orlando at
the present time, a series of responses in the Wolfson Galleries by
contemporary artists – such as Kaye Donachie, Delaine Le Bas
and Matt Smith, to Virginia Woolf’s ground-breaking 1928 novel.
The South Gallery, meanwhile, features striking LGBTQIA+
portraits by Zanele Muholi, while the Spotlight Gallery hosts
Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s Famous Women Dinner Service.
Now the house is open year-round, join them on the 25th and 26th
for the festive Frost Fair, bringing 30 contemporary makers into
the refurbished barns with plenty of Christmas goodies and gift ideas. There will be winter lunches, hot
toddies and mince pies, and natural wreaths, swags, garlands and Christmas trees in the Barnyard.
Cruise to the Edge II © Roger Dean
Trading Boundaries, near Sheffield Park,
have a long-standing relationship with
Lewes-resident artist Roger Dean, most
famous for his phantasmagorical covers for
the prog rock bands Yes and Asia. He’s got
a solo exhibition from 1st Nov to 9th Dec
called Crossing the Line.
Finally, if you
fancy a trip up
to Maresfield,
Hendall
Manor Barns
are holding the
Hendall Arts
Exhibition on
3rd-4th November with work by over 20
local artists and makers.
Vanishing Point 7 © Barbara Walker
Three exhibitions started
up at the Jerwood in
Hastings in late October,
which all run till Jan
6th. We mentioned
the collaborative work
of Maggi Hambling
with her artist friends
Sebastian Horsley,
Sarah Lucas, Julian
Simmons and Juergen
Teller, on in the main
gallery, last month. In
Vanishing Points upstairs, you can see the thoughtprovoking
work of Barbara Walker, who has
picked two paintings featuring black subjects from
the National Gallery (by Tiepolo and Giordano)
and has juxtaposed these with her own works,
to examine the historical masterpieces in a fresh
context. And there’s a bit of light relief with
Quentin Blake’s Hats. Oh, and
while you’re over that way,
why not check out the
exhibition of Marilyn
Stafford’s iconic fashion
photographs, from Biba
to Chanel, at the Lucy
Bell Gallery in St Leonard’s
(27th Oct – 17th Nov).
Quentin Blake, The World of Hats, mixed media, 2018, © the artist
....67....
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DESIGN
....................................
Ryan Gillett
at the Brighton Illustration Fair
Brighton Illustration Fair is back for its fourth
year. This year’s selected local artist is Ryan
Gillett, whose vibrant, playful designs will be
brightening up the Sallis Benney theatre for the
event. “I feel like my happiness comes through
in my drawings quite a lot,” he says. “I’m not a
very serious person. I’m not really one for crazy,
in depth conversations… I’d rather hang out
with dogs, and skate.”
Ryan was set on drawing from a young age:
“When I was seven years old my dad drew a
plane in front of me after dinner – he’s in the
RAF so all he draws is planes – and I was like,
‘wow, how did you do that?’ Since then I’ve
been trying to draw.” He went on to study art
and design and then did a degree in Illustration
at Southampton Solent University. “As soon as
I left uni I thought, I need to find a style that
no one else has – which is obviously really hard,
because there are so many great illustrators
around. I tried out lots of different stippling
techniques and sponges and brushes. I would do
something for a couple of months and then try
something else.”
Eventually Ryan found his style, which he
creates by drawing on a very small scale with
a super-soft 6B pencil, and then scanning his
work and scaling it up. “The pencil pretty much
....69....
DESIGN
....................................
disintegrates while I’m drawing, because
it’s so soft,” he says, “so when you blow
the image up you can see all the grainy
bits. Then I just bump up the contrast
in Photoshop and it comes out like
that.” The unique look has earned him
commissions of all sorts…
“I’ve done a lot of editorial illustration
work,” he says; some of his past clients
have included Smith Journal and Culture
Trip. “Sometimes you get sent an article
that’s quite dry and you have to think
of a way to boost it up, but this one”
– an illustration of a pig curled up on
a toothbrush – “was for a Canadian
magazine called Cottage Life. The article
was about bacon-flavoured products and
how things had got out of hand and this
guy had been given bacon-flavoured
toothpaste for his birthday. That was an
amazing article.”
Earlier in the year, Ryan was
commissioned by local menswear store
Peggs & son and clothing brand Folk to
come up with an illustration for a new
t-shirt collection. “I always see these
surfers standing on the seafront, but
there’s no waves in Brighton, so that’s
what I imagine they’re daydreaming
about…” His illustration Gnarly,
featuring a would-be surfer with a minime
surfing through his flowing hair, was
sold by P&s with profits going to the
local charity Amaze.
Check out more of Ryan’s work at
ryangillett.com and on Instagram (@
ryanpetergillett) or go along and say “hi”
to him at BIF on the 3rd & 4th, where
there will be workshops, screenings and
talks across the weekend. Tickets are
£5 (per day, £7 for the weekend) and
available via Eventbrite.
Rebecca Cunningham
brightonillustrationfair.co.uk
....71....
LOCAL MAKER
....................................
Yolande Beer
Painterly pots
My decoration is quite
figurative and that comes
from my love of life drawing.
Most people just put their
drawings away, but I thought
‘I want to use this.’ My tutors
said, ‘you’re mad to put figures
on pots. The Greeks mastered
it.’ But I did it, and I’m still
doing it now, more than thirty
years later.
I studied three-dimensional
design at Brighton College
of Art, with a view to
becoming a jeweller. I loved to
draw, and all of my drawings
were huge, but my jewellery
was tiny. I’d spend three
months on one brooch and I
felt so confined, as opposed
to feeling liberated when I
did life drawing. So, in my
final year, against some of the
tutors’ advice, I switched to
working in ceramics so I could
work more freely.
At my degree show, I was
offered an exhibition at
a new gallery that was
opening in Chelsea. Then
I applied to South East Arts
for a grant, which enabled me
to set up a studio in Brighton
and it all took off from there.
After three years I got a
scholarship to travel to Japan.
Before that time my work
was mostly sgraffito [a type of
decoration made by scratching
through a surface glaze to
reveal a contrasting colour
beneath], because that was
one of the techniques taught
at the Brighton ceramics
....72....
LOCAL MAKER
....................................
department. I got a job making
tableware in a Japanese factory where I
used a brush to decorate the work, and
that allowed me to bring together my
love of ceramics and drawing.
In Japan I was making mostly
stoneware, but now my showroom
is divided between stoneware and
earthenware. I throw the majority
of my work on the wheel, but I do
find coiling a great pleasure. It’s time
consuming but so simple. I also use
plaster moulds to make large plaques
and then I’ll carve and hand model,
push, pull and pinch the pieces.
I decorate with natural pigments
– iron oxide, cobalt and copper – on
my stoneware work, because they
can survive the high temperature
firing. On my earthenware pieces I
use commercially prepared pigments
to give me a broader range. They
come in every colour of the rainbow,
but if I used them on the stoneware,
they would burn away. Then I apply
a transparent glaze to bring out the
different colours.
My painterly pots used to be in
the shop at Charleston. I love the
figures painted above the fireplace
in the drawing room there. They are
charming and so free. I’m inspired by
the style of Vanessa Bell and Duncan
Grant. Their ad-libbing. They hardly
used pencil. To have an idea and to just
go for it... that’s something after my
own heart.
As told to Lizzie Lower
Yolande Beer will be at MADE Brighton
at St Bartholomew’s Church, Ann
Street, on Saturday 24th of November.
yolandebeer.co.uk
Photos by Lizzie Lower
....73....
Designers - Makers - Artists - Vintage - Veggy food -
Workshops - Live Music
BAZAAR
WWE LIVE
Fri 9 Nov
THE AUSTRALIAN
PINK FLOYD
Sat 17 Nov
£1 Entry
suggested
donation
11am
- 5pm
NOEL FITZPATRICK
IS THE SUPERVET
Sat 24 Nov
BJORN AGAIN
Fri 30 Nov
Brighton Unitarian Church, New Rd, Brighton BN1 1UF
box office 0844 847 1515 *
www.brightoncentre.co.uk
*calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone
company’s access charge
THE WAY WE WORK
This month, Adam Bronkhorst met five members of staff at the Duke of York’s and
Dukes at Komedia, capturing them at work (some working harder than others).
We asked them: what’s your favourite film?
adambronkhorst.com | 07879 401333
Ellis Shergold
“City of God.”
THE WAY WE WORK
Carolynn Reddell
“Stardust.”
THE WAY WE WORK
Graeme Dalling
“Jaws.”
THE WAY WE WORK
Lewis McNulty
“Raging Bull.”
THE WAY WE WORK
Isaac Carroll
“Withnail and I.”
“To renew or refurbish!
That is the question!
Shell the kitchen bare
And refit brand new cabinets
“Or…just refresh and rejuvenate!
Discard drooping doors and
saggy drawers and replace with
something gay and painted bright
Maybe a Farrow and Ball
Semi-gloss slipper satin white.”
‘It is a weighty matter
Mr Hamilton
And requires thoughtful
Contemplation.”
We have thirty years
Designing and installing
Kitchens and bedrooms.
We have become a leading
specialist advising clients
whether to renew entirely
or just thoughtfully refurbish.
Call Stephen Hamilton our
Chief designer for a site visit and
Intelligent planning discussion.
On our first visit we will give you
A pretty good idea of what
Is possible and what it would cost
Then we just leave you to
Your contemplations. Regards
Kitchen
Carousel
Just call to chat 07565 722055
kitchencarousel.co.uk
FOOD
.............................
Pascere
A Saturday lunch to savour
With its understated
elegance and intimate
atmosphere, Pascere is
the perfect choice for
an evening out, but, as
my friend Frances and
I discover one autumn
afternoon, it also makes
for a decadent lunch
spot.
From the comfort of
the smart interior and
our seat in the picture
window, we watch
the Saturday shoppers being blown about a
blustery Duke Street. Decked out in deep teal
woodwork, marble-topped tables and brushed
golden surfaces, Pascere is a very civilised place
to hide out from a wet weekend.
The menu is equally refined, with three
choices each ‘to start’, ‘to follow’ and ‘to
finish’. We both choose BBQ brassicas,
trompettes, girolles and Tunworth to start,
then tuck into the springy beetroot focaccia
served with whipped Jersey butter.
Soon, an artful arrangement of seared
brussels sprouts, broccoli and the most
delicate mushrooms is served. The dish is
small but perfectly formed with a superb
balance of flavours.
Frances chooses the cornfed chicken breast
to follow. It is, she reports, perfectly cooked,
with a crisp skin and a melt-in-the-mouth
texture, served with a sweet potato cream,
parsnips and golden beetroot. She savours
every bite. It becomes clear that sharing is to
be limited to slivers.
Likewise, my confit Pippa potato, smoked
savoy, brown sauce and black truffle is
Photo by Lizzie Lower
something I’d rather
keep all for myself. I’m
not sure how one goes
about smoking cabbage,
but it is sublime, with
a little tomato adding
sweetness to the salty
smokiness. Combined
with the soft, waxy
potato, the lightest
pecorino foam, al dente
root vegetables, and
dabbed with the intense
sauce, it is one of the
most delicious plates of food that I’ve eaten in
a long time.
The service is excellent, too. The staff are
warm and conversational; not overdoing
the notes on provenance and preparation
but enthusiastically knowledgeable when we
want to know more. And this is food worth
talking about; the sort of food that has earned
Pascere a spot in The Good Food Guide (one of
just 23 Brighton restaurants that feature).
We’re not ready to rejoin the world yet, so
we order cheese and gelato. The cheese is
very nice, but it is eclipsed by the gelato. One
quenelle of pistachio with an intense taste
of marzipan is complemented by another
flavoured with coffee, and all scooped up on
a wafer of bitter chocolate brioche. A mild
scuffle breaks out over the last spoonful.
At £78 (without wine), it’s not an average
Saturday afternoon lunch bill, but it’s been far
from an average lunch. Pascere has garnered
its fair share of rave reviews since it opened
in the summer of 2017. Here’s another (well
deserved) one to add to the pile. Lizzie Lower
8 Duke Street, pascere.co.uk
....81....
RECIPE
.............................
Photo by Adam Bronkhorst, adambronkhorst.com
....82....
RECIPE
.............................
Beetroot bourguignon
A cosy winter dish from the new
menu at The Better Half
I think vegetarian cuisine is the toughest
food business in Brighton at the moment.
I have a lot of experience – I used to work
at Food for Friends, and before that at
1847 – so I’m usually in charge of coming
up with the veggie options on our menu
at The Better Half. I’m not vegetarian
myself but I’ve learnt to be very creative
with my cooking. It’s difficult to be
different. The vegetarian restaurant scene
is very competitive and if you don’t keep
mixing things up, people get bored.
I’m originally from Hungary, and I get a
lot of inspiration from different cuisines
from different countries. I used to live in
Mexico and I had a small restaurant in a
brewery, where we served international,
beer-related food. For example, I made
pierogi from Poland, which went with
a Polish beer. I had a goulash from
Hungary, with a Hungarian beer. Fish and
chips from England with an English beer.
Our new menu at The Better Half has a
greater focus on food and drink pairings;
we already support local producers in the
kitchen, so it makes sense to be able to
recommend a local cider to go with your
locally sourced meat.
This is a simple dish but very tasty.
Basically, you slow-cook the beetroot,
vegetables and herbs in beetroot juice,
until the liquid reduces down to a rich
consommé. Then you spice it up with
some ingredients you might not expect…
It’s served with roasted vegetables, and a
sprinkling of locally made goat’s cheese.
To go with the bourguignon I’d
recommend a wintery red wine, maybe a
Malbec. I’m a big fan of Malbec though
so perhaps I’m biased, but it does go
especially well with goat’s cheese.
To make the base, chop some fresh
beetroot, carrots, celery and onion into
large cubes. Finely slice an onion and
a few cloves of garlic, and fry in a large
saucepan for a couple of minutes. Add
the chopped vegetables, and some fresh
rosemary and thyme. Semi-cover the
vegetables with beetroot juice and a glug
of red wine, then simmer the mixture over
a low heat until the juice reduces down to
a thicker consistency.
Roast a mixture of vegetables in the oven:
we use sliced portobello mushrooms, baby
potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash.
Cover them in a little oil and sprinkle
over some star anise and rosemary.
When the beetroot base and the roasted
vegetables are ready, remove a few basil
leaves from their stems and fry until
slightly crispy. Plate up the roasted
vegetables first, top with the beetroot
mixture and pour over some of the juices.
Sprinkle over the goat’s cheese, basil
leaves, and a small handful of chopped
raspberries. Enjoy! As told to Rebecca
Cunningham by Beata Koszta
The Better Half, 1 Hove Place
Now taking Christmas bookings – visit
thebetterhalfpub.co.uk / 01273 737869
....83....
A-news bouche
November 2nd is Day of the Dead and there
are plenty of places to get into the spirit: La
Choza have a week of celebrations (29th Oct
to 3rd Nov) with special menus and activities at
both restaurants; Wahaca are serving a feasting
menu (traditional dress encouraged!); Carlito
Burrito have had their window done up
by illustrator Freddie Marlborough,
or why not try Pakal Taco Bar
(gluten-free tacos), Zona Rosa,
Tlaloc pop-up at Osetta Café or
DeadGood Burrito?
There’s loads on at The Community Kitchen;
our pick this month is ‘Make your own
Charcuterie’ with Craig from Barfields. Make
traditional British bacon and more, 1st Nov, 7pm,
£45. Jen Lindsey-Clark – aka the Chocolatician
– runs workshops, where you’ll learn chocolatemaking
fundamentals like tempering and
decoration [chocolatician.com]. And if you’re in a
chocolatey mood, the Chocolate Cocktail Club
are at the Vine Club serving ‘chocolate
twists on classic cocktails’ from 15th
Nov to 15th Dec (Thurs-Sat only)
Tickets £10.
The
Croque shop
D ELI TO GO
made in Brighton Sausage rolls
Local Organic Pork sausage meat
Vegetarian and vegan options
9 Duke street Brighton BN1 1AH
www.croqueshop.co.uk
Celebrate ‘Thanksgiving on our Side of
the Pond’ at Bolney Wine Estate on the
23rd, where they’ll be serving a traditional
Thanksgiving menu, accompanied by a glass
of their own Lychgate red or white. Tickets
£23 (two courses) or £26 (three courses)
from bolneywineestate.com. And a big happy
birthday to FareShare Sussex, the food-waste
redistribution charity, who turn 15
this year. They’re celebrating
with a fundraising meal, hosted
by zero-waste partners Silo, on
22nd Nov. Tickets £38.50 via
silo.dinesuperb.com.
....84....
email: erika@gentedemezcal.com
FOOD
........................
Irma’s Kitchen
Caribbean curry in Kemp Town
Last year I was invited by a lady called Natalie to
try out her home cooking. She was of Guyanese
heritage, and had got a group of ‘tasters’ together
to get some feedback. I went along and was served
up dish after dish of scrumptious Caribbean fare.
The result of this planning was a café you’ve very
possibly passed on St James’s Street, called ‘Irma’s
Kitchen’, Irma being Nathalie’s nom de cuisine.
Next time you’re round there, make sure it’s
lunchtime, and that you walk through the door.
Or breakfast time, for that matter. Natalie has
made Irma’s Kitchen an interesting hybrid, where
you can get a full English, if you don’t fancy
a Guyanese speciality. I’m here with my wife
Rowena, and we very much go for the latter. She
chooses a Guyana Curry Beef (£7.10), I choose
a Spicy Creole Cajun Chicken & Rice (£7.20).
Just after
we order, a
three-generation
Caribbean group sits at the last available
table: we take this as a good sign.
Natalie is apologetic that we might have to wait a
bit for our food - everything’s made pretty much
from scratch, she says, and the place is jammed.
She points to a picture on the wall saying ‘Irma
says: good food takes time’; I don’t care, especially
when I learn they do pints of Stella.
Twenty minutes later, my dish arrives, with fried
platanos, a salad and a spicy sauce. Turns out it’s
tell-all-your-mates-about-the-place delicious,
fruitily spicy, and well, well worth the wait.
Alex Leith
85 St James’s St, irmaskitchen.co.uk
Photo by Alex Leith
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Our food is plant based
....85....
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HISTORY
....................................
The Brighton School
An Edwardian legal drama
When the movies were in
their infancy, in the early
part of the twentieth century,
the Brighton and Hove
conurbation had the right to
think of itself as the cinematic
capital of the country. Sadly
the ‘Brighton School’ ended in
acrimony, with a complicated
legal battle involving two of its major
protagonists, George Albert Smith and William
Friese-Greene.
Brighton was, at the time, the country’s most
popular seaside resort. The entertainment
industry here was a competitive and innovative
melting pot, with many photographers at work.
It was, then, a natural place for the movingimage
industry to incubate, and it became
the workplace for an inordinate number of
important cinematic innovators.
Smith cut his teeth as a hypnotist, illusionist
and magic lantern projectionist, before he got
involved with cinema. The skills he learnt were
solid groundwork for his future career as a film
director. This began in 1896, when he purchased
a prototype cine-camera from Alfred Darling, a
brilliant Brighton-based engineer who sold selfmade
film apparatus around the world. Darling
also helped Smith set up a film studio in St Ann’s
Well Gardens.
Over the next fifteen years, Smith was
prodigiously creative, making hundreds of short
films. In doing so he invented much of the
grammar of filmmaking, including close-ups,
double exposure and point-of-view shots.
Enter stage right William Friese-Greene, a
Bristol-born inventor who had built a motionpicture
camera in 1889 - years before Edison
or the Lumière Brothers - and now had set up
a workshop in Middle Street,
where he developed a method
for showing films in colour.
Friese-Greene was brilliantly
innovative, but he was no
entrepreneur, having returned
from a brief spell in prison
for borrowing money when
bankrupt.
In 1911 Walter Speer, who ran the Queen’s
Electric Theatre - a prototype cinema in Western
Road - formed a company to start making and
showing films using Friese-Greene’s ‘Biocolour’
system. This was the start of all the trouble.
Charles Urban, the London-based American
film entrepreneur, had financed Smith to
develop a colour filming process. After many
years of research, this was finally launched
commercially as ‘Kinemacolor’ in 1909. Even
though Friese-Greene had patented his system
as early as 1906, Smith and Urban took out
an injunction against him, claiming that it had
copied from Smith’s system. The case went on
for several years. Smith and Urban won the
first round, but, backed by money from the
flamboyant racing driver Selwyn Edge, Friese-
Greene successfully appealed. A counter appeal
went as far as the House of Lords in 1915, which
Friese-Greene again won.
George Albert Smith’s patent was revoked, and
Charles Urban’s Natural Color Kinematograph
Company went into receivership. But this didn’t
do Friese-Greene much good. By then, colour
film-making had taken a back seat to the war
effort, which effectively signalled an end to
his work, as well as that of Smith, and thus the
demise of the Brighton School.
Alex Leith, with thanks to Peter Domankiewicz
friesegreene.com
Image: Friese-Greene test - Kino The Girl Of Colour © BFI
....87....
TALKING SHOP
....................................
Zoingimage
Photographic film fanatcis
We opened ten years ago, around the time
that Lomography started to become popular.
Lomography is a very basic form of photography
which produces photos that are really not perfect
at all – you get light leaks – and there are lots
of different types of film you can use that give
lots of different effects. This was also iPhone 3/
iPhone 4 era, so there weren’t so many apps that
gave you filters and that kind of thing – the only
way to achieve those effects at the time was with
film. It was really fashionable, but like everything
it kind of faded away – yet film photography has
remained very popular.
Film photography has always been a passion
of mine. In the last few years it’s had a real
resurgence; every day we get people coming in
who want to have a go, young people especially.
I think it’s a bit like vinyl: people recognise that
there’s something quite unique and special about
film. A photograph taken with a film camera is
not the same as one taken with a digital camera.
First of all, you’re not going to take thirty of the
same picture! You’re going to be more selective.
Then there’s the thing of having to wait for the
image. And the photograph itself – the grain, the
quality – is not at all like a digital image. At least
I hope that’s why it’s popular – I suspect a lot of
people like it because film cameras look cool…
All the photos in the shop are taken by me. I
still shoot mostly on film, especially for my own
....88....
TALKING SHOP
....................................
Photos by Rebecca Cunningham
personal use. If there’s an event on in Brighton
and I want a quick image so that I can produce
it on a print for the weekend, I’ll take it on my
digital camera – within two days I can have a
product ready. But if I go on holiday with the
family, or when I’m walking around town, I use
film. I don’t think one medium is better than the
other; they each have their own uses.
I would say the main things we sell are the
pictures of Brighton and the souvenirs – the
postcards and canvases and fridge magnets – all
of which we make here in the shop. We do
digital printing, inkjet printing and large-format
printing, so for all the products that we sell, we
offer a service where you can have your own
photo put onto them. We don’t process film
on-site, but we work with a local lab called
Colourstream so we can offer this service. We
sell second-hand film cameras – anything from
£20 point-and-shoot cameras to an SLR, if you
want to take it a bit more seriously – and we sell
lots of film, especially small-batch film.
Sometimes I wonder what the next trend in
photography will be. Surely for film to have
come back into fashion, we must have gone
full circle. But I guess the progression of film is
about the sharing aspect of it; now, when people
shoot on film, they have the ability to get the
images in a digital format, not just in print. So I
guess we’ll see…
As told to Rebecca Cunningham by Serge Rolland
1 Sydney Street, zoingimage.com
....89....
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THE LOWDOWN ON...
....................................
Street-casting
Casting Director, Lucy Pardee
I’ve got a reputation as somebody who will
go and pick people off the streets to be in
films. People who’ve never acted before but
have something we’re looking for that matches
the role in the film. I work with a brilliant set of
female assistants and scouts. In our game, you
have to be able to talk to people. A lot of the
communities we work in are supposedly ‘hard to
reach’ because they are working class or BAME
- but usually because no-one is asking them to
be part of things.
I’ve worked with Andrea Arnold on three
of her films; American Honey most recently,
and Wuthering Heights and Fish Tank before
that. I spotted the lead for Fish Tank on a train
platform, shouting at an ex-boyfriend. I was
looking for a young woman with fire and she
was burning with it. When I spot someone,
something about them will strike me. It’s usually
about their energy more than their look. I’ll go
over and chat with them, ask them if they’ve
done any acting before and explain what I’m
doing. Surprisingly, I get very few people who
tell me to shove off.
I try to cast as authentically as possible. For
Perfect Ten (see pg 26) we needed a gymnast,
so we went to lots of gym clubs. For American
Honey, we stood on the beach in Florida for
weeks during Spring Break and went driving
around places like West Virginia and rural
Texas, looking for people who were also looking
for something in a way. The kids we cast were
amazing young people, all open to adventure.
That’s an important quality.
If I’m looking at schools, I don’t leave it up
to the staff to select who comes forward.
They aren’t looking for the same kind of energy
that I am. Quite often the kids that are perfect
for casting aren’t necessarily going to toe the
line in school. It takes a lot of guts.
When we were casting for Perfect Ten,
the Youth and Employability Service in
Whitehawk were hugely supportive. They
put it out on Facebook and encouraged people
to come and audition. I always thought that
Brighton and places like Peacehaven would be
interesting for casting. They have great energy
and great faces, and people are just outside a lot
more here, so it’s easier to spot them.
Conventional casting doesn’t take too long,
but street-casting is different. It’s a needle-ina-haystack
business. A lot of young people aren’t
represented in the mainstream media, or in
drama school. They don’t see people who look
or sound like them on screen. I’m interested in
filling that gap. We need to populate the film
industry, front and back, from all walks of life
because it’s still a very white, male-dominated
and privileged space. Everyone needs to have a
seat at the table. I don’t want the kids I’m casting
to only be in social realism. The hope is to blow
the doors off and let them tell the stories they
want to tell.
As told to Lizzie Lower
....91....
MY SPACE
........................
Brighton Film School
Cath Pick, Head of Second Year
“It’s a good time in the industry,” says Cath Pick,
Head of Second Year at Brighton Film School.
“There are more and more openings. A good
percentage of our recent graduates are already
working for local production companies, one
has been given an internship at the BBC, and
another one at Warner Brothers.”
Cath’s job – with the rest of her team – is to
prepare budding film makers for a career in the
film and television industry. “There are three
distinct areas you can go into,” she explains.
“There’s editorial or creative, which is writing,
directing or producing; technical, which includes
camera and sound and editing, and then there’s
organisational, so production managing, line
production. But increasingly students need to
have a working knowledge across all three of
those areas to hit the ground running.”
All students begin by studying the fundamentals
of camera work, editing, sound and lighting,
using industry-standard equipment and software.
Across the two sites – one on London Road, the
other off Ditchling Road – the school has an
editing suite, theatres set up for screenings, a set
and a full range of cameras – including Super 8
and 16mm film cameras. “I think our technical
staff would very much like everyone to use film,”
Cath says. “Some of the students have shot on
Super 8 and some third years are shooting on
16mm at the moment. The cameras are beautiful
machines, and you can shoot on film and then
transfer it to digital for editing purposes.
....92....
MY SPACE
....................................
The problem with film, of course, is it’s very
expensive, but in a way, the constraint of
using film is a really good discipline because
you can’t afford mistakes. You have to get it
right much quicker than you do with digital.”
Cath herself has worked in TV for over
25 years. “I’ve done the usual run up, from
runner to researcher, to production manager,
and then I settled as an archive producer for
many years. I still do little bits – I did some
work for the BBC over the summer – and
I think it’s important that the tutors here
retain their relevance. All our tutors are from
the industry, and are either still working or
have a good body of work behind them.”
Even so, in such a current industry, is it
difficult to keep their teaching up to date?
“The technology changes, but the underlying
aim stays the same,” Cath says. “The same
problem was faced by people at the birth of
film, as is faced by our students today, which
is to express their story in a valid way. It’s all
about the story.”
Brighton Film School are holding an open
day for prospective students on Saturday
17th November. Applicants are welcome
from a range of backgrounds: “What they
need to show is some experience and some
knowledge of what they’re getting into,”
Cath says. “We always check that they have
at least made a short film themselves, so they
know how arduous it can be, how much time
it can take, how much stamina is involved.
Some people come to us at quite an advanced
level already, others have a lot of potential. I
guess what they all share is the passion.”
Rebecca Cunningham
brightonfilmschool.co.uk
....93....
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INTERVIEW
....................................
The Faces We Lost
Documentary filmmaker Dr Piotr Cieplak
“It’s not just a photo. It’s
almost like it’s actually
him. As if he’d never
gone.”
A young Rwandan woman
is looking at her only
photograph of her father,
who was among the
victims of her country’s
genocide in 1994 in which
nearly one million people died.
It’s one of many touching moments in a
documentary by University of Sussex filmmaker
and lecturer Dr Piotr Cieplak, whose work focuses
on the interaction between memory and the still
and moving image.
Shortlisted for the Best Research Film of the Year
in the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s
(AHRC) 2018 Research in Film Awards, The Faces
We Lost incorporates interviews with survivors, and
those who are helping to keep alive the memories
of the dead with a vast archive of photographs.
One of the interviewees describes running into
the Gatagara forest to escape Hutu killers, and
witnessing acts of extreme barbarism against her
own children. The killers ransacked her home, but
left her photos scattered in the dirt. She salvaged
them, and when she wants to remember her lost
loved ones, she looks at the photographs “to release
emotion”.
At the Kigali Genocide Memorial, in the capital
of Rwanda, between 6,000 and 8,000 photographs
of those who were killed have been stored in an
archive, at the site of ten mass graves of 250,000
people. The senior archivist explains on camera
how images more than numbers invoke emotion.
“You look at a picture and you ask yourself why a
person could kill a little kid, or an old man, or an
older woman… or kill anyone?”
The film is the
culmination of a ten-year
research project for Piotr
and involved working
with a trauma therapist in
Rwanda to identify and
approach participants.
“It’s often the case that the
words of survivors in films
about Rwanda are used
only to illustrate a wider point – sort of auxiliary
– usually made by an academic or journalist or
some other kind of expert,” he says. “I wanted to
tell a story that was more personal for the survivors
and victims of a genocide that has been mediated,
especially internationally, through images of
mutilated bodies and anonymous refugees.
“I didn’t want this to be a history lesson,” he adds.
“There are a good many films out there that do
that. History tends to homogenize events, make
them manageable and digestible. Actual experiences
and memories are more subjective, messier. This is
more what the film is about.”
Piotr, whose films and essays have won awards
and been screened at international film festivals,
including Africa-in-motion Film Festival and the
Montecatini International Short Film Festival, felt
it was important to move away from the more usual
representation of anonymous African suffering.
“Many Rwandans commemorate their dead,
privately and institutionally, with images showing
life rather than death: a passport photo or a group
portrait from a wedding, for example.
I wanted to show Rwandans as active users of
images, rather than only their subjects.”
Jacqui Bealing
Piotr will find out on 9th November at a ceremony at
BAFTA if his film has won an AHRC Award. Watch
the trailer at vimeo.com/227386149
....95....
Christmas at Sheffield Park
and Garden
Stroll among the decorated trees and
sculpted figures in the garden that create
a festive atmosphere for winter walks.
Children's trails will be running weekends
and during the school holidays.
#nationaltrust
Call 01825 790231 for details
nationaltrust.org.uk/sheffieldpark
© National Trust 2018. The National Trust is an independent registered charity, number
205846. Photography © National Trust Images\Nina Elliot-Newman
WILDLIFE
....................................
Otters
The return of the celluloid heroes
Illustration by Mark Greco
Sleek muscular physique. Dynamic aquatic killer.
Mysterious enigmatic loner. You can see why
otters shared the cinema box office with James
Bond in the 1960s and 70s. Otters are natural
film stars. The Sean Connery of British mammals
(with a slightly hairier chest).
I remember two otter-based films from my childhood.
I caught Tarka the Otter at the local Odeon
and the superior Ring of Bright Water always won
over Goldfinger on the TV at Christmas. From
the opening man-meets-otter sequence (both the
greatest and silliest scene ever committed to celluloid)
through to Val Doonican’s closing credits
crooning – it’s a classic!
But behind the otter’s silver-screen celebrity status
lie a darker, sadder tale. Wild otters in Britain
were in trouble. Throughout most of the last
century our rivers and wetland habitats were in a
shocking state – polluted, drained and destroyed.
Otters were forced into exile in the far flung corners
of Britain. The last Sussex otters struggled
on until the 1960s.
And with our heroes out of the picture the bad
guys muscled in. American mink, which escaped
or were ‘liberated’ from fur farms, rose to the top
of the food chain and terrorised our waterways.
These voracious predators attacked our native
wetland wildlife, wiping out entire populations of
water voles across Sussex.
But this screenplay has a happy ending. Over the
past decades we’ve cleaned up our act and a lot
of work has been undertaken to improve rivers
and wetlands in Sussex. Otters are wandering,
territorial animals – each otter needs 40km of
river to make its home – but projects undertaken
by conservation groups such as Sussex Wildlife
Trust, working with local landowners, have
provided these connected, wetland habitats. And
what is good for the otter is good for us too. By
undertaking wetland habitat improvements for
wildlife – such as planting floodplain woodland or
creating water meadows – our countryside regains
its powers as water purifier, erosion controller and
flood regulator.
Over the past years, footprints, droppings and
fleeting glimpses have given tantalising evidence
that these mammalian movie stars are attempting
a comeback in Sussex after half a century.
Recently night vision trail cameras were rolling
and filmed a female otter as she made her Sussex
small screen debut – possibly the first time a wild
otter has ever been filmed in our county. But the
real showstopper came when these cameras later
captured footage of one – or possibly two – otter
cubs; evidence that otters are breeding again in
Sussex. With this dramatic plot twist there is
plenty of potential for a sequel. The dream that
one day we could see these incredible animals
swimming in all the restored and vibrant rivers of
Sussex is a step closer to becoming a reality.
Michael Blencowe, Senior Learning & Engagement
Officer, Sussex Wildlife Trust
....97....
INSIDE LEFT: VOGUE CINEMA, 1979
.....................................................................................
There was quite a reaction when I put up a
picture of the interior of this building on the
Brighton Past site on Facebook, with the comment
‘the Vogue Gyratory is thought to be the
only one-way system in the country named after a
porn movie cinema’.
The picture, from the James Gray collection, was
taken in October 1979, when the cinema - by
then called The Classic - was in its death throes,
having been earmarked for demolition.
‘The Classic’ was the fourth and shortest-lived incarnation
of the cinema, which was purpose-built
as ‘The Gaiety’ in 1937 and opened with a
screening of Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and
Ginger Rogers. In those days the six pilasters on
the façade reached fifty feet into the sky, and were
highlighted at night by neon strips. It seated no
fewer than 1,400 people, and was considered one
of the jewels in the crown of Brighton’s thriving
cinema scene.
In 1965, during a far bleaker period for the industry,
it was renamed The Ace, in a vain attempt
to pull in a younger, trendier clientele. And it was
rebranded again in 1971, becoming The Vogue,
with a screen upstairs showing soft porn movies
(and monthly strip shows) to club members, and a
bingo hall downstairs. ‘The films were very tame
by today’s standards’, we’re told by then-manager
John Langsbridge, via Facebook. Another FB
poster remembers them as ‘tits and bums films,
nothing stronger’. The Alternative Brighton 1973
Guide remembers it for ‘dirty pics and occasional
strip clubs, both for members only’. It wasn’t
unknown for husband and wife to go to the venue
together, we hear, each to their own event. It ran
as The Vogue until 1979.
Many Brighton Past Facebook posters remembered
the cinema in its pre-sixties pomp, as The
Gaiety, and bridled at the notion that the building
should be remembered as a porno cinema, and
it is a pity that the one-way system should recall
the least salubrious incarnation of the building. It
was even suggested on Facebook that the unloved
multi-road-junction should be renamed to reflect
the cinema’s golden era, rather than its tacky
last chapter. But would a campaign to call it the
‘Gaiety Gyratory’ persuade the Council to act? It
does have a pleasing ring to it, doesn’t it?
Alex Leith
Thanks, as ever, to the Regency Society for permission
to use this picture, from the James Gray
archive. regencysociety-jamesgray.com
....98....
Brighton and Hove Calendar 2019
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