The elysium IFF International Film Festival presents six experimental short films created by artists during and in response to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The films will be included in IF 2021, an online festival of improvised arts based in Canada and presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI).
After a year without live music and arts festivals, this digital gathering
will provide an opportunity for people to come together and be reminded of the incredible range of art that persists regardless of this pandemic.
IF is an “all night, online celebration of the arts,” which takes place over a 24-hour period from August 13-14 and will present original performances by over 100 artists from more than a dozen countries.
IF is free to attend and will feature a dynamic array of improvisational artists, including musicians, spoken word poets, film makers, dancers, and theatre practitioners. More information is available at improvfest.ca, and the full lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.
elysium IFF premiere Thursday 12th August, 8pm at elysium gallery TV YouTube channel
IF Improv Festival Friday 13th, Sat 14th August (Canada time)
Selected Artists:
Alexis Zelda Stevens | Teifi Rowley | Marega Palser and Steven George Jones | Ryan Heath | Jayne Wilson | Simon Nunn
Alexis Zelda Stevens
Clock’s Ticking (2020)
Alexis Zelda Stevens is a London-based artist, bi-lingual in visual art & dance. She makes video and performance, as well as sculpture, room-filling installation, and images. The work is an ongoing exploration of liveness in the material world, and people in relation; textural, poetic, surreal, concerned with the visceral body and psychological states. Her work is medium-large scale, sometimes collaborative and often outside the gallery or performance space from a Cornish mine to a carpark on Aylesbury Estate, London.
Clock’s Ticking (2020) was made during lockdown using Pina Bausch’s Tanztheatre improvisation approach to generate movement material which is layered with other visual information. The work deals with the inertia of the lockdown period, a sense of time standing still and running out at the same time.
Teifi Rowley
Bath Time (2021)
Teifi Rowley is an artist who primarily works in photography, video and makeup. Having just completed a BTEC in art and design at Cardiff and Vale College in Wales, the film explores ideas and feelings of discomfort, uncertainty, and anxiety.
Marega Palser and Steven George Jones
Tripping Through Newport’s Underbelly (2021)
Marega Palser and Steven George Jones are Newport-based artists whose practice explores the urban environment through performance, observation and intervention. Tripping Through Newport’s Underbelly is a journey of movement and gesture through Newport’s over-looked inner-city environments.
Ryan Heath
Ritual Practice (2021)
Ryan Heath (b. 1995) lives and works in Nottingham. He creates moving image, painting, and sculpture. His work addresses the built environment and how it makes us think, feel, and act.
Heath is a BACKLIT studio artist and former member of Chaos Magic Space. He has exhibited in the UK and internationally, receiving commissions and awards from established organisations including BACKLIT Gallery, UK New Artists, and Ignite Futures.
A strong advocate for socially engaged art, often working with young people as a creative facilitator. Ryan’s previous partners include Nottingham Refugee Forum, Harris Museum, and Tate Modern. He has also given guest lectures and panel discussions at leading universities and institutions such as The University of Nottingham and The British Library.
Creature Design by Artcore’s Youth Group, Editing by Matthew Goward, Performance by Sam Hulmes and Ryan Heath. Set Design by Oona Evergreen
www.ryan-heath.com
Jayne Wilson
The Equilibrists (2020)
Jayne Wilson is an artist and filmmaker working with experimental approaches to moving image and installation. Her constructed narratives sit at the juncture between art and documentary and revisit the themes of technology, legacy, and progress.
The act of montage filmmaking is a response to the constraints, coincidences and connective currents in found footage and visual material. Working with a playfulness, celebration of chance and skilful juxtapositions from material in my personal archive, ‘The Equilibrists’ takes its lead from the themes and rhythms imposed by the footage and the offsetting of full and empty space, suggested by success and failure. Its percussive soundtrack is a musician’s response to the tinny possibilities of the contact of glass and metal fork tines, while the narrator’s unrehearsed tone provides his own explanatory response.
As we face a new synthesis of our everyday activities, a deeper consideration of the film’s repurposing techniques and collaborative approaches to construction, and its overriding theme of balance, will be ever more pertinent.
www.jaynewilson.co.uk
Simon Nunn
Where are we going?
Simon Nunn is a filmmaker based in Norwich. ‘Where are we going?’ was made during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, an unknown man narrates his poetic thoughts as he journeys through the chaos of his past and present as he nears departure.
www.simonnunn.com