A film economy that favours the unlucky?

Feel better about no funding. Plus a feature in the Moving Image Artists journal, abstract art in the UK, Fred Kelemen in Croatia, and Louise Woodcock.

Mar 14, 2022

Dear Students, Alumni, Faculty, and Trespassers,

Moving Image Artists will publish an article about the Unfound Peoples Videotechnic (UPV) in their journal towards the end of March. Look out for it! The article addresses the theme “Now.” “Now” in my work developing UPV. But also, “Now” in your work as a filmmaker:

Horizontality
Actions
The perspective of a two-year-old.

Despite all the “Now,” I wrote the article before the brutal and appalling invasion of Ukraine. But the note about boycotting two celebrated Russian artists is a coincidence. Today, I would like to recommend a mid-century Soviet film, written by a Ukrainian filmmaker and directed by one born in Moscow, the writer’s widow.

The Enchanted Desna (1964) is an extraordinary film. And the film is an extraordinary crush of personal memoir and shameless propaganda.

I share the film with no political slant except to spread cultural awareness and the image of explosions giving way to blossoming flora. (The shoddy VHS transfer intensifies the effect).

You will find a YouTube link in the Link Coaster at the foot of this bulletin.

New instruction: Money Sore

Regular visitors to the UPV website enjoy the regular addition of instructional texts. Here follows a copy of the latest.

If you are what they call a “young filmmaker” then you are probably wondering where the money’s coming from. You are probably what the Americans call “sore” that it seems to be going to everybody else. This is normal, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.

The distribution of funds, private and public, is usually only fair by chance. The flow of funding favours:

the bold
the insistent
the rude
the privileged
the lucky
and the organised.

It favours these people unevenly and inconsistently. This not an exhaustive list.

Efforts have been made to pump fairness into the system. Some of these efforts are well-meaning. Some are impassioned. And others, empty and symbolic.

These efforts have been uneven and inconsistent. Nobody is trying to weight the system towards the meek or the gently patient, for example. And how would you begin to build an economic system that favours the unlucky? Imagine how cinema might look like if its history was not of the great fortunate but of the unlucky!

But have no truck with anyone who tells you that you don’t need money to make a film. “You don’t need money to make a film” is a very general phrase. The phrase is only sometimes true, like “where there’s muck, there’s brass.” Sometimes there’s just more muck. And some people are not adept at transforming it to brass. Nothing wrong with muck, though. Nor inadeptness. But we’re getting off the point.

The point is whether you need money to make your film. Or more precisely:

How much you need and
Whether you need additional sources of money.

Money Anchor

The unmade film is your blank slate. Perhaps your vision or your process genuinely requires outside funding. Money is a tool. Money is a prop, too: a weighty presence. Like any other screen matter, money’s presence changes, modulates the meaning of the image. Even if the viewers can’t see the coins and paper notes themselves.

Have no truck with anyone who tells you that you don’t need money. Of course, you can have truck with somebody who tells you that you can’t have it. The word “truck” comes from the old French word “troque,” meaning to barter or trade. Truck on:

if you can bear to, and
if you feel the effort will be fruitful.

If not, consider jettisoning your expensive idea. You might not be a trader. You might be a pirate. Adventure and treasure are all around us. Cardboard! Places! People! Trash! Camaraderie, too. Discipline and resourcefulness are valuable assets. To the filmmaker, these assets are more valuable than cash.

But everybody has to eat. Even if that everybody is just you.

Aleksandra Niemczyk: Two Moons

Painter/filmmaker Aleksandra Niemczyk, the principal’s wife, holds her first UK exhibition in Blackheath, London, throughout March. UPV students’ support for the principal’s wife will not be factored into your final grades. Not on any conscious level.

The exhibition reveals a stunning new collection of colour field abstract expressionist paintings. The collection is called Two Moons. Not strictly moving image, but they seem to move.

Please share the information with those who might make it along.

Niemczyk also has a new newsletter on the Substack platform.

Kelemen in Croatia

Fred Kelemen is a unique cinematographer (The Man From London) and director (Abendland). He is also a fascinating teacher. And a lot of other things.

Mr Kelemen leads a week-long workshop at Kino Klub Split in April. Kino Klub Split is a cornerstone of the amateur film club culture of Yugoslavia and the subsequent ex-Yugo region. It is the site of UPV’s first classes.

Apply here.

Furthermore:

[the] Workshop is part of the International film program Mind the Image/Pazi na sliku and will include film seminar held by Manel Raga and Sunčica Fradelić April 18 – April 30, public discursive program on film theories and practices of the avant-garde led by Jonathan Rosenbaum June 16 – June 24 and practical workshop From script to camera led by Pilar Palomero.

These names are known well by the UPV faculty. These people have my deepest affection and estimation. Do get involved, or follow at a distance, since they are all extraordinary thinkers and doers.

Louise Woodcock

Louise Woodcock has died. An (anti-)artist, maker, doer, catalyst, social force, and underground hero. You can read a positive account of her inspiring role in Manchester’s art universe here (content warning - suicide, mental health).

We never met in person, though our paths must’ve crossed often in Manchester. Later, with her 2 Koi Karp project, she created a live soundtrack for my edit, Untitled (Yma Sumac waiting), during a Video Jam event.

Lou filled me with energy and confidence as we chatted online about creating a recorded version. Lou was candid, “well giddy,” and dedicated to reworking her soundtrack until she was happy with it. Perhaps, we shared the trait of being imperfectionists (not seeking perfection but the right imperfections in our own work).

I envy and salute her power and social creativity. Here is a film she made and shared with me. And I deeply recommend you read the afore-mentioned obituary.

Thanks for reading.

~Graeme Cole.

(Principal)

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