myDylarama

Possum

Kai Ellis — 2018-10-25T10:08:26Z

Matthew Holness, perhaps best known as the creator of cult pastiche television horror comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, makes his debut as a feature director in much darker territory with Possum. Originally a short story written by Holness in response to Freud's essay ‘Das Unheimliche' (The Uncanny), Possum takes us to the near-deserted fenlands of Norfolk, where Sean Harris' Philip, a children's puppeteer, has returned to his run-down, boarded-up family home. He carries with him a compact leather bag, inside which the titular Possum is contained. Rather than the small furry Australian mammal initially brought to mind by the title, it is instead a manifestation of Philip's worst fears, initially seen just off-screen as a bundle of spindly, spider-like legs, and later revealed to be a strange hybrid of spider and man, a body-less creature with a human head. Philip is haunted by this mutated spider-man throughout the film, its mask mirroring his own features, in a permanent dark-eyed, tortured expression. Also at the family home is Maurice, Philip's Uncle, played with understated menace by veteran actor Alun Armstrong. Uncle Maurice is a malevolent, nicotine-fingered presence throughout the film, goading Philip to show him his puppetry skills using The Possum, as well as referring to a recent scandal Philip is evidently fleeing from and taunting him to retell a particularly painful memory from his childhood about the death of a fox.

Holness is clearly an aficionado of British horror in the 1960s and 70s, both on film and television, as well as early silent films such as Nosferatu and M. The opening credits, the British Rail station with its antiquated signage and slam door trains, as well as an eerie electronic soundtrack courtesy of The Radiophonic Workshop, all evoke a sense of 70s British horror director Pete Walker's Frightmare or Dr Who (late member of The Radiophonic Workshop, Delia Derbyshire - who died in 2001 - is credited with "additional sound design elements.") The dilapidated family home calls to mind The Overlook hotel, with its garish patterned, faded orange and brown furnishings. Along with a deserted Army Cadet barracks, and the school Philip attended long ago, these largely empty locations start to represent Philip's inner state, where he is simultaneously in the present yet haunted by a lonely past, unable to escape his own experiences.

Both disturbing and scary, Possum and is an assured debut from Holness, anchored by strong performances from both Harris and Armstrong. Harris's central performance hearkens to those of the silent era, his character largely wordless throughout the duration of the film. Harris, who always brings a sense of unnerving, lived-through darkness to his roles, brings the same sense of unresolved trauma here. Philip is simultaneously a trapped child and a traumatised man, unable to reconcile with his past and fully move into adulthood. As the film progresses, it becomes clear what is manifested in the disturbing, unrelenting figure of the Possum. Despite Philip's best efforts to destroy it through drowning, burning or beating it to death, it returns again and again to haunt him and chase him until he finally confronts what it represents, perhaps by which time it is too late, in a harrowing final scene.

Possum will be released in cinemas on 26 Oct. There will be Q&A screenings in Edinburgh and Glasgow on 2nd and 3rd November.

London Premiere of Hi-So by Aditya Assarat

Abla Kandalaft — 2013-02-25T09:33:17Z

Hi-So by Aditya Assarat opens in London with UK premiere at Curzon Renoir, released by Day for Night.

The second film from award-winning Bangkok based Thai-American director Aditya Assarat (Wonderful Town) HI-SO had its world premiere at Busan International Film Festival and European premiere at Berlinale (Forum). HI-SO premieres in the UK on 1 March 2013 at Curzon Renoir.

Set against the backdrop of a post-tsunami Thailand, HI-SO features Thai film star Ananda Everingham in a bittersweet tale of love, memories and belonging.

Day for Night is pleased to welcome director Aditya Assarat for a Q&A following the UK premiere as well as for a second screening on 2 March 2013 at Hackney Picturehouse. Both screenings will be followed by receptions sponsored by Chang Beer.

Ananda Everingham in HI-SO (Aditya Assarat, Thailand)
Synopsis:
Returning to Thailand after studying in the US, Ananda (played by leading Thailand based actor Ananda Everingham) lands a part in a new film and finds himself swept up in a whirlwind of success. When American girlfriend Zoe turns up to visit, she soon begins to feel shut out and the distance between them grows as Ananda becomes increasingly absorbed with his role in the film. His attention soon turns to May from the film's production crew, and so as
one relationship fades, another ignites. All the while, Ananda finds himself revisiting his past and reflecting on his present – from the building he grew up in and a Bangkok he once knew, to two cultures that he is now caught between.

Day for Night founder Sonali Joshi said:
"We're really excited about this new venture into distribution which has evolved as a natural extension of our film curatorial activities. Our aim is to develop a slate of films that represents some of the freshest and most distinctive titles from around the world - a curated library of films with a particular focus on outstanding up-and-coming filmmakers.
“We're delighted to present Aditya Assarat's second feature, HI-SO as our first title - a film that bears echoes of François Truffaut's classic, DAY FOR NIGHT – an ode to cinema and the filmmaking process. Hence it seemed a natural choice to launch our distribution activities with this beautifully atmospheric film."

Mark Adams, Chief Film Critic, Screen Daily:
“An absorbing and beguilingly simple film that is beautifully haunting and effortlessly cool.”

Trevor Johnston, Time Out (4 stars):
“Those attuned to the quiet desolation of an Antonioni or Hou Hsiao-Hsien will find much to admire. A welcome discovery.”

Tony Rayns, Sight and Sound:
“…skillfully crafted images do succeed in defining moods of ennui and dislocation and are none the worse for echoing Antonioni and Yang.”

Cyberconte

Clotilde Couturier — 2012-10-01T16:35:08Z

Une petite fourmi posant les premières pierres d'une grande basilique, c'est le projet de Camille Szklorz, intitulé « Cyberconte », qui part récolter pour nous, graine après graine, les marques de la culture numérique émergente en Afrique.

Comme le dit le synopsis officiel, « À travers ce projet, il s'agit de donner à voir une certaine créativité numérique et technologique. Ce sera une plongée de plusieurs mois, dans la vie quotidienne d'acteurs locaux où la débrouille côtoie souvent la haute technologie. »

Je salue le travail de cueillette minutieux et riche que nous prépare ce projet. Faire la lumière sur la création numérique est déjà en soi, un véritable challenge. Car le domaine est tellement vaste, de l'installation des premiers systèmes interactifs aux réalités virtuelles comme Second Life, du V-jing au Water Light Graffiti d'Antonin Fourneau, sans parler des concepts du Living Art, création de toutes les créations, expansion perpétuelle et sans cesse renouvelée.
A ce challenge s'ajoute le défi de faire « sortir de l'ombre » les créateurs d'Afrique, qui ne bénéficient pas de la même couverture financière et des mêmes moyens de communication que les créateurs occidentaux ou orientaux. Deux épreuves de taille dans une rencontre qui se fait à vélo : « CYBERCONTE est un voyage à vélo - de la ville à la brousse, des déserts géographiques aux déserts numériques, du high tech au système D. »

Je salue aussi le choix de construire ce projet autour d' « un voyage, à la découverte de savoir-faire et de pratiques qui sortent de notre ordinaire. C'est un travail documentaire itinérant pour recueillir des témoignages, des échanges, des rencontres à travers des reportages photos, vidéos ou encore sonores. »
Comme chacun sait, le voyage est propice aux surprises, aux dialogues, aux échanges de points de vue, à la révélation de moments « inédits », comme des instantanés révélés par la peinture magique de l'itinérance... à l'image du light painting.

Mais le voyage qui se fait au contact, en dépendant des individus rencontrés, est aussi synonyme de partage, de nécessité d'écoute, d'attention. Il porte en cela une dimension d'absolu.
Cet absolu qui est l'exigence de Camille, et qui guide ses choix, je l'espère dans sa « récolte », dans les « œuvres » qu'elle va découvrir.
Je la félicite pour sa conviction envers le trajet à vélo.
Pour moi, l'image de l'exploit sportif s'associe naturellement à l'ambition de Découverte. Les deux s'impriment, se superposent. A l'image de l'archéologue creusant le sol à la recherche d'artefacts, d'arches perdues, alors qu'il fait 40°C à l'ombre.

Enfin, le vélo rattache à la Terre et oblige le voyage à se faire dans une vitesse à dimension humaine, a contrario des séjours touristiques qui vous font « tout voir » en 12 jours. Le choix du vélo contraint à la temporisation et respecte la protection des milieux naturels qui peuvent encore être préservés de la main de l'Humain Civilisé. Cet Humain qui ne peut vivre sans son câble Internet et sa ligne EDF. Ce câble et cette ligne qui sont à la fois le berceau et la route des cultures numériques… Intéressant paradoxe.
Ce cheminement « main dans la main » avec les créateurs et les intervenants que le voyage annonce est une véritable aventure, comme celles qu'écrivaient les pionniers d'avant la sinistre colonisation ou comme celles des héros de Jules Verne.

Camille, notre Lara Croft du Cyber Conte – je me permets de faire le rapprochement avec l'icône numérique de l'aventure pour son côté exploratrice curieuse, non pas pour sa capacité à tout pourfendre à l'arme à feu – est partie sur la route ce 1er octobre 2012.
En espérant que vous suivrez son périple sur http://cyberconte.net je vous laisse avec ses mots :

« L'Afrique étant une terre de conte, je mettrai en place un dispositif narratif pour raconter ce périple et ses reportages sur une plateforme interactive.

Des déserts numériques aux cybercafés, ce sera une empreinte sonore et visuelle de ce voyage à parcourir à l'écran. L'interface permettra à chacun de s'immerger dans un voyage virtuel pour découvrir les coulisses de la création numérique. »

Clotilde Couturier

Pour les dernières nouvelles : http://www.ulule.com/cyberconte-projet/news/