Our celebration of the 50th anniversary of the London Filmmakers’ Co-operative ends with this evening programmed by Moira Sweeney.
Imagining the London Filmmakers Co-op of the mid 80’s to mid 90’s, I can still hear the sound of trains rumbling past the red brick, British Rail warehouse on Gloucester Avenue. Appropriated by an earlier generation of artist filmmakers, this ‘off the beaten track’ building was home to an energetic co-existence of production, exhibition and distribution, a thrilling geographic and visual claim to difference. In that environment of shared workshop, library and cinema, filmmakers freely experimented with shooting, processing, optically printing, editing and screening films under the same leaky roof. The films were accordingly tactile, somatic and sometimes playful in nature. This programme therefore features films produced in the LFMC workshop at that time, along with works, old and new, informed by an ethos of sensuous experimental image-making.
A feature of the LFMC was lively conversation in the ‘palm court’ on cinema nights or during a break from the dark of the edit suite. Foremost amongst these chats were the ever insightful, humorous and enheartening exchanges with Sandra Lahire. This programme is dedicated to the memory of her warm, indomitable spirit.
Programmed and introduced by Moira Sweeney (LFMC Cinema Programmer 1987-9)
Programme
Colour Poems, Margaret Tait, 1974, 12 mins, Col, Opt, 16mm
Bird Xerox, Nick Gordon-Smith, UK, 1983, 8 mins, B&W, Opt, 16mm
Mothfight, Vanda Carter, UK, 1985, 8 mins, B&W, Opt. stereo, 16mm
Chameleon, Tanya Syed, UK, 1990, 4 mins B&W, 16mm
Hoi Polloi, Andrew Kotting, UK, 1990, 10 mins, colour / b/w, Super 8
Imaginary, Moira Sweeney, IRE, 1989, 4 mins, colour, 16mm
Lady Lazarus, Sandra Lahire, UK, 1991, 25 mins, B&W / Colour, opt, 16mm
The Call of Mist, John Akomfrah, UK, 1998, 10 mins, 34 secs Colour and B&W, Stereo, Digital
Eating Grass, Alia Syed, UK, 2003, 23 mins Colour, Opt. 16mm
