CABLES & CAMERAS + FRIENDS
Greetings everyone, I hope to find you all safe during lockdown.
Cables & Cameras is passionate about supporting upcoming & emerging talent in the South West.So, during this time, we are looking to do what Cables’ has done since it’s inception; support BAME talent.
Our aim is to bring creatives together in alternative ways, continuing to inspire each other in our film making community; updating you with what is happening with fellow creatives via sharing websites, videos & links. We believe that collaboration is the most positive way forward, bringing people together; trying new digital and innovative ways to engage our audience. We have strength in numbers in the Bristol and South West film community, and want to harness that strength.
Film matters, bringing BAME films back to Bristol is incredibly important.
Gary Thompson
One of the projects that I’m working on is archiving old DV tapes that I have been collecting with my brother for a number of years. We have around 150 tapes of different content from Full Cycle Records parties, to Planet V at the Mass in Brixton in ‘99.
We also have studio sessions from artists like Clipz (also known as Redlight), down to footage of the first See No Evil event at Nelson Street in Bristol. I’ve bought a deck that allows you to look over the tape professionally, as opposed to just on your video camera. (If you're not sure what a Deck is - just type in Deck and 'Sony DVCAM' into Google).
Archiving is a very important part of what I’m doing with Cables & Cameras, showing a timeline of what has been happening in Bristol for B.A.M.E creatives.
Subconsciously, I have been lucky to have collected a lot of content over the years and to have been filming for a long time in Bristol and different parts of the world. We have to keep this content safe and have a record of what our culture or group of people has been doing on this planet. That's important.
When the time is right I will be showing content and footage of some of the archive material on a new website...
So watch this space.
Top 5 Recommendations
Film/TV Series: The Mandalorian
Book: That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflixby Marc Randolph
Website: Fuse www.fusemcr.com
Podcast: Creative Boom https://www.creativeboom.com/podcast/
Blog: WePresent https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/
Kirris Riviere
Kirris Riviere, a local singer-songwriter, actor, budding screenwriter and teacher, embarks upon a voyage of discovery in his new project focusing on retelling lost stories of Bristol’s recent history through the prism of film.
Kirris is an established artist who you may have come across in and around Bristol’s music scene performing with his ensemble, The Kirris Riviere Blues Band. Recently Kirris was asked to provide the voice of local superstar Tricky in the audiobook version of his autobiography Hell is Round the Corner. Commenting on our current shared situation in lockdown, Kirris says "I'm going through this harrowing time as respectfully as I can, knowing so many incredible artists who are now having to dramatically change their lifestyles just to survive. Luckily for me, as a cover supervisor teacher, I still get a little pay so I try to use most of my time wisely, creating stories told by voices coming from the fringes of society.”
For more info:
kirrisriviere.wixsite.com/kirris
Top 5 Recommendations
Film:Parasite (2019), directed by Bong Joon-ho
Film:Shame (2011), directed by Steve McQueen
Film:Do The Right Thing (1989), directed by Spike Lee
Film + Music: Jaws(1975), directed by Steven Spielberg, music by John Williams
Book:Hell Is Round the Corner: The Unique No-Holds Barred Autobiography, by Tricky
This was really hard to do as I am constantly being influenced by music, art and drama.
Andy Parker Photography.
CHANDER RAMNARINE
Due to the UK’s current lockdown, many students have had to move back home. This abrupt disruption to daily life can be tough and keeping to a routine whilst stuck inside without the structure of work or school is near impossible. One thing I, and many others, have found invaluable at this time is continuing to be creative.
Most days I find myself cooking using up whatever’s left in the cupboard, a process I find therapeutic. It gives me the headspace I need for new ideas and designs to come to me. I’ve also continued working on my university projects as well as some personal work. I am currently filming a short experimental piece as my response to the coronavirus pandemic. We are going through a dramatic global event and our personal lives have had to adapt to accommodate an international crisis. For many it has drawn perspective and offered an opportunity to pause and re-evaluate what we deem truly important. Something that, for me, became intensely apparent after experiencing a loss in the family. I plan for my film to draw attention to those aspects of daily life we overlook but are so fundamentally important to the structure and quality of our lives.
Top 5 Recommendations
FILM:Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child(2010), directed by Tamra Davis – A great documentary on Basquiat, an artist who I’ve recently started looking into and have been truly inspired by.
BOOK: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbellyby Anthony Bourdain – This is a book that a friend recommended to me and I loved every page. Bourdain has always intrigued me from his cooking to life philosophies.
FILM: Three Identical Strangers (2018), directed by Tim Wardle – This documentary had me glued the whole way through, the story unfolds perfectly.
FILM: Waves (2019), directed by Trey Edward Shults – A film not as impactful compared to the something like ‘Moonlight’ but parts of it touched me due to its relatability.
PODCAST: Tate Museum https://www.tate.org.uk/art/podcasts?fbclid=IwAR0zSU7aL_SLxD0MmhhMqhRQ2N0c4I6IRT3SE-cnfyKgYiTZ2yR_WvXTQDw
Pierre Amiral
Currently, I’ve been very fortunate to have been selected in the third round of BBC New Creatives in which they have commissioned me to make a short film. The working title of the film is “Kid Sees Ghost”. At heart this story is about being a minority, especially of African heritage, and coming into a white institution/environment and not feeling welcomed. In the short, we follow a young Kenyan international student who suffers from a condition in which he can see the dead. But he’s come to Bristol to pursue a better future, and make his mother proud. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worst, as he stumbles upon the dark history of the city and towards the end encounters Edward Colston himself. I feel Laurie Halse Anderson, author of the novel Wintergirls, describes it perfectly in saying that “In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.” So the ghosts, in a way, are a metaphor for the unsettling, ominous feeling that minorities feel coming into a white space, especially one that is renowned for taking advantage of that same minority group in the past.
Here are my recommendations:
1. Queen and Slim(2019), film
2. The Hollywood Reporter Roundtables, online series
3. Masteryby Robert Greene, novel
4. r/Filmmakers reddit.com/r/Filmmakers/ , website
5. Film Shortage filmshortage.com , website
Ryan Francis
Currently working on:
‘Perspicacious’ - An unusual beast is wreaking havoc in Reece and Kyle’s apartment. Kyle is in a state of catatonia, leaving it up to Reece to save his roommate.
Starring: Michael Farrow and Romaine Smith
Writer: Michael Farrow
Co-Writer/Director/Producer: Ryan Francis
‘Routine’ - A day in the life of a man stuck in an unbreakable routine (Same Shit Different Day).
Starring: Luke Barnett
Writer: Luke Barnett
Director/Producer: Ryan Francis
‘Red Flag’ - After being away for university, James returns to his home town and decides to see his old friends. James discovers that his ‘friends’ have new objectives.
Writer: Jabari Ngozi
Starring: Jabari Ngozi, Romaine Smith, Michael Farrow & Luke Barnett
Co-Writer/Director/Producer: Ryan Francis
‘Black In A Box’ - https://youtu.be/nvIqpTjTQhw
Starring: Jabari Ngozi
Writer/Director/Producer: Ryan Francis
IG: @ryanfilms4k
Top 3 Recommendations
Avatar: The Last Airbender- Netflix
Warzone - Free To Play Call of Duty Game (All platforms)
Celtx - A good script software.
Self-Shooting Director
Elias Williams
Working title: My First Love Bite
BBC New Creatives project (with Calling the Shots):
My First Love Bitetells the story of Maya’s last moments before turning into a zombie. Maya is a white, middle-class history student at one of Britain’s top universities. Very smart and a little bit posh, Maya has always followed the easy path in life, and has never bothered to do any research into her black boyfriend’s Haitian heritage. Her Monday morning is ruined when her boyfriend, Michael, turns into a zombie and bites her neck.
Zombie movies at their best are a commentary on society, and at their worst a cheap thrill. Few people know that the concept of a ‘zombie’ actually has its origins in transatlantic slavery and Haitian Vodou – a religion that was born amidst the culture clash between West African spirituality and European plantation societies. The first ever Hollywood zombie film, White Zombie (1932), was based in Haiti and featured African zombies working on a plantation. My film takes great inspiration from this history.
Top 5 Recommendations:
FILM
Last Wordsshort film – Random Acts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C88JOi6LKt0
Zombi Child (2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQAbNQ4URPM
White Zombie(1932): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023694/
PODCAST
NPR/Throughline – Zombies
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774809210/zombies?t=1572883635965&t=1586778523532
BLOG
Mandem: http://mandemhood.com/(shameless self-promotion)
Social media: @eliasxwilliams
Adam Murray: [Universal Magnetic, Come The Rev’, Cables & Cameras]
It’s Monday morning again, in what seems like a never-ending alternate version of Harold Ramis’s Groundhog Day.At least Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell were allowed outdoors in their time-loop, and remember kids, to wash your hands before you pick up Punxsutawney Phil…
First things first… I hope everyone out there is staying healthy in mind, body, spirit and soul, and most importantly well informed about Covid-19 and what necessary steps ya gotta take to keep you and yours safe and well… But above all else… Just stay indoors… Who knows, might be a good chance to catch up on all those video games that you never normally get a chance to play due to insane deadlines and what was once the ‘normal’ usual everyday hustle and bustle of our daily 9-5 work routines… I know I have; a guilty pleasure, I know… However, I was very excited to discover that Nia DaCosta, director of the upcoming Candy Manremake, is a fan of The Last of Us, so I don’t feel so bad now about playing Final Fantasy VIIRemake and Days Gone until 4am on a Wednesday night.
Once you‘ve burnt yourself out and over indulged in ‘console-heaven’, it might be time to feed the spiritual and mental with other lockdown pursuits. Aside from an exercise bike (which before all this happened Gary and Liz both took great delight in poking fun at me, Ha-ha!) and the weekly Universal Magnetic radio show on Ujima with Awkward and Ben-One, I’ve been catching up on a ton of books, articles, research and watching a lot of films and documentaries that over the last two years I just had no time to engage with. Here’s a quick list of “best-picks” I’ve been watching in the last couple of weeks which are relatively current and can be found easily from the comfort of your home or bunker via streaming websites:
Recommendations
LA Originals[Estevan Oriol, USA, 2020], which can be found on Netflix
Photographer Estevan Oriol and artist Mister Cartoon turned their Chicano roots into gritty art, impacting street culture, hip hop and beyond.
Link:
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80995284
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_01QJYDavw
Cursed Films [Shudder, USA/Canada, 2020], which can be found on Shudder UK
CURSED FILMS is a five-part documentary series, which explores the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood’s notoriously "cursed" horror film productions. From plane accidents and bombings during the making of The Omen, to the rumoured use of human skeletons on the set of Poltergeist, these stories are legendary amongst film fans and filmmakers alike. But where does the truth lie?
Link:
https://www.shudder.com/series/watch/cursed-films/62bd7871627dfc6b?season=1
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4LZBEVlSXA
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror [Xavier Burgin, USA, 2019]
Delving into a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, side-lined, and finally embraced them, Horror Noire traces the untold history of Black Americans in Hollywood through their connection to the horror genre. Adapting Robin Means Coleman’s seminal book, HORROR NOIRE will present the living and the dead, using new and archival interviews from scholars and creators; the voices who survived the genres past trends, to those shaping its future.
Link:
https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/horror-noire-a-history-of-black-horror/e650978256281a67
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEGbNf8ZEZA
Tales From The Loop[2020, USA], which can be found on Amazon TV
Inspired by the wondrous paintings of Simon Stålenhag, TALES FROM THE LOOP explores the mind-bending adventures of the people who live above the Loop, a machine built to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe – making things previously relegated to science fiction, possible.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1htuNZp82Ck
Hip Hop Evolution Seasons 1-4 [USA, 2020] Can be found on Netflix
Interviews with influential MCs, DJs and moguls trace the genre's dynamic evolution from the 1970s through the '00s in this documentary series.
Link:
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80141782
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm3J5640jXo
Watch this space for more updates, I’m currently working on some storyboards for short films, and started drawing and sketching again. Plus will keep people updated on some top book choices, music and podcast etc.…
Stay safe out there.