Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Under the Cranes: literature, film and the city at the LSE
Under the Cranes screening and discussion this
Saturday 3 March 5-6.30 pm
at the LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival
Speakers: Michael Rosen, Emma-Louise Williams
Respondents: Lasse Johansson, Andrea Luka Zimmerman of Fugitive Images
Chair: Patrick Hazard (Director, London International Documentary Festival)
Click on the link for details and tickets:
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2012/03/LitFest20120303t1700vSZT.aspx
Thursday, 29 December 2011
What others are saying about Under the Cranes
“ Engaging, gentle, dreamlike – Williams’ Hackney is a layered, shifting place teeming with multiple voices and realities, echoed verbally by Rosen’s collage of reminiscence, characteristically generous poetry and collected urban folksongs. Rosen’s presence reminds us of east London’s reputation as a place of political upheaval.”
Sight and Sound
“ A marvellous evocation of Hackney – the place, the peoples and their dreams too. It reveals the ruin, disconnection and the frailty of life without giving an inch to literary misanthropy or the voyeuristic perspectives in which east London is exploited for tales of misery, depravity and social failure. “
Patrick Wright, cultural historian
“ This beautifully constructed film urges us to recognise what is already there, at the heart of a diverse and thriving community, while raising the question that perhaps we are all living in the shadow of the cranes. “
Socialist Review
“ A wonderfully life-affirming film-poem of place full of lost time and effacements, reefs of street-markets and shop fronts, painted in stock-brick yellows, steel shutter greys and silvery monochromes; and full of people, always people, the voices who have passed this way and called this home. As a collage of the city at its most quick, it has the ache and tug of what has been and gone; as a moving study of resourcefulness, resistance and resilience, it collapses time and returns each story to its street. “
Paul Farley, poet
“ For questionable reasons, in the media, the sight in a market of African textile prints and the sound of a Cockney voice selling tomatoes are separated. It’s untruthful. But the truth is there on Ridley Road Market and it is shot through the film too. And I loved it. This film is a rare thing. “
Lemn Sissay, poet
“ Under the Cranes is an argument to your emotions. Old grainy archive footage seems to invest even the most mundane scenes with a bitter-sweet glow. When these images are paired with sparse piano or traditional Turkish music – and beatboxing and Toumani Diabete – you’ve got a guaranteed tearjerker. But this film is not about nostalgia. The film finds beauty in trash-collecting, and places modern scenes next to old. “
Quietus Review
“ A film-poem that mixes documentary footage and poetry to explore the effect of urban redevelopment on local people. The film weaves together the history of one small part of London in a wonderfully impressionistic way. “
Socialist Worker
NEXT SCREENING Sunday 8 January 2012 at The Renoir Cinema 11am
http://socialistfilm.blogspot.com/e
The Renoir Cinema, Brunswick Square, London WC1
Nearest London tube: Russell Square
Overground: King’s Cross, Euston
Buses: 7, 17, 45, 46, 59, 68, 91, 168, 188
For updates on disabled access, please call the Renoir on 08717-033 991
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Under the Cranes at The Renoir Cinema
The London Socialist film Co-op are screening Under the Cranes with
Locked Out (Joan Sekler) to kick-off their 2012 Programme
Sunday 8 January 2012
10.30am for 11am start at the Renoir Cinema.
LOCKED OUT
Joan Sekler, US 2010 [12A], 60 mins
The multinational, Rio Tinto group, historically known for draconian measures, attempted to severely cut the pay and conditions of 570 borax miners in the isolated, desert town of Boron, California, in 2010. Joan Sekler, independent filmmaker, crafts the course of the miners' action during the 107 days of a lock out. With solidarity at local and national level and the support of their community the miners agree to a new contract with the majority of their benefits intact.
UNDER THE CRANES
Emma-Louise Williams, UK 2011 [12A], 56 mins
Director Emma-Louise Williams has collaborated with Hackney poet and resident Michael Rosen to produce a film-poem that explores the inter-connection between ourselves and where we live, based on his play Hackney Streets. The changing face of Hackney and its residents emerges through current images, urban sounds and rare historical footage, and Rosen's voice illuminates and questions the threats and the choices fostered by the dubious activities of Hackney Council and the regeneration of the area.
Discussion led by Emma-Louise Williams and Michael Rosen
http://socialistfilm.blogspot.com/
Cinema information:
Renoir Cinema, Brunswick Square, London WC1
Nearest London tube: Russell Square
Overground: King’s Cross, Euston
Buses: 7, 17, 45, 46, 59, 68, 91, 168, 188
For updates on disabled access, please call the Renoir on 08717-033 991
About the LSFC
"Now in its twenty-first year, the London Socialist Film Co-op promotes socialist culture by arranging screenings where people can see films and take part in a panel discussion.
We show recent cinema releases and pictures that are rarely screened because they are old films, foreign films or were censored. We show films that inform and educate.
We encourage our members and like-minded filmmakers to make films and DVDs and we are always interested to hear of appropriate films - low budget shorts or campaign videos as well as fully funded professional programmes - that we might want to screen."
Locked Out (Joan Sekler) to kick-off their 2012 Programme
Sunday 8 January 2012
10.30am for 11am start at the Renoir Cinema.
LOCKED OUT
Joan Sekler, US 2010 [12A], 60 mins
The multinational, Rio Tinto group, historically known for draconian measures, attempted to severely cut the pay and conditions of 570 borax miners in the isolated, desert town of Boron, California, in 2010. Joan Sekler, independent filmmaker, crafts the course of the miners' action during the 107 days of a lock out. With solidarity at local and national level and the support of their community the miners agree to a new contract with the majority of their benefits intact.
UNDER THE CRANES
Emma-Louise Williams, UK 2011 [12A], 56 mins
Director Emma-Louise Williams has collaborated with Hackney poet and resident Michael Rosen to produce a film-poem that explores the inter-connection between ourselves and where we live, based on his play Hackney Streets. The changing face of Hackney and its residents emerges through current images, urban sounds and rare historical footage, and Rosen's voice illuminates and questions the threats and the choices fostered by the dubious activities of Hackney Council and the regeneration of the area.
Discussion led by Emma-Louise Williams and Michael Rosen
http://socialistfilm.blogspot.com/
Cinema information:
Renoir Cinema, Brunswick Square, London WC1
Nearest London tube: Russell Square
Overground: King’s Cross, Euston
Buses: 7, 17, 45, 46, 59, 68, 91, 168, 188
For updates on disabled access, please call the Renoir on 08717-033 991
About the LSFC
"Now in its twenty-first year, the London Socialist Film Co-op promotes socialist culture by arranging screenings where people can see films and take part in a panel discussion.
We show recent cinema releases and pictures that are rarely screened because they are old films, foreign films or were censored. We show films that inform and educate.
We encourage our members and like-minded filmmakers to make films and DVDs and we are always interested to hear of appropriate films - low budget shorts or campaign videos as well as fully funded professional programmes - that we might want to screen."
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
New Year 2012 Screening at The Renoir Cinema, London
Advance Notice
We are delighted to announce that
"Under the Cranes" will be showing
at The Renoir Cinema on Sunday 8th January
as part of the London Socialist Film Co-op's 2012 programme
Also showing "Locked Out"
With panel Michael Rosen, Emma-Louise Williams and Shane Enright (tbc)
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
http://www.socialistfilm.blogspot.com/
We are delighted to announce that
"Under the Cranes" will be showing
at The Renoir Cinema on Sunday 8th January
as part of the London Socialist Film Co-op's 2012 programme
Also showing "Locked Out"
With panel Michael Rosen, Emma-Louise Williams and Shane Enright (tbc)
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
http://www.socialistfilm.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Next screening, Rhyme and Reason Festival, Friday 7 October, 7pm
Rhyme and Reason poetry festival: Michael Rosen and Emma-Louise Williams present Under the Cranes
7 October 2011
Time: 7pm - 8.30pm
Location: Dulwich library, 368 Lordship Lane, SE22 8NB
Cost: Free
Come along to a screening of 'Under the Cranes' a new documentary inspired by the work of celebrated poet Michael Rosen.
Michael Rosen and filmmaker Emma-Louise Williams will be there in person to present the film and to take part in a Q&A session afterwards.
The event is free and there is no need to book in advance.
Access
There is wheelchair access to the library including a lift to the study information area and hall on the first floor. There is a disabled access toilet. There is no dedicated parking.
Transport
Train: East Dulwich
Bus: 12, 40, 176, 185, 197
Bus: 12, 40, 176, 185, 197
Contact
Mike Allport
Tel: 020 7525 1570
Email: mike.allport@southwark.gov.uk
Email: mike.allport@southwark.gov.uk
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
UNDER THE CRANES AT HACKNEY FILM FESTIVAL - CLOSING ROOF-TOP SCREENING AT DALSTON ROOF PARK, 18 ASHWIN STREET, LONDON E8 3DL SUNDAY 18th SEPTEMBER 7.00 PM TICKETS £5 ON THE DOOR
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Monday, 18 July 2011
Personal tales of inner city "redevelopment"
posted: 6.18pm Tue 17 May 2011
Under the Cranes: Personal tales of inner city 'redevelopment'
Under the Cranes is a new film that mixes documentary footage and poetry to explore the effect of urban redevelopment on local people, writes Mary Brodbin
Under the Cranes is a film-poem exploring how we experience “place”—how where we end up living has an impact on us, and how we have an impact on it.Its script is based on a play by poet Michael Rosen called Hackney Voices. Rosen lives in Hackney, east London, where the film was shot.
It has a intriguing cast of characters, all with a Hackney connection.
They include William Shakespeare, Black Beauty author Anna Sewell and poet Anna Barbauld. There is also a Jamaican builder, a Bangladeshi restaurant owner, a Turkish barber and the Jewish 43 Group that took on the fascist Oswald Mosley after the Second World War.
The film mixes documentary and drama, and asks the audience to participate. We shouldn’t watch passively, but should engage with the questions—why are these buildings built or knocked down and not others? How do we live in the city?
Director Emma-Louise Williams has dug up some rare and fascinating archive footage which is interspersed throughout. It ranges from shots of the unbelievably decaying slums of the 1920s, to footage from the 1950s showing the replacement yellow-brick council maisonettes.
Turbaned women stand in doorways and hang out of windows on the new estates as they watch their children—dressed almost like mini adults except for the bows in the girls’ hair.
Shenanigans
Rosen wants us to interrogate the word “regeneration”. He asks the question how many lies are told in the name of regeneration?
He goes through the shenanigans that Hackney council were involved in during the building of the new overground railway, reopened in 2010, as an example.
Hussain ran a tandoori restaurant in the heart of Hackney.
He recounts how for years he negotiated with the council about buying it.
Eventually they told him to go along to a property auction to get it. He went, only to see it bought by an offshore property developer as part of a massive job lot which the council had organised.
The site is now part of the massive Dalston Square flats being developed by Barretts.
Over shots of these flats (the cheapest is a quarter of a million pounds), Rosen recites an ode to the speculators over the images:
"They dream of childless towers
Of one-bed, two-bed apartments
No need for swings or slides
No need for the visiting nurse
They dream of weekday workers
Heading home at weekends
They dream of childless towers."
Some of the most riveting and moving footage is an anti-fascist demo heavily surrounded by police in Ridley Road market. On the other side of the road Oswald Mosley and his fascists hold a rally with the slogan “Britain for the British”.
Unconscious
A voiceover tells the personal tale of how the fascists cornered a small group of Jewish people and beat them unconscious. But in 1945 Jewish ex‑servicemen organised the 43 Group which managed to break up 15 outdoor fascist meetings.
Ridley Road market is shown through the years. Butchers’ stalls of the 1950s have price tickets showing that the meat originated from Aberdeen, Argentina—and Empire!
Modern footage shows the market at night. The camera tracks down the whole road and the different cries of street traders ring in our ears.
The film weaves together the history of one small part of London in a wonderfully impressionistic way.
It features some really beautiful paintings. Particularly magical is Tower with Gardens by James Mackinnon. One minute you see the actual tower block on film, then it dissolves into a dreamlike painting of the same block.
There are wide sweeping aerial shots—row upon row of Victorian stock houses surrounded by trees—and then those gigantic cranes hovering on the skyline waiting to pounce.
But in the end the film is optimistic, because it is filled with the raised voices of Hackney people.
Despite David Cameron’s declarations, this multicultural area has a lot to say through its resourcefulness and resilience.
SCREENING:
Tuesday July 19th HACKNEY SOCIETY at Hackney Museum, London E8 6.15 pm
Sunday September 25th APPLEDORE BOOK FESTIVAL, North Devon 11.30 am
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