UP Projects’ Floating Cinema returns
Date uploaded: March 31, 2014
UP Projects’ Floating Cinema returns to the waterways of London for 2014 with an ‘Extra-International’ programme supported by The Legacy List, the charity of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in partnership with the Canal & River Trust. The project will feature open air screening ‘Weekenders’, performances, talks, music, workshops and tours.
Continuing to work with Somewhere (artists/filmmakers Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie), UP Projects is delighted to be developing its summer 2014 programme (June – September) with an international focus. Working in partnership with three leading international film festivals and cultural organisations, the ‘Extra International’ programme will offer a series of high profile outdoor ‘seasons’ in different locations across London. ‘Extra-International’ will focus on themes of migration, and the interpretation of the UK, its culture and its people, through the experiences of other nationalities. Taking the waterways as a curatorial framework, the programme will also explore themes of transient cultures and the shifting contexts of canals, rivers and seas both locally and internationally.
Artists and creators of the Floating Cinema “Extra-International” programme Somewhere said:“London’s docks, canals and rivers have always been at the heart of this multi-cultural city and the Floating Cinema’s East End home is one of the most diverse areas in the world. The new ‘Extra-International’ programme celebrates this diversity both at home and with content from abroad with films, events, performances and tours celebrating waterborne communities around the globe. The programme will also continue to highlight the value of the waterways from ecological, heritage, political, cultural, social, industrial and domestic perspectives.”
Working in partnership with Ambulante (Mexico City), Centre For Contemporary Chinese Art (Manchester, UK) and Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (Jihlava, Czech Republic), the programme will showcase global film and cultural highlights with a special focus on Central and South America, China and Central and Eastern Europe. The Floating Cinema barge, designed by architects Duggan Morris and recently shortlisted for an Architect’s Journal Special Projects Award, will travel from east to west London over the course of the summer months, hosting both open air and on-board events as well as floating tours in multiple locations along the route. Specific events will also be streamed live onto the Floating Cinema website for an international audience.
The ‘Extra-International’ Programme will also focus on commissioning new work with the third year of the Floating Cinema Live Art Commission which is produced in partnership with the Live Art Development Agency and which this year will have a special focus on streaming.
As well as participating in London Festival of Architecture in June, the Floating Cinema will host a new Talks and Tours programme designed to highlight and engage diverse communities along the waterside. The education programme will see the creation of a major new environmental project in partnership with East London Science School and a new Volunteer Accreditation Scheme.
Vivienne Reiss, Interim Director, UP Projects said: “UP Projects is very pleased to be returning to London’s waterways and to be working with Somewhere on ‘Extra-International’. This year we are expanding our community networks and simultaneously developing global connections. We will be showcasing an exciting programme with a wide range of UK based and international partners that we hope will ignite new creative relationships between the UK and abroad.”
The Floating Cinema is part of UP Projects’ on-going Portavilion programme; a series of temporary pavilions for London’s parks and public spaces that have brought high quality sculptures and cultural events to a broad public audience since 2008.
The Floating Cinema is supported by The Legacy List in partnership with the Canal & River Trust and realises their joint ambition to support high quality arts and cultural experiences born out of the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as ensuing continued interest in and use of the waterways around east London.
Claire Gevaux, Head of Creative Programmes, The Legacy List said:
“UP Projects have risen to the challenge again with this ambitious programme linking local, national and international audiences with the Floating Cinema. We are delighted to be supporting this second year and look forward to seeing the results of this inspirational programme which begins in the canals around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.”
www.floatingcinema.info
For information please click here.
