Huge welcome to our July Film of the Month judge, award-winning British director Asif Kapadia. His most recent film  is the much-acclaimed documentary Amy, which is screening at the East End Film Festival on 2 July with a special Q&A with Asif and out in cinemas on 3 July.

Prepare your films and submit them to the leader board before the 20th June to be in the running for his feedback.

This Tuesday is Shooters in the Pub, we’ll be meeting from 6.30pm in the The Arts Theatre Club, 50 Frith Street, Soho, W1D 4SQ. Join us for some drinks and catch up with your fellow film creatives: directors, writers, actors and more.

We’ll be talking to Kazz Basma from the documentary sales agency Sideways Films, whose docs have been screened across many channels including BBC and HBO. They are continuously on the lookout for new documentaries to represent, so if you’re looking for distribution or would like a consultation on a project you have in development, Sideways Films would be the guys to contact. The talk starts at 8.00pm and will be hosted by Shooting People’s Business and Marketing Manager Anna Bogutskaya, followed by a short Q&A and the usual networking drinks.

To find out when your next local Shooters in the Pub meetup will be keep an eye on the Shooting People calendar. Or you can join the Shooters in the Pub London Facebook group for regular updates.

See you there,

Xenia
SP

Planetary (dir. Guy Reid) Meditation Session

Yes, I meditated to a film – this was a nice little retreat from the hustle and bustle of the festival. Taking yourself away to a ‘mindfulness meditation’ session to the audio of Planetary; a poetic and cosmic journey into global perspective. It’s a visual reminder that every living thing is connected that will question your own environmental awareness. The soundscapes are mesmerising, so much so that I completely missed the bells ringing for the meditation to end – only coming to once everyone had packed up. Strong stuff.

Planetary is actually available on VoD now.

Deep Web (dir. Alex Winter)

Alex Winter’s new documentary is a solid companion piece to his previous work Downloaded, attempting to explore of  the man at the centre of the Silk Road, an online black market, that was brought to trial last year

Almost There (dir. Dan Rybicky & Aaron Wickenden)

An under-the-radar gem of a film, this doc was in the making for 8 years after the filmmakers met a fascinating old man at a pierogi festival. That man turned out to be outsider artist Peter Anton, a local character living in a run-down old house overflowing with paintings, drawings, collages – and cats. They follow Peter for years, slowly uncovering layers of a cranky, energetic and endlessly creative personality. The film becomes an intriguing tug and pull game between documentarian and subject, erasing the fine line that exists between the people behind and in front of the camera.

If you missed out on its Doc/Fest screening, Almost There is coming to London on 10 June 8.30pm at DocHouse.

The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead (dir. Wes Orshoki)

Unfortunately, you won’t see a Vanian, James, Rat Scabies and Senisible reunion – what you will get is an entertaining and intimate insight into the life of ‘The Damned’ then, and now. Wes Orshoski spent 4 years following and getting behind the scenes with the origins of the punk rock movement. From their unruly behaviour, to the ‘curse of the Damned’, this film will certainly leave fans with aggressive nostalgia, and is a living testament to the fact that punk isn’t dead.

Mavis! (dir. Jessica Edwards)

A force of nature would be a mildly accurate way to describe Mavis Staples, and does not do her justice. As a teenager, Mavis was fronting The Staples Singers, a family gospel group that provided the soundtrack for the early civil rights movement after being inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now 75, Mavis is still unstoppable, constantly touring, recording albums and cheekily reminiscing about Bob Dylan.

Cobain: Montage of Heck (dir. Brett Morgen)

It’s intimate, it’s aggressive, it’s punk. Brett Morgen’s carefully constructed journey through Cobain’s personal diaries, home videos and self-recordings shines light into many of the unseen corners of his life. Through lively animation, piercing soundscapes and archive that publicly illuminates both his expression and vulnerability – Cobain: Montage of Heck is a roller coaster your emotions won’t forget.

It’s available on VoD, DVD and Blu-Ray now.

The Circus Dynasty (dir. Anders Riis-Hansen)

Two of the worlds leading circus’ protégés are on their way to joining forces and creating the greatest circus Europe could ever see – but the pressures and expectations of this intimate culture are trying; love and commercial potential are entwined. The Circus Dynasty is a poetic and enchanting snapshot into this way of life, that will leave you feeling endeared. This is no big fat gypsy wedding.

See it on Tuesday 9th June, 8:45pm at The Guardian Screen at Curzon.

How to Change the World (dir. Jerry Rothwell)

‘The idea was simple: send a boat to bear witness at the scene of the crime.’ Jerry Rothwell’s exploration of the history of Greenpeace is an inspiring journey, taking you through the early and groundbreaking environmental movements of Bob Hunter his tribe of ‘eco-warriors’ from Vancouver, Canada. With tongue-in-cheek psychedelic references and archive that engrains itself into the mind, How to Change the World  is an entertaining and powerful piece. It’ll make you want to leave your day job to become a environmental flower child; a rebel with a cause.

Catch a second screening on Monday 8th June at 9pm, ITN Source Showroom 4.

Welcome drinks

To kick off the 22nd Sheffield Doc/Fest, SP took over Tudor Square for our annual welcome drinks reception. The sun was shining, the drinks were kindly sponsored by Pond 5 and there was the sweet scent of pulled pork and baking dough in the air – the perfect setting?

It was great to see founding members and Shooters in the Pub hosts make an appearance, there were so many! It’s so positive to see growth of shooter communities nationally. Also, it’s encouraging to see new people wanting to check us out and learn more about what we do. On that note, what was even more sensational was people actually networking and swapping business cards. These things tend to be super awkward – so to witness that on the first day of Doc/Fest festivities is a win.

If you’re at Sheffield and you’ve clocked us and know who we are – come have a chat, we don’t bite.

The Look of Silence (dir. Joshua Oppenheimer)

Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence was the first opening night event of the fest. A semi-sequel to the acclaimed The Act of Killing, each film works individually and as pair, each narrative working independently of one another and acquiring a deeper meaning when put into context together. Where The Act of Killing focused entirely on the perpetrators, this film is the gut-wrenching confrontation between murderer and survivor. After it’s sensational Doc/Fest reception, The Look of Silence will be hitting UK cinemas on 12 June. Find out more here: www.thelookofsilence.co.uk

The Greatest Shows on Earth: A Century of Vaudeville, Circuses and Carnivals (dir. Benedikt Erlingsson)

An exquisitely edited archival documentary tracking the history of 19th and 20th century circus performers, music halls, freak shows, variety entertainments and fairgrounds, with a sprawling original score by Georg Holm and Orri Pall Dyrason of Sigur Ros, in collaboration with Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson.

The rather lovely Drake Doremus (Like Crazy, Breath In, Spooner) came on as judge in May for Film of the Month.

All top 3 films were, ironically, of a romantic demeanour – and Drake loved each one.

His favourite was a beautiful piece on the probability of finding your soulmate:

“Asks a very simple question in a highly original way. Tightly packed with emotion and honestly. This short exemplifies what a great short can and should be. Makes you think about the question it poses hours after you’ve seen it. Precise, well executed and from the heart!” – Drake Doremus

Not far behind, at all, was this heart melting corker:

https://vimeo.com/77945294

Numero three:

Kicking off British summertime Film of the Month is renowned documentarian Ondi Timoner, who most recently directed a documentary on Russell Brand (Brand: A Second Coming) which opened SXSW Film Festival 2015 to rave reviews.

Ondi is an American film director, producer, editor and entrepreneur. She has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice (for her documentaries Dig! and We Live In Public), runs her own production company and is preparing a scripted film on photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Prepare your films and submit them to the leaderboard before the 20th June to be in the running for her feedback.

On June 1st we’ll be meeting up for Shooters in the Pub at the Arts Theatre Club, 50 Frith Street, London W1D 4SQ from 6.30pm onwards.

We’ll be talking to Lisa Gunning, (Seven Psychopaths, Fifty Shades of Grey, Nowhere Boy) about how she started her career as a film editor, director and writer. The talk will start at 7.00pm and will be hosted by Shooting People’s co-founder Cath Le Couteur, following this there will be a short Q&A with the usual networking drinks afterwards.

Shooters in the Pub is a free event that takes place in London and at various venues across the UK. It is regularly attended by a mixture of film creatives: actors, writers, directors and more. To find out when your next local Shooters in the Pub meetup will be keep an eye on the Shooting People calendar, or you can join the Shooters in the Pub London Facebook group for regular updates.

Delighted to say that Rob Brown’s powerful film Sixteen which premiered at the London Film Festival finally comes out on VOD this week – watch it here: iTunes

Rob started shooting on the same day as Chris and I started Nina Forever so I am more than a little blown away with my admiration for how quickly Rob has got this film out the door. That muscular efficiency is clear in every cut of this lean and compelling film. Rob has also captured a stand-out central performance and uses this as the anchor for a tough but hopeful portrait of a child soldier trying to start a new life.

Shot in three weeks on a micro budget it really is a must see.

WATCH SIXTEEN HERE:
iTunes

My interview with Rob before he shot the film…
Interivew

Filmmaking is not a walk in the park, and there are going to be so many milestones along the way where you might despair and feel that all hope is lost…

Writer/Director/Actress Desiree Akhavan released her first feature Appropriate Behaviour this year. We caught up with her briefly about her filmmaking experiences. She told it like it was, with no fluff.

https://vimeo.com/127805696

‘Stranger on the Corner’ by ‘The Plastic Dots‘ – check them out on Soundcloud.