The Song

After the vague polaroid-post a few weeks ago, we think it is time to provide you with a bit more information about our latest project.

We started working on our first fiction film, a new experience for all of us. Currently titled “The Song”, the film is inspired by Chris Marker’s La Jetée (The Jetty) from 1962, a beautiful film almost completely comprised of stills with an amazing soundtrack. Our film will work with the same aesthetic and sonic concept, but we are going to combine it with animation and – of course – a unique narrative.

The Song is set in a post-apocalyptic world, in which John Cage’s “ASAP (As Slow As Possible)” has taken on a life of its own. “ASAP” is being performed in a church in Halberstadt, Germany at the moment; having started in 2000 it is going to finish in 2640.

Recently we began to shoot the trailer for The Song. You can look forward to seeing it online soon…

Victoria Baths Fanzine Fair – with screenings of Helpyourself Manchester

Helpyourself Manchester was screened at the Victoria Baths Fanzine Fair. It was a lovely day with loads of interesting discussions. Thanks to everyone who came!

The Skinny published an article about the Fanzine Fair with an excerpt of an interview with us: http://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/features/304578-better_paper_victoria_baths_fanzine_fair

Interview with Shrieking Violet

The Shrieking Violet posted a nice article about Castles Built in Sand. It discusses Helpyourself Manchester in the light of the upcoming screening at Victoria Baths, as part of the Fanzine Fair on the 5th of May.  Have a look here.

Our next project…

CBiS Exhibit and HYSM screening @The Forest, Edinburgh

From 1^st to 8^th April ‘Castles Built in Sand’ collective in collaboration with The Forest Social Centre will be hosting an exhibition of various projects we have been working on for the last few years. The projects include a photo and text exploration of ghost developments in Ireland, and a photo and DIY flyer display based around the documentary film Helpyourself Manchester, followed by a screening of that film on Monday 8^th of April.

 

The Forest is a volunteer-run, collectively-owned, free arts and events project that comprises of a vegetarian café, studios and lots of other facilities. It is a not-for-profit project and has been running in Edinburgh since 2000. For more info see here:  http://forestcafe.tumblr.com/

So if you are in Edinburgh over the coming week pop in and have a look, and by all means feel free to purchase a coffee or some delicious veggie food!!

Sound / Music / Image 4

The last film in our series is Glass Parade by Insa Langhorst, a 14-minute video about Taybeh, the only brewery in Palestine, with a soundtrack by the Levenshulme Bicycle Orchestra.

Glass Parade is a “spontaneous” piece of work in almost all its aspects. It is a reaction to the environment it is set in and experiments with the impact of sound over visuals. Through the combination of visuals and non-diegetic sound it aims to transcend the literal meaning of the visuals, and allows different denotations to be created.

The video is set in Taybeh, the only brewery in Palestine. Taybeh, named after the Christian Palestinian village it is located in, is a family business, which was established in 1994 after the Oslo Peace agreements. The founders David and Nadim Khoury had lived in the USA until then and returned in the hope that the agreements would enable Palestinians to live and work more freely.

Sound/ Music/ Image 3

The third film in our series is by Huw Wahl, and examines the use of photography in the Israel/Palestine conflict, it’s called Negotiating Representation in Israel and Palestine:

The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most infamous in the world, continually visited by foreign journalists wishing to gain a new angle on the situation there. But what of the photographers living and working in the region; how do they negotiate the issues of victimhood, narrative, representation and the problematic nature of image-making in an area that supplies the world with thousands of photographs and videos every day?