anniversaries often feel arbitrary, and ‘anniversary’ feels like an inappropriate word, celebratory. Any other of the last 730 days could have been singled out as a day to be left both numb and overcome with outrage disbelief powerlessness. And really, if we’re counting this war in laps around the sun, this month marks not two, but ten years. Whatever the day, or year, it’s hard to find words that come close. And so, at a loss, here is a photo of a watermelon
sorry but nowhere do watermelons taste better than in Ukraine. This is a watermelon that, shortly after I took this photo, was split open and shared between a dozen Ukrainians, stood with legs planted wide, bent forwards at the hip, juice dripping down their elbows, on a summer’s day when today’s reality was unfathomable
The watermelon is also a symbol in another war that I can’t find words for. And so, here is a photo of a watermelon
Still wrapping my head around this but I’ve been shortlisted for @the_arts_foundation Futures Award for short documentary film.
On 23 Jan my short doc The Boxing Bishop will be screening @icalondon@londonshortfilmfest , alongside films from three mad talented filmmakers. Tickets available on the LSFF website
I recently had the joy of meeting a wonderful little lad, and his both tireless and incredibly tired mother. Maksym and Iryna are two of the millions of refugees who fled Ukraine last year. And Maksym is one in a million. A chess prodigy with his sights set on becoming a grandmaster, he won a chess tournament four days after arriving in the UK.
This film I directed for Al Jazeera is a window into the wins, losses and many battles fought by both mother and son, and a story about continuing to pursue a lifelong dream even after your world, overnight, descends into a nightmare.
Bottom-of-heart thanks to the incredible teams at @aljazeeracloseup & @happenstancefilms who made this film happen. Especially to these magicians:
DOP @juliaalcamo
Producers @danho_mcr & Mary Pattisson
Editor @_miguel.pinto
Catch the film on Al Jazeera’s ‘Close Up’ strand online or click the link in my bio
I spent a lot of last year in churches and at boxing matches - for the same reason. I got the chance to translate into film what a boxing club in Edmonton, and the archbishop behind it, do and have done for nearly 20 years, in and outside of the ring.
Making this film was a very welcome reminder of the huge, quiet power of community. I left every interview and boxing class completely floored, and quickly came to reconsider everything I thought, and thought I knew, about both boxing and religion.
The Boxing Bishop will be screening at @maniffofficial this weekend, swing by if you’re in Manchester (1pm, Sat 18 March).
One shoot for this film may or may not have involved a fire alarm going off.
Dop @pablorojodop
Sound @adam_hurley
Edit @neens_zy
Gaffers @nathanrubins@daniel_svilenov
Prod Assistant @vitali.pikalevsky
Stills @giorgivisually
Sound Design @doomerkebab
Grade @xuan.zh
Music @daeleedrums@tomquickmusic
Huge thanks to @talkiescc , Enfield Council and the many incredibly generous people at both @edmontoneaglesabc and @accsheepfold
keep swiping for excellent balconies but also, thrilled to have curated a screening for @neweastcinema at the Barbican, where we’ll be showing Pawel Lozinski’s latest doc, The Balcony Movie.
The Polish director filmed passersby from his Warsaw apartment balcony for two years, creating a daily streetside confessional, and the film born out of his interactions is a very enjoyable insight into how weird, wonderful and complicated people are.
You get to hear some very good stories and meet some fascinating people, and I’ll be holding a Q&A with the director after so you also have the opportunity to heckle, don’t miss it.
Screening on Mon 7 Nov. Tickets available on the Barbican website
Photos from Oleksandr Burlaka’s dream of a photobook, ‘Balcony Chic’
As I have done every year apart from this one, I went to Ukraine last summer. I took a camera with me and asked three generations of women for their two cents on Ukraine marking 30 years of independence, and the very distinct eras of the USSR they each lived through. Some of their memories are hazy, others are painfully sharp. But almost every line stings with new significance today.
It took a while to get round to and to cut, but those conversations now take the form of a short film called The Curtain, which I’m very glad to say you can catch very soon at screenings in London/online:
- @EFNFilmFestival screening on 20 sept @thegardencinema (very brilliant festival, very beautiful venue & a very good programme of shorts)
- @littlewingfilmfestival (5-9 oct)
- @sundayshortsff (soon come)
very very delighted to have curated a fundraising film programme which, alongside majestic shots of monks eating pomegranates, includes three seminal films from the east end of Europe, as well as a cooking class from chef and #CookForUkraine co-founder @alissatimoshkina , a ‘dinner-table’ discussion and commissioned recipes from displaced Ukrainian chefs.
FEAST FROM THE EAST is streaming on the @independentcinemaoffice ’s #cinemaofideas from 27 June - 11 July, and tickets are completely free, but please chip in a donation if you can. Donations will be split between two incredibly important fundraising campaigns in Ukraine, to help @wckitchen continue to feed and provide food to the many, many people who’ve lost not just their kitchens, but their entire livelihoods, and help @dovzhenko_center preserve their invaluable film archive, which is under sustained threat.
The ongoing war seeks to attack Ukraine’s people, history and culture. This programme and fundraiser seeks, in whatever way it can, to thwart this aim, by supporting those ensuring Ukrainians don’t go hungry, and that Ukraine’s rich cinematic heritage is preserved for posterity.
book, donate and savour here: https://bit.ly/FeastFromTheEast
Immense thanks to the ICO for the opportunity to spend a lot of time thinking of nothing but film and food and @ukr_institute for supporting 🍎
