6th London Short Film Festival: 9th – 18th January 2009


Are you cold? Morose? Sunken by January blues? Here, let us put some mittens on those hands so bitten and raw. Yes, let us take you by the hand, and lead you through the streets of London. This year London Short Film Festival is all about the journey. And the nice warm cinema destination. And then the bar. Using more venues than ever before, the capital becomes a cinematic sprawl, where you'll find new creative visions to light your way through dark days and out of the Christmas blockbuster hinterland. If your sole new year's resolution is to join a gym, then you're in the wrong place. But if you fancy starting your year with a bit of soul-warming inspiration then it's right this way for another cornucopia of brand new short films and networking sessions.

The 6th Festival sees an expansion to 10 venues across London – we’re excited to be back in our original home at the ICA and back in the Curzon Soho after four years there and at the Roxy Bar & Screen for a third year, but 2009 sees us take in the Renoir Cinema in Russell Square, Rich Mix in Shoreditch, the Tenderpixel Gallery off Charing Cross Road, with one-off special events at BAFTA in Piccadilly, the Ondaatje Wing Theatre at National Portrait Gallery off Trafalgar Square, Shunt Vaults under London Bridge Station, and the Bishopsgate Institute by Liverpool Street. We truly are a London short film festival!

• We’re proud to be hosting the 4th Vauxhall Auteur Theory Award at the Roxy Bar & Screen on Thursday 16 January; created by Lucia Helenka to showcase the new generation of D.I.Y. auteurs who have produce inspired, refreshing work with personal flare and nerve. The award is in conjunction with car company Vauxhall who continue their commitment to driving emerging talent in short film with the support of £1000. Vauxhall have also funded the making of three Festival trailers by filmmakers Ben Slotover, Xanthe Hamilton & Michael Pearce and Lucia Helenka.

• Also at the Roxy will see two party-style events on both Saturday nights of the Festival:
Darryl’s Hard Liquor & P0rn Film Festival return for a second year from Toronto after their successful showcase and European Premiere at last year’s London Short Film Festival; this will be another crazy sexy film selection to shock Londoners out of their winter blues.
Then the following Saturday we present an afternoon and evening of film and music in association with Beat Happening magazine, including the premiere screening of ONE MAN IN THE BAND documentary by Adam Clitheroe, which will be followed by live performance by a selection of one-man bands featured in the film: Dennis Hopper Chopper will simultaneously be playing guitar, bass drum, high hat, organ bass pedals, vox-organ and a 1969 Fender Dual Showman amplifier; Ninki V with her sounds of an eclectic lo-fi mixture of Casiostatic songs, ethereal theremin, flute with aeons of delay, ambient melodica, angry harp and shy vocals; and Midnight Expresso who has been described as 'insane' and 'downright stupid', but the one thing that everyone is agreed on, is that he is a genius! His short film will be presented during the festival!

• During the week the Roxy will also pay host to a live performance of Zan Lyons, premiering both music and short films from his brand new audio-visual release planned for 2009, and to a guest selection of music-related shorts from ThinkSync Films. Plus we will have a documentary marathon in the form of Night of the Living Docs in conjunction with Current TV, and with the Festival culminating on the final Sunday with the premiere of the Kino Kabaret films made during the Festival and the LSFF 2009 Awards Ceremony including the announcement of the UK Film Council Best Film Award.

• The ICA, the Renoir Cinema and the National Portrait Gallery will all play host to screenings of new shorts from our open submission, along with Rich Mix (where we’ve joined forces with the East End Film Festival). This is the mainstay of the London Short Film Festival and central to its on-going success; we received 1000 short films this year and have selected approximately 200 to screen across 13 programmes during the Festival, themed from comedy to horror, from experimental to lo-budget…

• The ICA will also host our Opening Night Party on Friday 9 January with DJ performance from Pens, plus the venue will host guest screenings from our friends at Club des Femmes who’ll be re-visting the ‘nude’ in feminist film history.

• Both the ICA and Curzon Soho will host a series of industry events across the 10 days, under the name Howling Feedback – at the ICA we hook up with the UK Film Council on both Monday 12 January for In The Directors Chair panel discussion & screening and again on Friday 16 January for an afternoon networking session followed by the premiere of the UK Completion Fund screening. The Curzon Soho sees a series of midweek industry sessions with Shooting People, the London Film Academy, the New Producers Alliance, Birds Eye View and Current TV.

• We’re also proud to be hooking up with the Branchage Jersey International Film Festival to host a big scale film & music event themed around Outsiders at the Bishopsgate Institute on Thursday 15 January. There will be live performances by Jeremy Warmsley, Paloma Faith, Yelps, Their Hearts Were Full of Spring, Bretton and Laura J Martin covering the likes of Syd Barrett, Daniel Johnston, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Tom Waits, Neutral Milk Hotel and other artistes working on the fringes, supported by a stunning documentary film programme focussing on the outsiders in society from those who drop out to those who simply don’t fit in. All taking place in a beautiful Victorian hall, built on the site of the medieval Bedlam hospital…. not to be missed!

• We will be down at the incredible Shunt Vaults to present our late-night horror themed programme, allowing you to sample the manic delights of what else Shunt has to offer, from performance to music to late-night drinking.

• The tiny but beautifully formed Tenderpixel Gallery hidden away in the beautiful enclave of Cecil Court off Charing Cross Road will host a readings event curated by Electric Sheep magazine, as well as further Festival screenings during the day including a series of short documentaries themed around home from the Scottish Documentary Institute.

• We’re also proud to be at BAFTA to host a retrospective screening of short films featuring the star of stage and TV Kris Marshall; we welcome Kris for a Q&A following the screening.


www.shortfilms.org.uk