Multistory is offering screenings in West Bromwich as part of its Blast! Festival of Photography, Talks & Walks. Blast! will take place from Friday 24 May to Sunday 29 June 2019, and will be played out across the streets, shops, libraries and community halls of Sandwell.

Two of these, listed below, feature West Midlands filmmakers and content.

Mark Goes to Mongolia

Wed, June 5, 2019

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM BST

Kings Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich

Description: Magnum photographer Martin Parr joins us for a screening of his film Mark Goes to Mongolia featuring Black Country legend, Mark Evans, and a pigeon masterclass with two of Mark’s top birds. Food and refreshments provided. Mark goes to Mongolia is Martin Parr’s second film for Multistory (running time approx. 43 minutes), and tells the extraordinary story of Mark Evans – pigeon auctioneer, breeder and entrepreneur – who based in Moxley in the Black Country. This film documents Mark’s trip to Baotou in Inner Mongolia, in November 2012, where pigeon breeding, pigeon racing and Mark Evans are hugely popular.

Black Country Living – film screening and artist talk with Janine Wiedel

Fri, June 21, 2019

Description: A screening of Camera in the Streets, a documentary about Janine Wiedel’s work photographing industries in the West Midlands, followed by a discussion between Janine Wiedel and curator, Craig Ashley, as part of the Black Country Living exhibition presented at the Blast! Festival.

About the Blast! Festival

The festival will focus on each of Sandwell’s six distinct towns: Oldbury, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, Rowley Regis, Smethwick and Tipton. Finding new and exciting ways of presenting art in community spaces is at the heart of the Blast! experiment. Public space, community venues, pop-up sites, print, broadcasting and online platforms will all play a role in connecting the work of exceptional artists with local people.  See the entire festival programme here.

Based in West Bromwich, Multistory works with outstanding artists to make art with, for and about the people of Sandwell. Our projects reflect and celebrate everyday life from factories, pubs and clubs, people’s homes, places of worship and markets. We work with local residents, photographers, artists, writers, documentary film-makers and many more. Read more here.

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Matt Guest, who is head of computing at Summerhill School in Kingswinford, is in the running for Young Game Designers (YGD) mentor award, which is presented to an individual involved in the education of young game designers. He is one of three mentor finalists in the running this year, who all work with young people in schools, clubs and youth initiatives across the UK.

Mr Guest was nominated for this BAFTA Mentorship Award by many of his students for the award and has always loved computer games. He set up a games creator club at his school for young people interested in gaming. He also set up the Summerhill Classic Video Games Awards and regularly invites industry professionals to speak to students at the club.

He said: “Video games and their creation has been such a big part of my life and have helped to make me the person I am. I am desperate to ignite the same joy in others and hopefully a career in this vital British industry.”

The annual competition, which launched in 2010, aims to find the game designers of the future and the teachers or mentors who inspire them. This year, there are 40 entries by 53 finalists. Children aged between 10 and 18 years old have submitted game designs and concepts addressing a wide range of issues including mental health, climate change, conservation, disability, bereavement and transgender rights.

Dr Jo Twist OBE, chair of games committee at BAFTA, added: “Games are a fantastic art form for creators to express themselves, and I am delighted to see young people tackling important topics through their design and concept entries this year. Their creativity and ambition for social change through the medium of games is inspiring.

“A very well deserved congratulations and good luck to all the 2019 finalists.”

The BAFTA Mentorship Award winners, chosen by a panel of industry professionals, will be revealed at a special awards ceremony at BAFTA’s headquarters in London on June 29.

Source: www.expressandstar.com

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The British Science Festival 2019 is looking for creatives and digital businesses based in Coventry & Warwickshire and Greater Birmingham and Solihull to showcase their existing digital artwork, installations or immersive experiences to a public audience. The work will be presented in a Coventry city centre venue on the evening of Friday 13 September, as part of a wider final celebratory event of the British Science Festival 2019.

What Type of Art?

The work should be aimed at an adult (primarily 18-35), public audience. A focus on public engagement and participation will be viewed favourably. The work must fit with the British Science Association’s vision, where science is seen as a part of society and culture, a community activity for all as well as a career for some. We are especially interested in proposals from people who are traditionally underrepresented in science and the wider sector, including women, people from BAME backgrounds and those living with disabilities.

We do not have budget to commission new artworks, this is a showcase for existing work made in Coventry & Warwickshire and/or the Greater Birmingham and Solihull region. Installation and promotional support will be available from the Festival team. This showcase opportunity is unpaid, but please contact us if you have any queries.

How To Apply

Please complete this form by 12 noon Friday 7 June 2019. We will get back to you with whether you’ve been successful shortly after.

Please send any queries to Anna Woolman at anna.woolman@britishscienceassociation.org

Please note that due to time restraints, we are not able to give feedback on proposals that aren’t selected.

About the British Science Festival

The British Science Festival is Europe’s longest standing science Festival, travelling to a different place in the United Kingdom each year. Our Festival aims to connect people with scientists, engineers, technologists and social scientists.

Each year the Festival brings free events to an adult audience (16+), which are packed with exciting opportunities to get involved with. Our programme bursts with a variety of different types of events, from talks to workshops, museum takeovers to parties and stuff you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see at a ‘science’ festival such as yoga, life drawing and artistic performances. Events span a diverse range of subjects that encompass science in the broadest sense, promising something for everyone.

The Festival’s audience ranges from those who are interested in science, maybe working in it, to those who do not necessarily see themselves as ‘sciencey’, but may have a particular interest in the topic of an event. We continually try to push the boundaries of our audiences and welcome new types of events that attract those who would not typically go to a science festival.

In 2019, we will be in Coventry and Warwickshire from 10-13 September, and will be run in partnership with the University of Warwick. This year’s Festival will showcase and celebrate the region’s strength in digital creativity, and the festival is particularly interested in works that explore and respond to themes that relate to the area and its people.

This opportunity is supported by the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, who are partners of the British Science Festival 2019.

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The Last Witness, filmed around the West Midlands, will be screened at the MAC on Saturday, June 1st at 5pm. The screening will be followed by a live onstage Q&A with BAFTA nomiated director Piotr Szkopiak and producer Carol Harding.

The Last Witness is a political thriller based on the harrowing true events of the Katyn Massacre in Spring 1940, starring Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, I am Number Four), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter franchise, King of Thieves) and Talulah Riley (Westworld).

In post-war England, ambitious journalist Stephen Underwood (Alex Pettyfer) comes across a disturbing spate of suicides by Polish soldiers. Sensing a story, his investigation escalates as he finds himself embroiled in a dangerous, multi-layered conspiracy concerning the execution of 22,000 Polish military and civilians by Stalin’s secret police.

DP Edward Ames told British Cinematographer: “The whole film was shot in the West Midlands, in 18 days, using just six locations. We managed this in spite of a very limited budget, because we were very lucky, and because our entire production team were dedicated to making it work.”

 Book your tickets here.

“Ready Player One”, directed by Steven Spielberg,  nabbed one of the coveted spots – a nomination for a 2019 Oscars award for Visual Effects. Famous winners in the past have included “Avatar,” “Interstellar,” and all three of “The Lord of the Rings” films. The movie, based on Ernest Cline’s book of the same name, is known for characters traveling into a virtual reality space — which needed to be experienced without film patrons having to done VR headsets themselves.

“Ready Player One,” filmed on a number of streets within Birmingham, tells the futuristic story of a society that spends most of its time jacked into VR. Students even go to virtual schools, with some even wearing haptic suits that allow them to feel everything that’s happening in the virtual world.

The Oscars, which will be televised on February 24, are addressing the rise of VR in storytelling. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences nominated a short animated VR film, “Pearl,” in 2017 which could be viewed on both HTC Vive devices and on YouTube as a 360-degree video. Filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu took home a special Oscar award for his VR exhibit, “Carne y Arena” in 2017. And director Guillermo del Toro created a VR experience for his 2015 film “Crimson Peak.”

Spielberg himself can be said to be very focused on VR and its role in Hollywood. He is involved in Dreamscape, a VR theater, that recently opened its first location in Los Angeles’ Westfield Century City mall.

Ready Player One has also been recognised for its stunning visual effects or production design, receiving nominations for the Academy Awards, BAFTA and the Art Directors Guild. Watch the trailer here. Other nominees in the Visual Effects category are Avengers: Infinity War, Christopher Robin, First Man and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Original Source: www.gearbrain.com

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