Usurp Zone5 Film Festival

Usurp Art Gallery organised an extraordinary, four day film festival with 84 experimental short films by 63 artists and filmmakers from over 15 countries, including Argentina, Germany, India, Jordan, Peru, Spain and South Africa. This is the first time an experimental film festival has taken place in the London Borough of Harrow.

Festival website www.usurpzone5.org.uk

The Usurp Zone5 Film Festival was conceived as a curated and open submission festival of short films up to 10 minutes. Usurp Art nurtured the film festival from a well publicised open call, receiving 491 film submissions from every continent and over 60 countries. Our open call asked for films that were based on the following: “Think – abstract, absurd, activist, animated, asemic, clandestine, collage, conceptual, cut-ups, environment, experimental, glitch, graffiti, graphic, identity, kinetic, outsider, paracinematic, performance, plunderphonic, poetry, radio, rebellious, scores, sci-art, scratch, silent, sonic, subterranean, subversive, surreal, synesthetic, typographic, video art…”

The programme consisted of four days of exhibition films – projected and on monitors, three nights of screenings with informal talks and discussions, and a film soundtrack and projection night with artists from Usurp Art. It was fantastic to have 11 festival filmmakers present who made the discussions highly enjoyable and accessible. Usurp Art welcomed very diverse audiences each day with a full house on each night. Attendees were thrilled to meet and discuss the films with the filmmakers, and share knowledge. The filmmakers were delighted to be able to network with each other and to share their ideas with members of the public, other filmmakers, and curators that attended. The social, cultural and educational value of this festival was considered to be exceptional, and the fact that it took place entirely at Usurp Art proved to be its strength, with high numbers of people reporting that they felt excited and engaged because of the intimacy, and possibility to have one on one discussions in a friendly atmosphere.

Programmed and curated by Poulomi Desai and Simon Underwood.

“Proud to be backing experimental film and video festival @Usurp Zone5″ Film London ‏@Film_London 

“Inspiring, friendly, high quality, thought provoking films – first time I have attended an experimental film festival – this is brilliant – well done Usurp!”

“Amazing community spirit and what an opportunity to meet with so many filmmakers and a chance to discuss ideas”

“Eclectic, funny, well-organised, great audience and what an atmosphere – more of this please!”

“Thanks Usurp for taking so much care in screening my film. The sound, black-out, people, everything is perfect. Great to be in an environment that nurtures reflection and networking”

“Exciting, enthralling, luminescent, interactive, inviting, textured”

Thanks to all the filmmakers, audiences, helpers and sponsors who made our Usurp Zone5 Film Festival a great success.

Film Hub London, Film London no.w.here, NEC, and the BFI. #usurpzone5

Selection from the documentation:

All the filmmakers and artists:

Adam H. Marchand, Ale Bachlechner, Alice Boutell, Aline Helmcke, Allan Brown, Arnont Nongyao, Blanca Rego, Clint Enns, Damian Lintell-Smith, Damien Megherbi, Daniel Watkins, Eisuke Yanagisawa, Elsa Philippe,Francois Knoetze, Gabriel Rud, Graham Dunning, Harrison Banfield, Hernán Talavera, Hiroya Sakurai, Jack Wormell, James Pomeroy, Jessica J Giacobbe, Jo Shaw, Justin Pechberty, Jukka-Pekka Jalovaara, Karl Waugh, Kuesti Fraun, Laura Fletcher, Marc Nesy (aka SWOON), Marko Schiefelbein, Maryam Tafakory, Matthias Kispert, Maura Wendelken, Mauricio Sanhueza, Maxime Corbeil-Perron, Melanie Menard, Michael Fleming, Michael Woods, Mikhail Basov, Molly Brown, Morgen Christie, MV Isip, Natália Azevedo Andrade, Nazare Soares, Neelu Bhuman, Onyeka Igwe, Pablo Saura, Razan Haikal, Richard Anthony Dunford, Richard Ashrowan, Sally Waterman, Sandra Araújo, Saravana Selvam, Sasha Waters Freyer, Scott Fitzpatrick, Samir Hamiche, Sedi Ghadiri, Shunsaku Hayashi, Stuart Pound, Theo Tagholm, Thorsten Fleisch, Vicki Bennett, Zachary Finkelstein

Usurp Zone5 Film Festival: Preparations
Left: Posters and programmes. Right: Seats ready with programme and audience survey.

Usurp Zone5 Film Festival: Exhibition Installations.

Left: ‘Portrait of Cecilia’ by Maura Wendleken. On monitor: ‘Eye of the Dawn Lost found’ by Nazare Soares. Right: ‘Post Panoptic Gazing’ by Michael Wood. Kids watching abstract films on a rainy Friday afternoon…

Usurp Zone5 Film Festival: 14th August Screenings.
Left: Filmmakers meet for the first time – Ale Bachlechner (Germany) Sedi Ghadiri (Iran/ Britain)
Right: Audience engrossed in films.

Usurp Zone5 Film Festival: 15th August Screenings:
Left: ‘Run’ by Stuart Pound. Right: Screen Memory – Laura Fletcher

Usurp Zone5 Film Festival: 16th August Screenings:
Left: ‘Dogged’ by Jo Shaw. Right: ‘Re:cycled’ by James Pomeroy

Usurp Zone5 Film Festival: 17th August – Film soundtrack and projections night
Left: ‘Can We Dance for Me?’ by Onyeka Igwe. Right: ‘Drink Sky On Rabbit’s Field (Lost Control)’ by Arnont Nongyao

More images – scroll through the gallery