Aesthetica Film Festival

In the middle of November 2013, I headed up to York for the Aesthetica Film Festival where the music video I directed for Punkture Sluts ‘No Hopah’ was selected as part of the official programme (also appearing on the official programme and poster for the festival taking up nearly a quarter of real estate!) Couple more photos plastered elsewhere on the blog) It screened with 300 other films at a really well curated festival. York is a small historic city, which was the main selling point of this particular fest, and made for half of the atmosphere. 16 venues were chosen around the city for screenings, and only one of them was a cinema. A diverse set of films in a lot of categories meant we watched screenings in barns, medieval halls, university lecturer rooms, theatres, museums, shops, hotels, mansions and manor houses and was a major part of the experience. It also meant you got to experience York a bit better and easier, which is good when your totally navigationally challenged like me and can’t find your way around anywhere without holding your iPhone aloft like Excalibur, as the comforting blue dot of Google Maps tells you where you’re plodding along in the world. Unfortunately my crap navigation doesn’t work up North either, and despite the smallness of the city, I resorted in the end to leaving about half an hour early to try and find out where the screening was next.

I really enjoyed the other music videos were screened in the back of a boutique shop “White Stuff”, also the thrillers section which I was intrigued to see had it’s own category, the animations were probably my favourite always impressed with what can be achieved with animation. In the beautiful surroundings of the York Theatre Royal, I listened to a fascinating masterclass talk about sound design from Joakim Sundstrom where he showed us his process from “Welcome to the Punch”. ‘No Hopah’ was well received, everyone I spoke to remember it as “…that weird one with the crazy clowns and fire that looked pretty crazy!” so I did something right! We were also name checked ahead of time in this article in York Mix as one to watch.

I feel safe and all life is well when in the company of other creatives, so I was really pleased to have met the filmmakers that I did. Whether further forward or back in their careers then I, everyone was on the same journey and everyone was pleased to be there to meet others whose work was screening in the festival. Quite impressed that a lot of students had gotten their work in as well, mainly in documentaries.

Really pleased to be included in the ASFF lineup this year, a diverse well curated festival with a lot of heart, beautiful visuals, interesting characters and eclectic narratives, and that’s not just the films! Now to get on with something for next years submission!