Cinestar and Mayes Creative invite artist filmmakers to share work that contributes to our sonic cultural heritage.

We are interested in artists’ film responses to outdoor sound encounters and particularly films that foreground sonic events and sound impulses. We invite submissions that have been largely generated with analogue film with digital editing and digital audio accepted. Found footage and sound can also be included. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, film work that visually explores your outdoor environment through:

·       sonic phenomena such as the Doppler Effect, echoes or reverberations

·       sonic effects and qualities like silence, immersion, rhythm or atmosphere

·       field recordings

·       soundscapes

·       micro and macro acoustic ecologies, micro sonic universes

·       foley sound

·       real and imagined sounds of the cosmos

·       the study of noise signatures

·       the sound design in storytelling

·       non-human communication 

Context

In film, sound is typically used as a device to engage audiences: it helps deliver information, evokes emotional responses, focuses our attention on something and can provide a spatial-temporal referent. However, sound can often reveal what vision conceals. It can provide critical information where visual and optical devices like the film camera, telescope and microscope can be far less helpful.  We see this as an opportunity to bring together artists whose filmmaking practice challenges the conventional hierarchies between sound and moving image. This call aims to open an exchange around new modes of listening and different approaches to moving image practices in the region and beyond.

The screenings will be presented in partnership with Cinestar and Mayes Creative as part of the Above and Below project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Feast and Arts Council England.

 Submission requirements: Applicants must submit:

·       a 150-word abstract about your film submission.

·       name and email address, the film’s running time and details of the analogue film medium/s used.

·       a link to your film on Vimeo or YouTube, with a password if protected. To facilitate the selection process, please give permission to download.

·       two film stills.

The maximum running time of films is 5 minutes. Films may originate from anywhere in the world although we especially encourage submissions from Cornwall and SW England. The films will be screened digitally.

How to submit:  Submission is by Vimeo or Youtube link on CuratorSpace

Submission deadline: 15th January 2023

Honorarium: We offer a small honorarium payment of £25 per chosen film as a contribution towards expenses. This payment covers screening fees.

Screening: Selected films will be screened at the University of Plymouth and offered to the C-Flym screening network, for screening before main features at community venues in Cornwall. Other screenings will be confirmed in the coming months. There may also be opportunities for time-limited online screenings, with the prior permission of artists.

Selection process: Films will be chosen by a panel of artist filmmakers: Kayla Parker (University of Plymouth), Jacqui Knight (Cinestar) and Joanna Mayes (Mayes Creative).