For the first time ever Eelyn Lee's latest film Creature of the Estuary will screen alongside Monster - marking an exciting opportunity to see the first two films in Lee's Monster Trilogy together.
In association with Metal and Focal Point Gallery, the screening will take place at the Forum Lecture Thestre in Southend, in the locality where the film was shot and developed. Eelyn Lee will discuss the making of the work and will be joined by many of her local collaborators from along the South Essex stretch if the Thames.
Last night 180 people sat in deck chairs to watch a special outdoor preview screening of Creature of the Estuary at Coalhouse Fort, Tilbury. Introduced by writer and curator, Gareth Evans [Whitechapel], the film that delves in to the estuary mud to unearth stories of fear and transformation was perfectly placed in this 19th Century defence structure, with the Thames wrapping around it's ramparts just the other side of the make-shift auditorium.
True to the 'lab spirit' used in the making of the film, Eelyn Lee and her editor Francis Morgan-Giles had only finished the film the day before presenting it to an audience at Estuary 2016. After rapturous applause Eelyn introduced some of her many collaborators including BAFTA-winning actress Anamaria Marinca and several local collaborators including vocalist Jess Sweeney from Shoeburyness; Tess McLoughlin from Leigh-on-Sea who made her screen debut as the 8-year old Rita; Carol and Steve Ellis who dive the London Wreck near Southend Pier and Bob Hoy, resident of Canvey Island.
The 22-minute film will have another preview screening locally before it's London Premiere at Whitechapel Gallery on 23rd February, 2017. It is currently being entered in to international festivals.
Read more about the making of the film on the project blog
Principal photography on Eelyn Lee's latest film, Creature of the Estuary began this week along the South Essex stretch of the Thames Estuary. Eelyn welcomes back BAFTA-winning actor Anamaria Marinca [above right] as Rada, a migrant who arrives by small boat at the end of a pier with her 8-year old daughter Rita, played by local actor and new-comer, Tess [above left].
Cinematographer Dominik Rippl will be filming for five days this week and Eelyn welcomes a team of old and new collaborators.
As part of the development process for her latest film, Creature of the Estuary, Eelyn is running a series of 'Fear Labs' with residents of Benfleet and Canvey Island. Working in collaboration with Art Director Christopher Kelly who has made a selection of props, Eelyn is exploring personal stories of fear with participants before encouraging them to turn them in to monsters.
The first workshop was with a group of twelve art students from Seevic College [see results above] who are now helping Eelyn and Chris roll out the workshop to other groups including Cast and Crew, a drama workshop based on Canvey Island.
The project is part of Eelyn's 3-year exploraration of notions of monsters and fear through improvised and collaborarive filmmaking. With funding from Arts Council England, Essex County Council and Metal Eelyn is making the new film for Estuary 2016, a festival celebrating the Thames Estuary.
Last week Eelyn Lee ran a 5-day project with young people [aged 11-19] at Spotlight, a youth centre in Poplar, East London. Commissioned by the Barbican with funds from Into Film, Eelyn conceived of an exciting new collaborative film project to explore the theme of transformation.
Taking the following premise as a starting point...
What if one morning you awoke from troubled dreams to find yourself transformed right there in your bed in to your worst nightmare?
... Eelyn and a core team of 10 young people made three short stories of transformation, inspired by the opening lines of Kafka’s Metamorphosis.
Long-term collaborator Winstan Whitter worked alongside Eelyn to facilitate the filmmaking, whereby young people took roles of actor, director, camera operator, gaffer and art director. The final film will screen at a special event at the Barbican Cinema in October.
The project marks Eelyn's ongoing interest in exploring notions of monsters, transformation and fear through processes of improvisation and collaboration.
Happy to announce that Arts Council England have funded Eelyn Lee to make the second stage of her Monster Trilogy. Following extensive research along the South Essex stretch of the Thames Estuary through residencies at Metal, Eelyn will spend the rest of the summer making a 20-25 minute film on locations on Canvey Island, Benfleet Creek, Southend Pier, Thorpe Bay, Leigh-on-Sea and Tilbury Docks.
This latest work called Creature of the Estuary is also supported by Essex County Council and Metal.
Eelyn Lee's latest film Monster will have it's London Premiere at Close-Up Film Centre in Shoreditch at 8pm on Sat 5th March.
Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Monster marks Eelyn's first iteration of her two-year investigation in to improvised filmmaking. Shot during a 5-day Lab at the Barbican with a group of 18 collaborating actors and artists including BAFTA/Palme d’Or winner Anamaria Marinca [4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days], the project was supported by Arts Council England.
Eelyn is currently developing the work through a residency with Metal, an artistic lab on the Thames estuary where she is extending collaboration to local people, collecting stories of fear associated with the river.
Monster is programmed alongside Bill Morrison’s Spark of Being as part of The Modern Prometheus weekend.
After the screening Eelyn will be in conversation with Gareth Evans, Film Curator, Whitechapel.
Friday, 17 January 2020 Eelyn Lee has been invited to speak at The Artist's Journey #3, a two-day event of talks and presentations by artists and researchers on forging a career out of art. This year's theme is 'Improfessional Practices' - a provocation that sets out to challenge... Read More...
Wednesday, 20 November 2019 "it presents a comprehensive study of Britain’s internal borders, its binaries and human costs" - Raluca de Soleil Following a successful premiere of Britishness at Off the Shelf Festival in Shefield last... Read More...
