Pleased to announce that Britishness has been included in this year's Black History Month season at Sheffield's Showroom Cinema. Programmer Mikaela Smith has curated an inspired selection of films expoloring what it means to be Black and British - featuring filmmakers from three generations - including gems from the archives, Handsworth Songs [1986] by John Akomfrah and Burning an Illusion [1981] by Menelik Shabazz. As Black history is not just for one month, Britishsness will screen in November on Thurs 21st at 6pm. More info and tickets available here.
It's great that the Independent Cinema Office [ICO] have programmed Eelyn's latest film, Britishness for their upcoming I.D. Screening Days event taking place 26-27 Sept in Nottingham. ICO Screening Days provide an opportunity for film programmers from around the country to preview new films and explore new ways of engaging audiences. This Screening Day is programmed around the theme of Inclusion and Diversity and Britishness sits alongside five other great films including Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's Farming.
Following the screening Eelyn will be joined by writer Désirée Reynolds. Together they will facilitate a discussion exploring how the film can be used as a starting point for schools and young people to engage in overlooked aspects of British history around Empire and colonialism.
Delighted to announce that Futurist Women of Barking and Dagenham has been selected for this year's BAFTA Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York [6 - 10 Nov]. As regular supporters of her work, Aesthetica have previoulsy programmed Eelyn's films in 2016 and 2017. Futurist Women is progammed in the Experimental 3 strand and will screen on Thurs 7th Nov at 21.30 and on Sat 9th at 16.00. Programme details here.
"From the opening address, I began to see the Summit as a social practice project in its own right" - Cara Courage
The Research Publication about the Social Art Summit officially launched at the Tate Exchange yesterday and is now available to download here. Commissioned and produced by a-n, it features a forward by Dr Cara Courage, Head of Tate Exchange and mini essays by eight artists who attended the Summit in Sheffield last November. The publication launch was part of the Social Art Assembly - a day of reflecting about the Social Art Summit and the future of Social Art Network.
Delighted to announce that Futurist Women has been selected for this year's Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. Eelyn Lee was invited to suggest recent work for a special strand focussing on UK poetry films. In 2012 Eelyn won one of the main prizes at 'Zebra' with her powerful and evocative film Life and Deaf which went on to screen at other international festivals including the prestigious Berlinale. Life and Deaf will screen again as part of this year's opening night gala at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival.
Futurist Women will screen on Friday 6th Dec at 22.00 at the Kino in der KulturBrauerei. More info and tickets here.
The whole team involved in this creative documentary are excited to announce that Britishness will have it's public premiere at Sheffield's Off the Shelf festival on Sunday 20th Oct at 12.00 noon. The screening will be follwed by a panel discussion with Eelyn Lee, Magid Magid, Sheffield's Poet Laureate Otis Mensah, author Désirée Reynolds and young writers who feature in the film.
Off the Shelf is one of the largest and most accessible literary annual festivals in the UK, bringing the biggest names in literature and the arts to Sheffield. Buy tickets here.
Join Eelyn Lee for the Black Arts World: Slate Weekeneder at the Showroom Cinema, Sheffiled, where she will be doing a Q&A with curator Melanie Abrahams. Melanie has programmed two of Eelyn's short films - Truce Triptych and Futurist Women - to screen at this special event celebrating a new wave of Black* artists working in the north. Slate is an Eclipse programme. More details here.
*To Eclipse, Black includes anyone who is marginalised for their race or ethnicity.
Yesterday we wrapped on the Britishness film! We had a great shoot up at Park Hill as the summer sun set over Sheffield. Thanks to everyone who's travelled with us on this fascinating journey in to exploring our nation identity. Watch this space for updates about screenings. Left to right: Dan, Fionn, Ross, Eelyn, Shannon, L & Warda.
Delighted to announce that Eelyn Lee has been awarded an Artist's Research Bursary from a-n to visit 'We Are Here', the Suzanne Lacy Retrospective exhibition in San Francisco. This seminal exhibition takes place over two sites: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Eelyn will meet with some of the curators and her research will focus on the challenges of exhibiting social practice, especially retrospectively. Eelyn will also be visiting artist Carolina Caycedo in Los Angeles. The learning from the trip will inform Eelyn's work with Social Art Network and help shape ideas for sharing practice at a Social Art Biennale.
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 Last year I had a chat with @theothercheckbox about how my mixed race experiences relate to equal opportunities monitoring forms - which for me generally means only being offered the option of ticking ‘other’ or ’mixed other’. Listen... Read More...
Sunday, 06 June 2021 I will be presenting new work in progress at this year's Encounter Bow, a one-day festival [Sat 12th June] exploring community care, spaces of joy and the importance of sharing and collecting stories. 三星 San Xing [Three Stars] is a... Read More...
Thursday, 22 April 2021 Casting Fu Manchu will be showing as part of this year's Estuary 2021. Programmed as part of The Telling Image, curator Gareth Evans has collated ten short films that respond to the festival's themes of climate, imperial legacy and... Read More...