It will screen alongside Jill Daniel's 'Journey to the South' at Rich Mix on 18th Jun at 3.30pm.
East End Film Festival continue to support Eelyn's work following their selection of All Eyes on Us in 2013.
Creative Practitioner, R.M. Sánchez-Camus has written a critical evaluation of Eelyn Lee's latest collaborative film project, Creature of the Estuary. Eelyn spent eighteen months developing the film along the Thames Estuary where she collaborated with local residents, artists, performers and musicians to make the second iteration of her Monster Trilogy.
Dr Sánchez-Camus's full article can be read here.
'This universality is the strength of Creature of the Estuary, presenting the shorelines and it’s inhabitants as not only gatekeepers to London but the front line of a nation’s outward looking face' - Dr R.M. Sánchez-Camus
Click the image to read the full article.
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.
Eelyn Lee will be taking part in a Q&A which will be followed by a performance by the Trad Academy Sea Shanty Choir.
Also screening is World Without End [No Reported Incidents], new work by acclaimed essay film-maker Jem Cohen, exploring the lives and locales of the Thames Estuary.
Tickets avaialble here: http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/jem-cohen-eelyn-lee/
In association with Metal and the Estuary Festival.
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.
Tickets are FREE and can be booked here.
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.
Follow the progress on the project blog.
Image Credit: Andy Delaney
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.
Follow the project blog for updates.
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