RUMBLINGS IN SZEGED - WE'VE GOT THAT HUNGARY FEELING AGAIN!

Coming this September is the extra-special 10th anniversary edition of the Szeged Super 8mm Film Festival - one of the world's best super 8 festivals, held every year in Hungary.

We've been so well supported by the festival - they've featured a new Roundeye film every year since 2008 actually, so we are delighted to back on the bill again for this very special year!

They'll be screening our spooky new film Little Red in the main competition programme, on Tuesday 6th September, in the Grand Cafe Cinema. The films start at 7pm.

More details to come as we get them!

Peeps watching our film 'The Return of Ellen Love' at the Grand Cafe Cinema.

OPEN SESAME!

Well this is exciting news... Starting early next week the Roundeye film Little Red will be showing at the New Gallery London as part of 'Open', a curated programme of contemporary artists' short films.

Here is the official blurb about the exhibition...
'Open' brings together a diverse selection of film recently created by a variety of emerging, established and international artists.
From an open submission the work has been selected through a panel of curators and artists displaying a variety of exciting and challenging work that is being produced today from all over the world. The exhibition places the role of the gallery at the forefront of its interests, bringing into question the structured ideas of an 'Artist film'. The position of the gallery entices the role of the filmmaker, artist, cinema and Hollywood.

You can find the New Gallery London on the Peckham Road at Camberwell - the private view is tomorrow at 6pm, but the films are showing from 6pm to 11pm every day next week.

IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY...

Fresh from it's premiere at the Folkestone Triennial 2011 last week - and now being broadcast on the short film television programme Ronke - we are now in the process of sending out the latest Roundeye film to a host of film festivals, screenings nights and art events all over the UK.

This one is a creepy take on Little Red Riding Hood - which combines elements of fairytales and horror to reveal something unexpected lurking in the forest...

As always - we really don't want to put the full film to view online. Why? Well because we want you to actually come watch our films with an audience, to get that crowd experience going, to get some alcohol into the mix (!) and to show you our work up on a big screen. Besides - it never looks that good all pixelated and juddery on a computer screen, does it?

That said - we will give you a little teaser trailer to feast your eyes on. So here goes... (but keep coming back for details of future screenings - we hope to see you there - in person!)

ON THE SMALL SCREEN WITH... RONKE

ronke (ron-kay) Chiefly Norwegian Vulgar Slang
vb (intr) to masturbate
n an instance of masturbating

Yes – apparently 'Ronke' is the Norwegian word for an old fashioned five-knuckle shuffle. But more importantly, it’s also the title of the best short film show on British television!

Broadcast most days on the channels Showcase and InformationTV, Ronke is now in its sixth year and promises "strange, unusual, funny, moving and always entertaining short films from around the world".

I’ve tried for ages to get some Roundeye films on the programme – and I’m thrilled to say that they have finally snapped-up two of our finest creations – Getting Ready and brand-new film Little Red – for the show TOMORROW NIGHT!

So PLEASE tune-in to Sky channel 166 tomorrow at 9.30pm to watch some real super-8 cine films on the small screen! It doesn't happen very often!

The screening will be the virtual premiere of Little Red – our scary version of Little Red Riding Hood - it’s only ever been screened once before, last week at my solo film show for the Folkestone Triennial.

So please tune in, or SkyPlus it, or whatever… super-8 is great!


How to watch ‘Ronke’ - this Wednesday 13th June at 9.30pm
- Sky viewers - turn to channel 166 - or channel 189 for the +1 version which runs an hour behind.
- Freesat viewers - click on channel 402.
- If you're outside the UK - the channel can be received via any satellite equipment pointing at the Astra/Eurobird complex at 28.2E using frequency 11.623 H, FEC 2/3, symbol rate 27500 and service ID 50880.
- Or if all that's a bit complicated (no shit!) - then just visit the website here and watch the channel's live online streaming - it's completely free!


If you miss tomorrow's show - fear not. Word on the street is that our films will be repeated quite a bit over the foreseeable future, so keep tuning in...

Ben Barton


P.S. Here’s the brand new poster for Little Red, btw. Artwork is courtesy of the ridiculously talented Mr V. Big love. x

SOLO FILM SHOW - THIS WEEK!

Well this week this the most exciting one EVER for Roundeye - and that's a fact.

And it's all because coming this Friday 8th July is Ben Barton's first ever solo film night, all being held for the fantastic Folkestone Triennial 2011.

Part retrospective, part avant garde film night, the evening promises our usual blend of scratchy, imperfect super-8 films, found footage and great music from Roundeye regulars Jennifer and Robert Harris.

We'll be showing virtually every single film we've made over the past three years, including the first ever screenings of new works Little Red and 5,000 Miles From Hollywood.

So if you can get to Folkestone's fab Quarterhouse this Friday - please come down and support us - the more the merrier! The films start at 7.30pm and entry is a teeny-tiny £3!

You can read more about the short film night here at the Folkestone Fringe website, or here at Benny's very own homepage.

We hope to see you there!

AT LAST... PRIMETIME TV!

Well, we seem to be ever so popular over at Sky TV channel 219 - Eat Cinema/My Channel - they're repeating our underground Dungeness film Initial Prospect three times this coming week!

Yep - and rather than being relegated to the midnight slot - this time we're primetime - sort of.

Here's the blurb for the week's shows, now rebranded as My Super Shorts Light:

Enjoy a selection of our best easy going short films on this special programme dedicated to new talents, good ideas and an important piece of cinema yet to be explored on television - the short film.

You can watch Initial Prospect this Tuesday at 6pm, Wednesday at 1.30pm and Thursday at 4.30pm.

VAMPIRE T.V.

Just a quickie... but our film Initial Prospect is being repeated on the Super Shorts television show in the wee early hours of tomorrow morning (Wednesday).

So yep - vampires and insomniacs only I'm afraid - or you can always Sky Plus it...!

It's on Eat Cinema/My Channel, Sky channel 219 at 3am. Not exactly primetime!

WE'RE ON T.V.

We've just had some very exciting news - one of the Roundeye films is being screened on TV!

The film is our nostalgic cine wonder 'Initial Prospect', filmed in Dungeness and with a fantastic soundtrack by our very own Jennifer Harris.

It's been selected for Super Shorts on the channel Eat Cinema - now rebranded as My Channel.

Super Shorts is one of just two short film shows broadcast here in the UK (the other one being Ronke). Can you believe that - just two shows in the whole country?! So of course I'm absolutely delighted to have been chosen... popcorn anyone?!
So tune in this week to My Channel, available on SKY channel 219. The screenings are this Wednesday 8th June at 9.30pm, and Sunday 12th June at 8pm. Or for insomniacs - there's a screening in the wee hours of Sunday morning at 1:30am!

Ben Barton

MOVIEBAR MAGIC

Now in it's third incarnation - I think - the new, more snappily-titled Movie Bar is still Brighton's best short film night... held the first Monday of every month at the Cornerstone.

This month is sure to be the best night so far. Why? - well because it will feature a trio of Roundeye films all directed by our very own Ben Barton - that's why!

They will be showing our super-8 films Getting Ready, The Lighthouse and Initial Prospect, described in the programme as 'three stories of love, loss and dreams presented as visual poems'.

So get down to the Cornerstone at the bottom of Elm Grove in Brighton on Monday June 6th... the usual movie quiz starts at 8pm, followed by the screenings...

WE'RE IN A WHIRLYGIG...

Roundeye favourite The Return of Ellen Love is getting something of a makeover this weekend - with a brand new live soundtrack - all part of Whirlygig Cinema's new 'Making Tracks' event.

Whirlygig describe themselves as "an ongoing project working to expose the talents of lesser known and up-and-coming filmmakers... helping them to find their feet in a daunting and murky art world".

Our film's new soundtrack will come courtesy of The Cabinet of Living Cinema, a collective of artists working exclusively in music and film. The idea behind the night is quite simple: Whirlygig Cinema seek out top-quality short films, strip them of their original soundtracks and The Cabinet rescore them live on the night.

Entry to this special event is £8 - this Friday 20th May - at the coolio Rich Mix arts venue - in the heart of London's East End on the Bethnal Green Road.

Addendum: It also seems our film will be repeated for the August 2011 event - so we'll post again nearer the time...

££££££££££££££

It's been all doom and gloom on the arts' funding front lately - what with the sad closure of the UK Film Council and the tightening of the Arts Council belt etc... so in these frugal times I'm happier than ever to say that I've received some much needed cash from the government to keep on making the Roundeye films!

Sure it's not much, but after four years of begging, borrowing and thieving to get these films out there, it's very nice to be given a little backhander to keep on going!

So a big thanks to all the arts team at Shepway council for all their support... and to the rest of you - you're sure to see the fruits of your hard-earned tax money here very soon!

Ben Barton

KOMING SOON AT KINOKULTURE

There's something of a Benny B retrospective coming up this month at the KinoKulture Short Film Night in Shropshire, with four Roundeye films being screened in one sitting. That's Getting Ready, The Return of Ellen Love, Initial Prospect and our little-seen art film The Lighthouse.

KinoKulture is an independently-run boutique cinema in Oswestry, which offers a varied programme of film screenings and events throughout the year. Our films will be shown at The Ironworks on Sunday 27th March, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are a bargain £3!


UPDATE... We've just heard that Getting Ready and Initial Prospect have been moved to the next Short Film Night, being held sometime in May. We'll keep you updated!

BACK TO WORK...

We've waited weeks for the snow to clear properly so we can continue shooting Little Red, our new fairytale super 8 film...

Just a few more shots to go - the scary ending to be precise - but until then, here's a wee glimpse at what we're up to!

"NEAR, FAR, WHEREVER YOU ARE..."

No, it has nothing to do with the incessant warblings of newly-preggars Celine, but rather a funky new film night, which is launching May 27th at the Achromat Gallery in Hove.

As you can see, ‘Near, Far, Wherever You Are’ is the curious title, and you lucky peeps can look forward to a hand-picked selection of short films, from documentaries, non-narrative work, video art, music videos and more... And yes, they will screening some of Benny B's fab super-8 films too...

So if any of you ‘popcorn loving film watchers willing to donate a few coins for drinks’ are interested, get your bums down to the gallery on Queens Place, Hove (near the Sussex County Cricket Ground) at 7pm this Thursday.

"NO I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING PERMIT!"

Well - the act of guerrilla filmmaking never did run smooth, as they say, and yesterday was no exception.

The photo above was taken approximately nine seconds before we were 'moved on' (i.e. frogmarched off the premises) from our local Starbucks by the ever-vigilant Folkestone Town Centre security staff - citing 'terrorism' I might add.

If this doesn’t seem ridiculous enough to you yet - let me expand the picture a little more... The security guard in question was actually speaking to two filmmakers clutching a tiny super-8 camera, as well as... a seven-foot cardboard cut-out of James Dean.

“No I don’t have a fucking permit!”
I can hear my own rather-camp voice echoing in my ears even now, a phrase only half-jokingly uttered while being escorted to the exits by a grey, sad little man who clutched his walkie-talkie close to his chest like a prized teddy bear.

So anyway, back to the photo. Well those hands are the 2D cardboard limbs of the aforementioned James Dean – who has been resurrected, Roundeye style, for our latest film: 5,000 Miles From Hollywood.

Still a work-in-progress, the latest from your favourite universally ignored underground movie studio is another super-8 trash epic. This one is a shaggy dog story, of sorts, where two men (one real, the other cardboard) go sightseeing around Sunny Folkestone. The fact that one of the men was/is the greatest dead-too-soon Hollywood star ever to have lived, is inconsequential.

Sorry if it’s all a bit cryptic - but all will become clear soon. (Just as soon as the films come back from the lab – so let’s hope the super-8 gods are smiling on us...)

Night-night!

Words: Ben Barton
Photo: Chris Holdsworth - official Roundeye brother

WHAT'S THIS?

Well it's a fuzzy mobile phone shot of our Jennifer Harris on the big screen, during the Cinesaurus Film Society screening, that's what!

Hopefully Getting Ready will be coming to a screen near you soon!

x

HACKNEY'S VARIETY BOX - THIS SATURDAY

It's all down to Hackney's Empire Theatre this Saturday for the regular live art event, Variety Box. Held in the theatre's Marie Lloyd Bar, it's a platform for experimental and physical theatre, contemporary dance, stand-up, music, short film and more. Unlike other nights, Variety Box has no firm concept regarding themes. It is literally a night of artistic mayhem and surprise with a neo-avant garde touch. This weekend a hand-picked selection of Roundeye films - all directed by Ben Barton and featuring the vocal talents of Jennifer Harris - will be screened, the only films of the night!

Entry is free and the show starts at around 8pm, but get there early for a seat!

INCINERACION TAKE 2

Some advance notice here - and Incineracion, Spain's super 8-friendly independent film art festival, is gearing-up for another screening. Ben Barton's Jesus and Ellen Love films are back on the programme, with screenings this April 20th at the Afrodisia Club in Granada.

TIME FOR THE BIG BANG!

Pssssssst. Some Roundeye films will be screening at the next Bang! Short Film Festival. It's the extra-special 10th edition actually - this Saturday 28th November.

Bang! is the East Midland's premier short film event, and you can watch our films as part of the HEdge artists' cinema screening at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham. Kick off is 7:30pm.

MADRID CALLING... INCINERACION 2009

We'd just returned from some tapas, funnily enough, so it was with belly's full of Spanish Shiraz when we found out that España loves us back! Why? because two of Ben Barton's finest cuts: The Return of Ellen Love and Uphill for Jesus have been selected for InCINEracion, Spain's long-running cult art film festival. [Myspace is HERE]

With a renowned penchant for super 8 film, this year's is the 14th edition of the festival, featuring the work of 21 artists from Spain, Argentina, Canada and the UK... and in our humble opinion the line-up is looking champion.

Our two flicks will be screened at the Elipa Cultural Centre, Madrid, on Tuesday 17th November (earlier than originally advertised). Projections start at 7.30pm and entry is 100% gratis!

A big muchas gracias to Julio Juste for this one.