Today's idea - 'Beyond Practice' Degree Show

We're always banging on with praise about the latest Brighton Photography/Art/Digital production, but today we recommend Sussex's Media Practice and Theory Degree show which finishes Wednesday. It encompasses all the practical media courses (long list) and having seen some of the work, they're all really fantastic and I can't recommend them enough.



Made up of photography, screen drama, radio, digital media, and video documentary; I've had a peek at the trailer for one of the films, which acts as an indicator better than I can say.



I've had the pleasure this year of watching a couple of the projects come together and grow, and it's been a challenging sort of 'journey' and everyone's done fantastically. I've been in classes with a couple of the guys behind the excellent work, and it's sounded harrowing, rewarding and they've got no end of excitement for their projects. Especially Bob who shoots some of our gig photos and whose project sounds fantastically odd and wonderful. (Short plug over)

You can find the Facebook event here. I urge you to go. Sussex's main focus of academia is rooted mostly in books but when they do go practical, they do it brilliantly.

It's running until Wednesday June the 2nd, so I'm popping up to Falmer today before the week properly starts. It's open between 10am-5pm, and it's right by Stamner park which a gorgeous place for a walk.

Map: here

If you're hungering for more art after this, then perhaps check out Brighton's latest offering that we'll be featuring tomorrow (probably).

Today's idea idea - Berlin Horse by Brian Eno and Malcolm Le Grice

Today we recommend Brian Eno's Berlin Horse. His third exhibition piece for the Brighton Festival, Berlin Horse is based on two sequences - one shot originally in 8mm and re-filmed in 16mm - the other a piece of found early newsreel. Taking place at Lighthouse, Brian Eno creating the music and the film pieces by Malcolm Le Grice.

"The common subject is horses - a horse being exercised and horses being led from a burning stable. Le Grice made Berlin Horse in 1970, with both visual sequences being treated at the London Film Makers Cooperative.

The 8mm sequence was shot in the village of Berlin near Hamburg, northern Germany. It was re-filmed from the screen running the film at different speeds and directions and with the camera at different angles. Later it was re-coloured using theatrical lighting gelatins in the film-printer and subject to multiple superimposition. It was finally combined with early newsreel of horses being led from a burning barn. It is a poetic drama where the sequence of image transformations and the 'narratives' are integrated as the content."

Cost: Free
Time: Tue-Sun (closed Mon) 11am-6pm
Location: Lighthouse, 28 Kensington Street
Map: here

Today's idea - Free Screening of Hitchcock's North by Northwest

Today there's a chance to catch the Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant North by Northwest as it screens for free as part of City Reads, which has been taking place since National Book Week.

"Hapless New York advertising executive, Roger O. Thornhill, is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the States by both spies and the government while he looks for a way to survive." (Find more at imdb)

Tonight, at 6pm, it's being shown at the very shiny Jubilee Library. It's free, it's a very good film. These things make us smile.


P.S. There's a deluge of soft rock, glam and drone at "Contort Yourself" taking place at the Jazz Place tonight, which looks rather good too.

Today's ideas - Fistful of Dynamite & One+One Filmmakers Launch!

Today we're excited about two things, yet again. One, at the less than swanky Hector's House where friends of Bored of Brighton, Fistful of Dynamite are playing. Find their Hammond Organ-Driven Funk, slap bass, G-Funk hip hop synths, stompy glam-rock attitude and tempo changes galore on MySpace, and the event listing on Facebook. We're rather keen on them and we're not the only ones.

"In Short, Fistful Of Dynamite are the infectious bundle of happy-faced talent everybody's been waiting for…"

Have a listen.

We're also a bit excited about the One+One Filmmakers Journal Launch. It's essentially the launch of the latest issue of the One+One Filmmakers Journal, but there's also some screenings we're quite excited on. Eight rarely seen Derek Jarman films are being aired with introduction from the films' producer James Mackay. There'll also be shorts from Jeff Keen, and an exclusive video interview with Ron Peck conducted for One+One including film clips from the seminar British Filmmaker.

I've lifted quite a few of those words from the Facebook event page, and perhaps I'm just excited by the zealous use of "Exclusive" and "super". Regardless, it sounds like a nice venture. The event is free and the magazine will also be handed out at the event for free.

This is all taking place at the Red Roster Cafe - doors at 7.30pm to start at 8pm.

Today's idea - Psycho at the Duke of York's

Our hundredth post today! Mother's Day visits the lovely Duke of York's Picturehouse in the form of a re-release of Psycho today. Noted as "perhaps the most influential of all horror films," Hitchcock's famous tale of gruesome murders and sly verbal sparring at the Bates Motel is added to with Bernard Hitchcock's famed all-strings score. It provides some of the most famous music in cinema history, with innovative, nerve-jangling, violent 'screams' alongside the infamous murder scene. One to take your Mum to.

It's on at 6pm today. Find the Duke of York's here, and a map here.

See a special Final Cut at Komedia

Every Final Cut held at the lovely Komedia plays host to a monthly film-roundup of short films from 'Brighton, Britain and around the world.' Today's show sees a massive round-up of films in a dramatically titled 'Film of the Year Show'. If ever there was a time to have a break from Hollywood and put some faith in Final Cut's choice in short-films, this would probably be it.

Unsurprisingly Final Cut reckons it's been dealt some "absolute gems this year and picking the creme de la creme from 12 months of superb shorts has been particularly difficult." As the biggest screening event of its kind and one of the most sucessful in the UK, we suspect they know what they're talking about when they say this.

In a mix of desperate assassination plots, romance and autopsy, experiments, illustration, beards, and shark obsessions, there's a serious mix of genres. I quite like the sound of the un-categorisable 'The Impossibility of Being an Apple.' Films vary from 4 minutes to 18 minutes and there's eleven for your viewing pleasure. You can locate a full viewing list on the Final Cut site here and we really quite recommend this one.

They also advise the wearing of Santa hats, although we aren't sure how metaphorical this is.

Final Cut is on at Komedia tonight only, and tickets are £4 available only at the door. You can find directions to Komedia on Gardner Street here.

Catch the last day of the Cinecity Festival

The Cinecity festival has been taking place at art houses, theatres and film bars since November and today sees its last day. The festival's full of documentaries and world film, (some amateur and some not) which I'd be a bit wary of recommending without having seen. Perhaps I just have a fear of amateur documentaries.

Anyway, one film stands out quite a bit and plays today at The Duke of York picturehouse. 'Prophet' comes from Cannes Film Festival with ravings, a shiny award called the Grand Prize, and it's been likened to Scarface and The Godfather. So if like me, you're an unadventurous film buff this may be your thing. If you're already into Artsy Worldly cinema, then it may be of some use to mention that it comes from the Director of 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped', Jacques Audiard, and ex-convicts were brought in for choreography.

"Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, blistering crime drama A Prophet demonstrates Audiard's (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) ability to rise beyond a genre to exceptional heights of emotional intensity. Malik (Tarik Rahim) lands himself in jail at 19. After a violent crash course in the ways of the ruling gang, he slowly begins, through his self-education, to challenge the prison power structures. And as the long years of his sentence roll on, he uses his ruthless cunning to establish himself as a major new player. A Prophet moves fluidly from art-house subtlety to genre pyrotechnics in an endlessly powerful and absorbing tapestry of criminal life, which has all the epic human drama of such classics as Scarface and The Godfather."

It shows at 6:39pm with adult tickets costing £7.20 and students at £6.20. The Duke of York serves alcohol (which may or may not influence your decision).

You can find the trailer here.