Random Acts
Gulbenkian has been working closely with Folkestone based production company Screen South on a project called Random Acts. Funded by the Arts Council and in partnership with Channel 4, this project is to encourage filmmaking by young people across Britain.
Ignition Random Acts:
The Random Acts brief is for ‘bold, innovative expressions of creativity’ across a range of art-forms. The Ignition Network Random Acts Centre is looking for young people who have strong creative ideas, dedication to their craft and the drive to create and deliver their film production. Screen South is leading the South East Ignition Random Acts Network Centre. Working in partnership with the Ignition Network and Fly Film to deliver this exciting opportunity supported by Arts Council England and Channel 4. All films will be considered by C4 for online and broadcast opportunities across their Random Acts strand. The Ignition Random Acts Network Centre will be providing training, development and production support for selected projects. For more iformation visit screensouth.org
Gulbenkian is delighted to be supporting Gulbenkian Uncovered member Geo Barcan whose idea was selected to be made into a short film through the Ignition Random Acts project with support from Screen South.
Short Films:
In Autumn 2017, Gulbenkian decided to profile the Random Acts short films made by the emerging and budding talent of young filmmakers in the South East, making it a priority to help the growing film industry of our county and giving these young filmmakers the opportunity to have their shorts shown on a big screen in a cinema. Curated by our young filmmakers group Screen31 and our programmer’s group Gulbenkian Uncovered, we selected a season of the Random Acts short films that have to either compliment or challenge the film they precede. The films range from the abstract to the deeply personal and are all created by young people in the South East. Crashing Waves created by Emma Gilbertson is an intimate portrayal of expressing your sexuality in a working class environment whereas Seven Pleats, Seven Vows created by Shona Murray-Smith and Aditya Sengupta explains a cultural tradition in a delicate and accessible way.
These shorts are also provocative, they can challenge the viewer by tackling discrimination against women in modern day society solely through the medium of spoken word such as Walk of Shame by Maisie Buck or a powerful response to racial prejudice and stereotyping in Who Am I? by Tatenda Michael Manyarara. Random Acts shorts screenings are ongoing through 2018 or find them on YouTube.