Live Cinema III
Festival of Research and Innovation 2020
Taking place across the week commencing 18th May 2020, this festival will feature a programme of live cinema screenings, leading academic research, master classes, workshops, an exhibition and demonstration track, Q&A sessions, and world premieres of new artistic commissions and exclusive live events.
Live Cinema III will showcase the creative and critical advances in the multi-faceted field of live cinema which encompasses a diverse range of forms. These include experimental expanded cinema, the global live-casting of cultural and entertainment events and live performance during film screenings - indeed any instance of the live augmentation of screen spectatorship. This festival marks a unique historical juncture and provides an opportunity to draw together and reflect upon the many landmark and contemporary moments where the trajectories of liveness and emergent screen technologies have intersected. It is 50 years since the touchstone publication of Gene Youngblood’s book ‘Expanded Cinema’ which revolutionised notions of cinema-making and viewing through its pioneering consideration of videos, computers and holography as cinematic technologies. Furthermore, it is 30 years since the publication of Philip Auslander’s influential ‘Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture’. The combination of the central ideas of these two works resonate more than ever when considering the new chimeras of contemporary live screen experience. Take for example, Netflix, and their recent purchase of a physical cinema venue. This was clearly a commercially strategic move, as was their partnership with UK-based organisation Secret Cinema on an elaborate immersive experience based around the series ‘Stranger Things.’ These hybrid forms - which blend the live and the mediated, the cinematic with the televisual with the theatrical - are symptomatic of the enduring significance of collective viewing experiences, despite the predominance of individualised screen consumption perpetuated by the streaming revolution. Moreover, these complex moments of convergence where commercial, technological and artistic imperatives collide and coalesce - underscore the important need for the ongoing study of live and experiential screen-based phenomena.
Latest update: Live Cinema III -The ReOpening online event reflects on the impact of covid-19 and Lockdown
"As we celebrate the reopening of independent cinemas in September 2020, it seems like a good moment to take stock. Research and development innovations in screen spectatorship haven’t stopped during this period; they’ve shifted in focus and techniques. The creative sector is by nature imaginative and by necessity adaptable. But this is taken for granted, with freelancers and small organisations put under immense pressure by current circumstances. Live Cinema III: The ReOpening is a free online event to reflect on the impact of the lockdown on the live and immersive sectors. It will take place in the afternoon on Monday 14 September and all day on Tuesday 15 September, offering online workshops, discussion panels and screenings.