 |
|||||||||
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||||||||
|
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
Chris Fell The Leeds International Film Festival Chris Fell Leeds International Film Festival Year three of Evolution sees this acclaimed programme of moving image innovation assume a vital new life form in the hands of Lumen and its partners. As the new Director of Leeds International Film Festival in 1999, I wanted to transform the UK's largest regional film event into something that reflected what the city of Leeds and its artistic talents were about and wanted to become. I introduced a dozen 'sections', envisioned as almost living and breathing programmes, forums for debate, and summons for action. Sections like UK Film Week, which demands progress on the development of our film industry while showcasing the latest work from the region. Or the Film Festival Fringe, a controlled free-for-all where independent talent can promote their innovations alongside selections off the main Film Festival stream. Or Leeds Children's Film Festival, a microcosm of the main event where the young get their hands onto the creation of moving images and discover what exists outside of the multiplex diet. And Evolution, which I launched as a public exposure of the interactive entertainment industry, now fulfils a much broader role as a home of the future of electronic arts and the moving image. What was initially inspired by my obsessions of video gaming and film watching, and my passion for architecture, has become a visual opus of explorations, experiments, unseen experiences and inspirational discussion. As the Film Festival has grown since 1999, it has been essential to entrust some of the sections to Leeds partners to ensure their future sustainable and successful development: it has been a great pleasure to witness this coming to fruition this year with Evolution and Lumen. Thrilling, unexpected, absorbing, challenging and provocative, Evolution in 2001 embodies the essence of the Film Festival whose entire programme - formed of 250 events, feature films and specials - is inspired by the city of Leeds itself. It is fortunate that the Film Festival is strongly backed by Leeds City Council whose vision has secured a strong base for the event in the '90s and into the new century. Many of the elements of Evolution involve creative uses of new and established spaces built and managed by the Council: the new Millennium Square and century-old City Square are central sites for the outdoor projections; Harvey Nichols, the high-point so far of the Council's drive to attract high-quality shopping to Leeds, is a focus for more unique public projections. Evolution also tells stories of Leeds cinemas: the Odeon, home to the International Conference, will close shortly after the Film Festival to make way for new flats, shops and a modern cinema across the road; while a former Odeon and still unoccupied space at the Merrion Centre is the venue for the Architecture and Interface Seminar. Anyone who knew Leeds in the early '90s or before knows how much Leeds has changed since then. Evolution has become a natural development of Leeds' advancement: it is an artistic attainment that not only reflects on what the city is but exists as a vital component of the regional infrastructure that is emerging to support the significant contribution of new forms of visual media to our ways of living and seeing life. Like the rest of the Film Festival, Evolution doesn't exist without audiences. Diverse interpretations and multiple interactions, Evolution offers audiences what they don't expect from a Film Festival: cinema outside of itself and a moving image future free of boundaries. |
| Home|Introduction|2001 Programme|Commissions|Links|Sponsors|Contact |