2020 Theme: Appearances
2020 Judge: TBA
Featuring new films of 20 minutes or less and co-curated by Gareth Evans (Whitechapel Gallery) and Nora Foster (Frieze), the Swedenborg Film Festival invites entries from the latest emerging and established talent of experimental and artist film, exploring the theme of 'Appearances'.
Selected films will be screened online in November 2020 and the winner will be chosen by a guest judge (TBA).
The novelist Chloe Aridjis was the guest judge for the 2019 Festival. Artists and writers including Ali Smith, Bridget Smith, Andrew Kötting, Susan Hiller, Jeremy Millar and Lech Majewski have judged and shown work at SFF.
Filmmakers are invited to explore a theme encountered in the work of scientist, philosopher, theologian and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) as well as those he influenced. A foundation of the Romantic, Symbolist and Surrealist artistic traditions, Swedenborg was a seminal influence on generations of radical thinkers.
Since its launch in 2010, the SFF has received a huge response from thousands of filmmakers around the world. The annual festival was re-launched in July 2015 with an expanded framework, a new competition and a fresh commitment to showing the work of international filmmakers who are engaging with themes similar to those that energized Swedenborg.
The 2019 Festival explored the theme of 'Use and Purpose', the Swedenborgian idea that everything has a reason to be, a purpose to fulfil. We screened three visionary feature films by Carlos Reygadas, Jem Cohen and John Burgan, as well as our ten shortlisted short films. The winner of the 2019 Festival was Hope Tucker, with special mentions for Maya Ramsay and Stephanie Barber.
2017 Festival explored the theme of 'dreams', with a season of iconic features and visionary shorts chosen by the writer Ali Smith. An award-winning writer and cultural critic, Smith curated a season of films – from Fellini's classic 'Nights of Cabiria' to iconic short films by Jean Vigo – all questioning boundaries between imagination and reality, performance and identity. The festival concluded with the screening of the 2017 shortlist and Smith's announcement of the 2017 winner: Fenglin Chen, alongside special mentions: Michelle Brand, Atobe Hiroshi and Chay Milne.
Filmmakers worldwide are invited to submit films of 20 minutes or less, which have been made between 1 June 2019 and 30 June 2020. For further information, please visit swedenborg.org.uk/events/swedenborg_film_festival
Selected films will be screened in December 2020, to a public audience at Swedenborg Hall, ‘one of London’s most atmospheric venues’ (The Guardian). Winners will receive distinctive prizes related to the festival.