Introducing Vladimir and William

Beg Steal Borrow News, New projects, Uncategorized, Vladimir and William

While we are busy working simultaneously on ~~This is Cinema~~, La Belle Noise, The Benefit of Doubt and The New Hope 2, we are also delighted to announce the completion of Vladimir and William.

Vladimir and William consists of eight video letters sent between William Brown and Macedonian experimental filmmaker Vladimir Najdovski between 2017 and 2018.

The film is inspired by various epistolary movies, such as Chris Marker’s Sans soleil, Erik Baudelaire’s Letters to Max and Mark Cousins and Mania Akbari’s Life May Be.

Featuring images of Skopje, London, Edinburgh, New York, Paris and Abu Dhabi, the film offers thoughtful considerations of various contemporary issues as well as perennial philosophical conundrums.

Here is a link to the film. If a password is required to view the film, then do get in touch with us and we shall happily send one to you.

Beg Steal Borrow’s William Brown was delighted to attend the World Premiere of Letters to Ariadne at the Validate Yourself Film Festival in New York on 2 September 2017.

The film was warmly received at Hotel RL by Red Lion in Brooklyn by a dedicated crowd that included regular Beg Steal Borrow collaborator and screenwriter, Alex Chevasco (who has a small part in the forthcoming ~~This is Cinema~~.)

Ariadne prepares for Hallowe’en in Letters to Ariadne at RL Hotel by Red Lion in Brooklyn, New York, on 2 September 2017.

In other news, William is for the autumn of 2017 a Visiting Associate Professor of Film at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), where he is teaching a wonderful creative set of students who are making their final-year graduation (‘Captstone’) films – as well as teaching a course on Concepts in Film and New Media.

And Beg Steal Borrow is delighted to announce that there will be a preview screening of both Sculptures of London and The Benefit of Doubt at NYUAD before William leaves Abu Dhabi at around Christmas-time. More details will follow shortly!

Meanwhile, our short film, St Mary Magdalen’s Home Movies made the First Selection of the International Short Film Festival Kalmthout Belgium – although the film alas will not enjoy a screening there.

St Mary Magdalen’s Home Movies made the First Selection of the International Short Film Festival Kalmthout Belgium.

And Circle/Line was selected by both the Stockholm Independent Film Festival and the UK Monthly Film Festival – although again these selections have not seemingly led to any actual screenings (the rise of ‘fake’ film festivals is a topic to discuss on another occasion).

OFFICIAL SELECTION - UK Monthly Film Festival - 2018

And otherwise William continues to work on a series of films, including #randomaccessmemory, ~~This is Cinema~~ and Vladimir and William, a series of letter-films that he is developing with Macedonian filmmaker Vladimir Najkdovski.

#randomaccessmemory, Beg Steal Borrow News, Festivals, Friends of Beg Steal Borrow, letters to ariadne, Screenings, Sculptures of London, The Benefit of Doubt, This is Cinema, Uncategorized, Vladimir and William

We are thrilled to announce that we have reached the £3,000 target for our crowd fund campaign with LiveTree for This is Cinema.

With three days left on the campaign, though, any extra money raised will certainly help the production – while also seeing money donated to Tender, the arts charity that works with young people to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence.

The campaign for this ~~This is Cinema~~ comes at the same time as we shoot Sculptures of London, and just ahead of the world premiere of Circle/Line at the East End Film Festival. This screening takes place at 5pm on Saturday 3 June at Old Spitalfields Market – and the screening is free!

The successful completion of the crowd funding campaign also comes as the finishing touches are being put to The Benefit of Doubt, with William Brown also working on an essay-film called #randomaccessmemory and an untitled letter-film with Vladimir Najdovski, a filmmaker based in Skopje, Macedonia.

Finally, it looks as though there are forthcoming festival screenings for The New Hope, Ur: The End of Civilization in 90 Tableaux, Roehampton Guerrillas (2011-2016) and Letters to Ariadne – about which more announcements will be made soon.

So stay tuned for more news from Beg Steal Borrow!

Beg Steal Borrow News, Circle/Line, Crowd funding, Festivals, Roehampton Guerrillas (2011-2016), Screenings, Sculptures of London, The Benefit of Doubt, The New Hope, This is Cinema, Uncategorized, Ur: The End of Civilization in 90 Tableaux

Selfie screens in Skopje

Beg Steal Borrow News, Press and Blog Mentions, Screenings, Selfie, Uncategorized

Beg Steal Borrow’s Selfie has screened at Skopje’s Kino Kultura.

Skopje’s Kino Kultura, a leading independent arts venue in Macedonia’s capital.

The screening took place on Saturday 14 May, playing as the second part of a double bill with Vladimir Najdovski’s experimental film, Phi (Macedonia, 2016).

Kino Kultura’s wonderful big screen.

A wonderful and enthusiastic crowd turned out for the films, with discussion lasting into the night at a local hostelry.

William Brown and ‘friends’ on the big screen at Kino Kultura.

Many thanks to Vladimir Najodvski and Veronika Kamchevska for helping to organise the screening, and in particular for subtitling Selfie – a mammoth task that truly is appreciated.

The screening also received some coverage in the local news and online, with journalist Svetlana Simonovska conducting an interview with William Brown for local website Dnevnik Online.

Dnevnik Online coverage of the screening of Selfie in Skopje

Further online press coverage of the event has been collated here. If you read Macedonian, take a look!

Keep on the lookout for other forthcoming Beg Steal Borrow screenings. There are rumoured to be screenings of The New Hope in Berlin, Selfie in London, and perhaps even a screening in Curitiba, Brazil, in the autumn. And of course a forthcoming premiere of Circle/Line.

Selfie screening in Skopje

Beg Steal Borrow News, En Attendant Godard, Screenings, Selfie, Uncategorized

Beg Steal Borrow is delighted to announce that Selfie will screen at Kino Kultura in Skopje, Macedonia, on 14 May 2016.

The screening, which has been organised through talented and local low-budget filmmaker Vladimir Najdovski, will take place at 8pm.

Director William Brown is hoping that he’ll be able to make it to the screening – depending on flight price and availability!

Kino Kultura is a centre for contemporary performing arts and independent culture run jointly run by LOKOMOTIVA and Theatre Navigator Cvetko.

Kino Kultura was a thriving cultural venue in the 2000s, having recently reopened in February 2016 after a 10-year absence. It has been described as ‘the symbol of urban life in Skopje’ – and we can think of no better venue for a film like Selfie.

The Selfie poster, designed by the talented Angela Faillace.

Selfie is an essay-film about selfie culture. It was shot between January and May 2014, and it is composed almost entirely of moving image selfies taken by director William Brown during that period.

The Kino Kultura event will follow soon after a screening of En Attendant Godard at the University of Roehampton on 18 March 2016, as part of the Film History & Criticism module taken by first-year students on the university’s Film course.