A companion to www.nicholasabrahams.com
- ICA ‘Retrospective’
Amazing 4 nights of screenings at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, where I spent part of my youth. It was such a great event, I cant thank the people who organised it enough, as it seemed to mark the end of one stage of work and beginning of another (hopefully!!). It wasn’t really a ‘retrospective’, more a selection of work done so far. But watching clips from the past to the present, it all started to make a strange kind of sense…
Anyway, here is a photo of me and David Gryn of Artprojx, discussing a cross section of my work on the Friday night:
and watching the work onscreen:
Both pics by the wonderful Sarah Lee. David asked questions to keep the night wizzing along, between clips from videos I have made in the past. The evening was unintentionally bookended by clips featuring naked penises (penes?), and the night was sold out. Afterwards we had a bit of a shindig in the bar:
Toby Amies played some great tunes, with a special emphasis on the Cramps.. much to everyone’s delight!
Above pics by courtesy of photography@thevintagedisco.com
As you can see, it was a night of the 1,000 berets…
The following day there was a great screening of ‘The Bruce Lacey Experience’ with Luke Turner of the Quietus helming a chirpy Q and A with me and Jeremy Deller:
and then followed by a couple of days with screenings of ‘The Posters Came from the Walls’. Smashing!
A big thank you to all those who attended… and it looks like we will be doing it all again soon somewhere different…
- Potential Future Genius!
Rather hyperbolic praised heaped on me on the Run Riot website, in a piece built around the ICA dates this month. I will just quote this bit (whilst blushing):
“He’s a filmmaker who should be known to more people, not least by more film industry people who should give him more chance to make more brilliance all the time. He’s someone who’ll be hailed as a genius in 50 years and you’ll regret not going to this retrospective when you could.”
I loved their description of ‘Ekki Mukk’ :
“It’s folky, but it’s not a cute facsimile of folksiness, it’s sinister and wild folk. It packs all forms of life into 10 minutes, it’s not like any other fiction shorts you’ll see this year.”
and ‘Our Hobby is Depeche Mode’
“one of the greatest documentaries of the last decade”
Meanwhile tickets still available for the ICA nights. More info here.
Read the full piece by clicking here.
- Nice Preview in the Guardian
Nice preview for the ICA nights in the Guardian today. Tickets still available here, and here for Bruce Lacey night, and here for Depeche Mode film.
- Review of ‘Our Hobby is Depeche Mode’ and new London screenings
Just read a review of the film at the Documentary Evidence website, which looks in depth at all things Mute related. We have taken to calling it ‘Our Hobby is Depeche Mode’ as that was our original preferred title.
To read it click here.
Screenings coming up for the film at the ICA on Saturday 26th Jan and Sunday 27th Jan – tickets available here.
- Abrahamstock at the ICA
Decided to hold my own festival of sorts at the Institute for Contemporary Arts, in London, this month! I used to go there a lot, especially to the Little Stabs of Happiness nights Mark Webber used to run.
On Thurs 24th January there will be a night of various of my films, as well as featuring myself in conversation with video art curator David Gryn of Artprojx, who recently currated my ‘ekki mukk’ film at Art Basel Miami. I am trying to decide what to show right now! argh!!!
And afterwards come have a drink with us in the bar, while old, old friends Arthur Baker and Toby Amies DJ some top tunes.
more details and tickets here
and on Friday 25th Jan there will be a screening of the Bruce Lacey Experience, plus a Q and A with Jeremy Deller and myself, chaired by Luke Turner, mild manner editor of the Quietus. More details and links to buy tickets here.
and there’s more! ‘Our Hobby Is Depeche Mode’ (AKA ‘The Posters Came from the Walls’ – but we never liked that title!) will be screening over the weekend at the ICA too, on Sat 26th Jan and Sunday 27th Jan.
Tickets now available here.
Its our film about Depeche Mode devotees around the world. Here’s a clip:
- A History of Transgression
If I was in New York, I would definitely be attending the Nick Zedd Festival this week at the Glasshouse. Lots of interesting films to do with the Cinema of Transgression and so on. On Tuesday 15th January there will be a talk by by Nick Zedd, the amazing Kembra Pfahler and Michael Chaiken, as well as a screening of my film ‘No Age New York’, old films by the Viennese Aktionists, as well as films by Zedd himself. Fun for all the family!
Anyway, find out more info on the festival by clicking here.
Days 2-3 are dedicated to the Cinema of Transgression Movement
Days 4-5 are dedicated to Nick Zedd’s films from the late 90’s until his most recent works
Kembra Pfahler looking great in Nick Zedd’s ‘War is Menstrual Envy’!
- Now Officially ‘Award Winning’!
Very happy to report that my film ‘Ekki Mukk’ won the British Council Best UK Short at the 10th London Film Festival last night, as listed on their official announcement here. This is a photo of me and producer Dhiraj Mahey (stood next to me, arms crossed, looking as bemused as me) at the ICA in London, taken rather by surprise at winning!
Onwards and upwards!
- Blue Ray and DVD release forthcoming
Just a quick note to say Ekki Mukk will be coming out on DVD and Blue Ray on February 11th, according to the Sigur Ros website.
I don’t have a blue ray player yet, but hopefully someone I know will!
- Remove Yah!
Just thought I would blog these laurels for Ekki Mukk to show off.
And been thinking about the disco sequence in that movie ‘Rockers’
I wish all movies were this good! Celebratory. Puts me in a good mood, like today.
- Festivals and Reviews..
This is a still of what finally became of the dead fox in Ekki Mukk!
Sad but beautiful.
Ekki Mukk has been nominated for Best Short Film of the Year at the London Short Film Festival, which is exciting. It is part of a programe being screened at the Curzon Soho on January 6th, more info click here.
A nice review of Ekki Mukk here:
A British snail, a decaying fox, and The Wire’s Mayor Carcetti. What does it all mean? What’s going on in this video? Director Nick Abrahams calls it “a magical journey through an English field,” while also insisting that it’s really just a smaller piece to a bigger puzzle. Not sure he needs to break it out anymore, as the scope in this 10 minute sweeper is far and wide. What “Ekki Mukk” grasps at is the universal themes of loss and discovery and how it’s truly impossible to go at it alone. Death may be inevitable, but there’s always time. As the elemental vocals of Jónsi surface over the song’s twinkling instrumentation, it’s hard to watch that stop motion animation towards the end without a box of tissues. Sigh.
Michael Roffman on Consequences of Sound website.
