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NEWS: Inspired Film Festival, Watershed

Inspired Souls

Bristol film collective Cables & Cameras will stage another takeover weekend at the Watershed in September for INSPIRED – a packed programme of VR workshops, keynote speakers and short film screenings and previews to celebrate home-grown filmmakers of colour from across the country.

For this event the Cables & Cameras team have worked with one of the UK’s most empowering creative teams, Anthony and Teanne Andrews of the award-winning We Are Parable. They will also be presenting an artist development workshop on Saturday afternoon exploring how to provide audiences with opportunities to experience Black Cinema in culturally relevant, memorable and unique ways. 

Another significant contribution will be made with an appearance from Somali feminist art collective dhaqan collective presenting the premiere of the acclaimed Somali film The Gravedigger’s Wife on Saturday evening.

Photo: The Gravedigger’s Wife

The takeover weekend opens on Friday 2nd September with a keynote speech from Pierre Godson-Amamoo, executive brand director of one of the UK’s largest youth platforms Your Cinema Productions

Pierre will be discussing his unique approach to social media strategy and providing an insight into how he tailors his campaigns to powerfully engage with a diverse range of audiences online.

This will be followed by BFI Network presents: A Homegrown Filmmaker’s Journey. Adam Murray from the Bristol Black Horror Club will be in conversation with the upcoming director, Mevis Birungi and actress Sonja Natasha Varela followed by the Bristol premiere of Birungi’s new film, What They Left.

Friday night closes with another Q & A this time from the independent filmmaker Leon Oldstrong and a showing of The Lies of Our Confines, a Black British Horror-comedy film.

Photo: The Lies of Our Confines

The weekend continues on Saturday 3 September with Changing Lives Through Technology, a workshop session with CEO of immersive storytelling platform VIVIDA, Simeon Quarrie. 

Simeon will demonstrate VIVIDA’S use of immersive storytelling to change cultures and lives through technology.

Later that day one of the highlights to look out for will be Virtually There, the new VR project from Solaris2, presented by Leon Oldstrong. This immersive 360-degree film that aims to build an emotional understanding of the devastating impact of knife crime amongst young people.

And to finish off the weekend Cables & Cameras presents their New Voices Filmmaker Showcase, a selection of powerfully inspirational new short films made by UK-based POC & Black filmmakers. These curated films will explore the regional Black and Brown personal journey and lived experiences across the UK.

Tickets are available from the Watershed via this link