Shortlist for Swedenborg Film Festival 2019 with Chloe Aridjis

November 1, 2019

Wednesday 27 November 2019, Silent Light, 6.00 doors/6.30 film–9.00 pm

Wednesday 4 December 2019, Museum Hours, 6.00 doors/6.30 film–9.00 pm

Saturday 7 December 2019, Memory of Berlin & the Film Festival Shortlist, 5.30 doors/6.00 film–9.30 pm |

Refreshments will be served | Swedenborg House, 20- 21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH | FREE ADMISSION but please email avery@swedenborg.org.uk; let us know the date(s) you would like to attend

Let us know you’re coming to the Wednesday 27 November screening here, the Wednesday 4 December screening here or here and the Saturday 7 December screening here.

The Swedenborg Film Festival will return for three days in late November and early December featuring our special guest judge, the writer Chloe Aridjis, who is currently undertaking the Swedenborg Residency 2019-2020. These three days will encompass readings from Chloe’s novels and associated film screenings, and the screening of new short films by a shortlist of international artists. The films will explore the theme of Use and Purpose, relating to the Swedenborgian idea that everything has a reason to be, a purpose to fulfil —in his words, ‘Good is nothing but use’.

The co-curators of the SFF, Gareth Evans (Whitechapel Gallery) and Nora Foster (Frieze) have chosen a shortlist of ten from over 150 submissions. This year’s shortlisted artists are: Yuan Kong, Nicolas Jimy Awashish, Nick Jordan, Georg Koszulinski, Maya Ramsay, Alexandra Kaucher, Sista Pratesi, Hope Tucker, Charlotte Pryce and Stephanie Barber. The shortlisted films represent the engaged and exciting practices of experimental and artistic film today.

Each artist’s film will be screened in Swedenborg Hall in our Grade II-listed building in Bloomsbury, described by The Guardian as ‘one of London’s most atmospheric venues’.

On Wednesday 27 November, our guest judge Chloe Aridjis will read from her novel Sea Monsters, and the film Silent Light directed by Carlos Reygadas will be screened. On Wednesday 4 December, Chloe will read from her novel Asunder and we will screen Jem Cohen’s film Museum Hours. On the final day of the festival, Saturday 7 December, Chloe will read from her novel Book of Clouds, and we will screen John Burgan’s film Memory of Berlin. We will then screen the shortlisted films. At the close of the festival, Chloe will select and announce the winner.

The Swedenborg Film Festival invites entries from the latest emerging and established talent of experimental and artistic film. For the 2019 submission period, filmmakers were invited to submit new films of 20 minutes or less that explored the concept of Use and Purpose. Last year’s SFF was guest judged by the late multimedia artist Susan Hiller, and artists and writers including Ali Smith, Andrew Kötting, Jeremy Millar, Bridget Smith and Lech Majewski have judged and shown work at SFF.

CHLOE ARIDJIS is a London-based novelist and writer. Her most recent novel, Sea Monsters, was published in 2019 by Chatto & Windus, and was described by The Guardian as ‘precise, strange, evocative and wise’. Her 2009 novel Book of Clouds was published in eight countries and was awarded the French Prix du Premier Roman Étranger. Her 2014 novel Asunder was described by The Independent as ‘rapturous and enraptured reading’.

Chloe’s work features enchanting fantastical themes, from the mysterious troupe of Ukrainian dwarves the protagonist of Sea Monsters follows to Zipolite, Mexico to the miniature eggshell landscapes populated with moths in Asunder. These dreamlike worlds evoke some of the stranger, more surreal aspects of Swedenborg’s work. Chloe has undertaken the Swedenborg Residency for 2019-2020, which will involve a series of events and publications.

RSVP avery@swedenborg.org.uk; please let us know the date(s) you would like to attend