Chichester Cinema at New Park
Spirit in Mass: Journey into Sculpture
plus short: LADY IN RED
CHICHESTER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Spirit in Mass: Journey into Sculpture
This 40 minute documentary is about the sculptor Alan Thornhill. Discovering himself to be by nature an improviser, yet committed to the time-honoured language and sensuous values of sculpture, he devised a way of working which embraced spontaneity and the unforeseen. This approach has inspired sculpture students and produced a body of challenging work drawn, in part unconsciously, from personal and shared concerns of the late 20th century.
Alan Thornhill describes his sculpture as expressive rather than cerebral. Its images stem from his unconscious & his experience of materials rather than from concept or theory. His work is a mixture of the no-figurative & figurative, including portraits of the like of Lord Shinwell, Tom Stoppard, Enoch Powell & Sir Colin Davis. Directed by one of his daughters, the film charts Alan Thornhill`s unconventional journey into sculpture. In 2008 nine sculptures were permanently installed along the Putney Embankment in Wandsworth, South London, close to where they were made.
Lady in Red
I grew up hearing my grandmother’s stories of campaigns, protests, and marches, and helping her on street stalls. I was fascinated by the stories she told, and began to record her memories, and explore the movements she had been part of. In 2005 I had the idea of making a film about Margaret's life, and eturning to some of the locations of key events in her youth. As well as learning more about her stories, such as campaigning against the Manchurian war, supporting Spanish Civil War fighters, and meeting Paul Robseon, I got to know her motivations and what has made her persist in her efforts over a 70-year (plus) career as a grass-roots activist.
2007 Katy Beinart
Production supported by Screen South and Oxford Film and Video Makers.
We hope to welcome Anna Thornhill to introduce & discuss her film & the work of her father.
We also hope to welcome Katy Beinart to introduce her film on her granmother, lady in Red.
A DVD presentation in The Studio (limited seating)
(Tickets £5)
· 
UK · 2008 · Anna Thornhill · 40 + 25min
