Discover the incredible diversity within the world of artists’ filmmaking in the UK with this presentation of works from this year’s Film London Jarman Award shortlist. This event consists of an in-person conversation at Spike Island with artist with Julianknxx, and a week of online-only film screenings by shortlisted artists.

This year’s shortlisted artists are: Ayo Akingbade, Andrew Black, Julianknxx, Sophie Koko Gate, Karen Russo and Rehana Zaman. As part of the touring programme, Spike Island is hosting a film screening and Q&A of Black Corporeal (Breathing By Numbers) by Julianknxx, which highlights the interrelated crises of inequality and air pollution.

SCHEDULE

2 November, 12pm to 12am

Films available to stream on demand for ticket holders between 12 midday until midnight on Thursday 2 November:

Ayo Akingbade, Jitterbug (2022), 24’
Andrew Black, On Clogger Lane (2023), 60’
Julianknxx, Black Corporeal (Breathing By Numbers) (2022)
Sophie Koko Gate, Hotel Kalura (2021), 5’
Karen Russo, Junkerhaus (2021), 7’
Rehana Zaman, Alternative Economies (2021), 28’

2 November, 6–7pm

Julianknxx, Black Corporeal (Breathing By Numbers) (2022), 16 mins
In conversation: Julianknxx and Carmen Juliá, Curator, Spike Island

FILM LONDON JARMAN AWARD

Inspired by visionary British filmmaker Derek Jarman, the Award recognises and supports artists working with the moving image. The shortlisted artists illustrate the spirit of inventiveness within moving image, highlighting the breadth of creativity and craftsmanship the medium has to offer, as well as its powerful ability to engage and provoke audiences. The Award comes with a £10,000 prize.

The winner of the Film London Jarman Award will be announced on the 21 November at the Barbican Centre. The award is presented in partnership with the Whitechapel Gallery and Barbican.

The tour runs from 21 September to 21 November, in partnership with seven arts venues across the UK.

ABOUT THE 2023 SHORTLISTED ARTISTS

Ayo Akingbade is an artist, writer and director. She works predominantly with film and installation addressing themes of power, urbanism and stance. Her work has been shown at the Whitechapel Gallery, London; ICA, London and Towner Gallery, Eastbourne. Recent screenings include; New Directors/New Films; MoMA and Directors’ Fortnight; Cannes Film Festival. Her first major solo institutional exhibition, Show Me The World Mister, opened at Chisenhale Gallery in November 2022 and is touring until 2024, venues include Spike Island, Bristol and BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art

Andrew Black is an artist and filmmaker. He studied at Leeds College of Art and the Glasgow School of Art. His films are portraits of places to which he has a biographical attachment and look at how capitalism, militarism and nationalist ideologies intrude into and shape the land and its inhabitants and how communities imagine themselves in relation or opposition to this. He was the 2021 recipient of the Margaret Tait Award, and his commissioned film On Clogger Lane premiered at Glasgow Film Theatre in February 2023, and will show at Lux, London in 2024. His work has shown at CCA Glasgow, Dundee Contemporary Arts and Centre Clark, Montreal.

Julianknxx’s practice merges his poetic work with performance, film and music, seeking to express the ineffable realities of human experiences while examining the structures through which we live. Julianknxx draws on West African oral traditions to reframe how we construct both local and global perspectives. Julianknxx has exhibited and performed in the UK and internationally at Whitechapel Gallery, London; Gulbenkian, Lisbon and Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands. Upcoming exhibitions and performances will take place at Art Basel, Basel, (2023); Barbican Centre, London (2023) and Tate Modern, London (2023), with more to be announced.

Sophie Koko Gate studied at Central St Martins and the RCA, London. She is an artist and filmmaker who specialises in experimental narrative. She hosts her ideas through a recurring set of characters in a parallel universe that runs alongside our own. Her films have been screened at Tate Modern, London; Edinburgh Film Festival; Sundance Film Festival, Utah, USA; BFI London Film Festival; Tel Aviv Festival, Israel; Sydney Film Festival; London International Animation Festival and SXSW Austin Texas, USA. She has won awards at Ottawa Animation Festival, SXSW, GLAS Animation Festival and Indie Lisboa.

Karen Russo’s work uses documentary and narrative in an exploration of how knowledge, perception, and culture intertwine the rational with the obscure. She has exhibited widely including Barbican Centre; Hayward Gallery Project Space; Tate Modern; Delfina; Towner, Eastbourne; Athens Biennial; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and CCA Tel-Aviv. Her films have been screened in international film festivals such as Oberhausen, EMAF, Kasseler Dokfest and Alchemy Film Festival, and her work is included in collections such as the Arts Council and the Tel-Aviv Museum. Recent awards include Swedenborg Festival (2021) and Special Mention Award, Oberhausen Film Festival (2020).

Rehana Zaman is an artist whose work speaks to notions of kinship and sociality, seeking out possibilities of intimacy and transgression within hostile contexts. Conversation and cooperative methods sit at the heart of her films which extend into texts, performances and group work. She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. Recent presentations include Serpentine Projects, London (forthcoming); Tromsø Kunstforening; BEK – Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts; British Art Show 9 (touring); ICA Miami; Trinity Square Video, Toronto; Hammer Museum, LA; Borås International Sculpture Biennial, Sweden and Artist Film International Whitechapel (worldwide touring).

PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS

Film London

Film London is the capital’s screen industries agency. We connect ideas, talent and finance to develop a pioneering creative culture in the city that delivers success in film, television, animation, games and beyond. We work to sustain, promote and develop London as a global content production hub, support the development of the city’s new and emerging filmmaking talent and invest in a diverse and rich film culture. Funded by the Mayor of London and the National Lottery through the BFI, we also receive support from Arts Council England, Creative Skillset and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

About Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network (FLAMIN)

Since 2003, Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network (FLAMIN) has been at the very heart of the sector’s development, bringing artist filmmakers to a wider audience away from the margins. We provide professional support and expert training along with valuable funding and national and international exhibition opportunities in galleries, cinemas and for broadcast. Funded by Arts Council England, FLAMIN has commissioned over 200 productions and supported the careers of countless other artists. Flagship projects from FLAMIN include the commissioning fund FLAMIN Productions, the prestigious annual Film London Jarman Award, and development programmes The FLAMIN Fellowship and FLAMIN Animations, aimed at early career moving image artists.

FLAMIN (Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network) is supported by Arts Council England.The Jarman Award is supported by Whitechapel Gallery and Barbican.