Captain Zip’s Punk Trip, 4th September 2012
We had a very healthy 25 people at the last London Animation Club event on 4th September. Talking of healthy, though, I was quite ill with the shivers and shakes but I managed to come in with a DVD player. But we had quite a few new people, which was marvellous.
I was delighted to have Captain Zip (AKA Philip Munnoch) as our featured artist, who showed an array of his 8mm films which have been featured in other films and television programmes in 2012. Like a good wine, Captain Zip’s late 1970s films of punks on the King’s Road (and in his flat, as we discovered) are just reaching maturity now. Although Zip is not an animator, his independent filmmaking style and philosophy make him an apt screener at London Animation Club. He showed work twice at our old home at the Coach And Horses in Soho: this was his first show at the Green Man.
Visit his YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/captainzipvideotrip?feature=results_main
and you can see him introducing his work here:
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Programme 11. Ronnie Barker: a newsline written by Captain Zip in 1975 during his days as a gag writer. 2. Clips from a film about London (BBC2, 2012): Captain Zip signed a confidentiality agreement with the (very nice) maker of this film, so we are honouring this and keeping the details of the film a secret. But this is the second time the director has used some Zip clips for his films and he has always paid Zip promptly.
3. Two clips from Punk Britannia (BBC4, 2012). Some of Zip’s footage of punks on the King’s Road is intercut with modern interviews.
4. A long clip from The 70’s (BBC2, 2012). More of Zip’s punk footage appears in this ignorant but well-intentioned documentary presented by Dominic Sandbrook. Sandbrook seems to think that punk came about from a reaction against the conservative generation which had fought World War II, without it occurring to him than punks were reacting as much to the 1960s baby-boom generation which had preceded them and had disintegrated into Prog Rock and ghastly Soft Rock. Still, Zip’s footage looks great.
5. Don’t Dream It – See It (1978, 8mm on DVD, 15’00”) One of Zip’s complete punk films on its own, without being incorporated into anything else. You can see Zip’s punk friends (and himself, briefly) on the King’s Road, at 10 Downing Street, on the South Bank, on Horse Guard’s parade and even in Zip’s bed. There is also the only known film recording of teenage punk band The Dispozest. This film shows a more innocent, fun and colourful side to the punk scene, a picture which goes sharply against the received wisdom that London in the late 70s was a dark, desperate place. We hope to show some of Captain Zip’s more recent films, including his 2012 epic, very soon. Thank you to Stan Wootton for making the TV to DVD transfers. Programme 2In part two we threw the screen open to the floor and I made an improvised programme as follows:
This is another beautiful video-poem made with Rosemary Norman using a piece of manipulated found footage from a 1990s TV ad. Sadly this film is not available online yet. Please visit Stuart’s YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/stuart007 and his Vimeo channel here: https://vimeo.com/user2867758 I am still hoping to persuade Stuart to present a whole evening of his work at London Animation Club at some point. Then newcomer Biance Ansems brought along two marvellous films: 2. London International Animation Festival 2011 sting by Bianca Ansems 3. Playing Ghost (2011, 10’00) by Bianca Ausems What really impresses me about this film is its warmth and magical sensibility which is often absent in films with such stark subject matter. I urge you to watch this taster for it: http://biancaansems.com/playingghost.html. The animation craft is excellent too, as one would expect in a graduation film from the NFTS. Sadly I had to leave straight after the screenings but thank you to everyone who took part and to those who made suggestions about how London Animation Club can evolve. Our next event is in Tuesday 2nd October, at which I am hoping to showcase the work of Emma Calder. See you then. Love from Martin |
