Photographers are increasingly encouraged to investigate filmmaking as another tool in their practice. How easy is the transition, and how does it work going the other way, from filmmaker to photographer? For Redeye's January 2014 networking event we are delighted to welcome Erik Knudsen. Well-known as an independent filmmaker, and Professor of Film Practice at the University of Salford, Erik now films primarily on DSLR and has a thriving photographic practice. For this talk Erik will discuss work as a film-maker and photographer, the links and differences, and also look in more detail at two current photographic projects: In Waiting, reflecting on the state of limbo that the nation of Cuba finds itself in, and Doubt, an exploration of faith through moments of doubt.
About Erik Knudsen
Erik Knudsen is Professor of Film Practice at the University of Salford in Manchester, UK. He was the Head of The School of Media Music and Performance between 2010 and 2012. He regularly conducts guest workshops at international film schools, such as the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television in Cuba, where he was Head of Editing between 2001 and 2009. He was born in Ghana to a Danish father and Ghanaian mother in 1956. He grew up, and was primarily educated, in Denmark, with a few years of schooling in Britain. After a stint of Law studies at Århus University in Denmark, he then went on to study film production at York University in Toronto, Canada, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Specialist Honours in Film Production in 1983. He returned to Britain in 1984, where he has lived and worked since. He gained his PhD from the University of Salford, 2002.
In 2009 Erik made the short documentary set in Cuba, Vainilla Chip. This was during a break in the filming for his latest feature film, The Silent Accomplice, which was completed in early 2010. In 2008, he collaborated with the renowned theatre company, Hourse & Bamboo Theatre Company, to make the visual moving image components of their touring show, Veil. 2006 proved another busy year in which he completed two films: the documentary, Heart of Gold, and his fiction feature film, Sea of Madness. His previous film, Brannigan’s March, was released in February 2004. Previously, the documentary film Bed of Flowers, was completed in February 2001. Signs of Life, a fiction feature film, was completed in June 1998. Reunion, was completed in 1995 to a commission by Channel Four Television. Before that One Day Tafo, commissioned by the Danish National Film Board, shot on location in Denmark and Ghana, won the bronze award at the 1991 Houston International Film Festival and was subsequently invited to compete in the 1991 San Sebastian Film festival in Spain. This film was also broadcast by Channel Four Television.
Prior to these films, Erik scripted and directed more than half a dozen short films, including Stray Dogs Can’t Find Their Way Home and The Chastity of Jenny. He has optioned a number of screenplays to other producers, such as On A Starry Night to Strawberry Vale Productions, London, and Whose Gambit to Brian Eastman at Carnival Films, London.
Erik has most recently completed a new feature film The Raven on the Jetty which was shot using a DSLR camera and will be released in 2014.
Venue and Timing
The network event will take place at The International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY at 18:30 on 27 January 2014
The doors open from 18:30 with the talk starting at 19:00. There will be the chance to chat and network over a drink and catch up on the latest photographic news.
All are welcome and it is free to attend but please register below.
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