Adventures in Alternative Cinema

Adventures in Alternative Cinema is just that! Encompassing 'non-mainstream' film to experimental animation and artist moving image, Adventures began by working with young people, exploring cinema 'beyond the multiplex'. Teams of Young Programmers discovered specialised film, and thought about new ways to grow new audiences for something 'un-hollywood', as well as making use of their local, rural part-time cinema venues.

Today, the Adventures Programme has expanded to work with other interest groups, including artists, and older people, whilst young people continue to be a core part of the programme.

In 2018 our main focus was on Anim18 - a UK-wide celebration of British animation that took place between April to November 2018, and more recently we have been working with local people and venues on 'Adventures with Archives' - unearthing some of the hidden treasures of archive film collections, presenting fascinating film clips alongside live and specially composed music - take a look below to find out more...

Adventures with Archives

Adventures with Archives II

With the support of the BFI, Film Hub Midlands and Arts Council England, we are delighted to return with another season of Adventures with Archives, bringing together archive film screenings with live performance and newly composed soundtracks. If you are a musician, poet, film fan, filmmaker, or venue, and want to get involved please contact: info@mediaactive.org

There's been lots of online activity since late Spring 2020, as we've been working with a number of groups of young people across Shropshire, who've been researching, curating and creatively responding to a variety of archive film. This has resulted in some wonderful work - take a look at eight of our Adventures with Archives shorts above and below. There were two strands to the project - 'new music composition for archive film' (above four films) and 'new narratives for archive film' (the four films below).
Look out for our new Adventures with Archives webpage - coming soon!

As part of the Borderlines B2 festival we presented an informal evening of vintage film, new music and live performance at The Hive in Shrewsbury. We're pleased to report that our exploration of the 'weird and wonderful world of archive film, through clips unearthed and repurposed by musicians, poets and filmmakers', took place in front of a lovely appreciative audience. Photos from event will be posted here soon. Download the event flyer here

Three of our wonderful performers at the Hidden Treasures event can be seen below

Adventures with Archives I

The Adventures with Archives project aims to bring new audiences to archive film, through music based events, screenings and collaborations. The project includes screenings of archive film alongside live music, as well as working with musicians to compose new music for specific pieces of archive film. Scroll down this webpage to see, and listen to, some of the work we've been doing.....to see more photos, music and videos from this project please visit the Adventures blog

Live Cinema and Music event at Wem Town Hall

An evening of the weird and wonderful, that brought together a selection of hidden cinematic treasures unearthed from British and International film archives, screened with live music from Hazah, featuring tracks from their 2019 album 'Landing Again'.

Take a look at some photos from the evening below (select the image to see it in full) and visit our Adventures blog to see and hear some 'captured moments' from the fabulous SOLD OUT night at Wem Town Hall!

Download the Adventures with Archives event poster here

Hazah write music for the fun and the joy of the moment, trying to create something honest and unpredictable in a mad beautiful world. They mix their own beats, samples and quirky synth riffs with acoustic and electric guitar, bass, flute, Irish pipes, whistles, clarinet, fiddle, banjo and live percussion.

“Unique…they make a sound like you’ve never heard…their album belongs in your record collection” – Josh Withey @ BBC Radio

Select the 'Landing Again' cover image to hear album opener 'In The Rivers'

Mutoscope installed at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

We've installed our Mutoscope - an updated version of the late-nineteenth century moving image device - in the Foyer at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury. This will be screening some of the short films - combining archive film with newly composed music - made through the Adventures with Archives project - visit the Adventures blog to take a closer look/watch a video clip. Alternatively, if you can, take a trip to Theatre Severn to watch some of the short films currently on the mutoscope yourself, as photos and videos don't adequately represent the effect of the solo-screening/muto viewing experience!

Breath Takers
Original music composed and performed by Adam Knight specifically for this piece of archive film.
Archive film date: c1920s; music composition: 2018

Swinging the Lambeth Walk
Original music composed and performed by Here Be Mountains specifically for this piece of archive film.
Archive film date: 1940; music composition: 2018

In the midst of life...
Original music composed and performed specifically for this newly edited archive film.
Archive film date: c1960s; music composition: 2019

The Bridge
Original music composed and performed by Shropshire band Hazah.
Archive film edit of two films from the British Council Film Collection: a 1942 documentary about Kew Gardens and a 1941 film about British miners.

Common Ground
Contemporary music accompanying this newly edited archive film.
Archive film date: c1940s; music composition: 2019

My Letter To You
Original music performed - in late 2018 - by AGE UK Shropshire choir The Orchard Singers
Archive film date(s): C1910-1940s; edit 1918

Adventures Archive Film mashup
Young person's mashup

Screening at KALLIDA Festival

We'll be screening a selection of the archive and music shorts, created through Adventures with Archives, at the KALLIDA festival in July 2019. KALLIDA is a three-day music & arts festival, with a focus on immersive production & soundsystem culture...find out more here

The return of the Mutoscope...

We're currently 're-making' our old, soon to be newly digitised, mutoscope, for screening films as part of our Adventures with Archives project. To find out more about the historical mutoscope's origins check out our Adventures blog - link below

See more Adventures with Archives via our Adventures blog
- please select the image below

Adventures with Archives - three songs by Blue Jenkins
'Stubborn Too' and 'Say Yes' (left-hand, single edit below) and 'Sonnet 6' - archive film clips selected to accompany three original songs written and performed by singer-songwriter Blue Jenkins.

Adventures with Anim18 - Exhibition and Animation Residency
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Anim18 was a UK-wide celebration of British animation that took place between April to November 2018. Led by Film Hub Wales and Chapter (Cardiff) working with the BFI Film Audience Network and project partners, including MediaActive, Anim18 showcased the best of British talent – past, present and future – through a programme of screenings, activities and events across the UK.

Adventures with Anim18 exhibition at Theatre Severn included animations made by UK animator Cyriak, selected by Adventures’ Young Programmers, and short animated films made by young people, who have worked locally with MediaActive, and further afield with BFI Film Academy partners.

The exhibition was expanded during November to include work in progress by our Animator in Residence Raj Mahuru, an alumni from the Animation BA at University of Wolverhampton. Raj worked with MediaActive, and with the inspirational support of award winning animator Dr Samantha Moore and UoW Head of Animation Emily Mantell. Raj's finished film 'Line Tempo' can be seen below...

Illustration by Raj Mahuru - Animator in Residence

Line Tempo by Raj Mahuru

Adventures with Anim18 exhibition guide
- please select the image below to view

Adventures' Summer workshops & 'A Symphony of Cyriak'

Adventures' Young Programmers returned in Summer 2018, selecting and programming screenings for MediaActive's Anim18 programme; developing an Adventures @ Anim18 website; as well as making a 'mashup' of UK animator Cyriak's work, accompanied by an original soundtrack, composed and performed by 15 year old Ben - take a look at 'A Symphony of Cyriak' below.

Cinema Tipi film programme at Merefest 2017

With support from Flicks in the Sticks our Adventures in Alternative Cinema team put together the programme of screenings for the Cinema Tipi at Merefest - this included the very popular Finding Nemo as well as Lotte Reiniger's silhouette animations.

Young Programmers Regional Development

Particpants at the Queer Media Film Programmers Workshop in Media City UK

MediaActive have been supporting a number of organisations across the North West to develop their own Young Programmers projects

Curating and Presenting Archive Film through mash-ups

A number of our Young Programmers created archive film mash-ups for screening at festivals and public spaces throughout 2016 - here's a couple of them

Flatpack Film festival 2016

Select the image above - to our Adventures' blog - to see what we got up to at Flatpack