Losing the Plot #4

LTP#4 brings to a converted barn in the North Pennines a cinematic treck from Lisbon to Moscow, considering European-ness, migration, austerity and companionship over a long weekend.

This year, it opens the inaugural Wide Skies Film Festival, a new community-programmed film festival for the Tyne Valleys, running from 10th-19th June.

New work from artist filmmakers John Smith and George Barber jostle with historical, avant-garde and activist documentaries about changing visions of Europe.

Miguel Gomes' trilogy of The Arabian Nights will be presented in its entirety, with breaks for fresh meals and delicious Northumbrian air.

Urok, (The Lesson), gives a more unflinching perspective of the harsher economic realities that our European relatives are experiencing.

On Sunday, the gaze will turn east, with two films about Russia, notably the incredible documentary The Russian Woodpecker that follows an avant-garde performance artist in his effort to shed light on the disaster at Chernobyl.

You can come to any of the screenings individually, but the best experience is had by staying for the weekend, either camping or in the bunk barn.  All meals, films and accommodation costs are covered in the weekend pass.

Emphasising the collective experience of viewing that makes Cinema special, LTP revolves around camping, watching, reading, walking, discussing and eating together with a bunch of other people over a long weekend.  It is also an attempt to move thought-provoking culture into different contexts in the hope that something transformative can more easily happen.

Friday 10th June
8pm: Euro Visions - Artist filmmakers John Smith, George Barber & the Themesons plus documentaries, selected from LUX.

Saturday 11th June

11am - Arabian Nights part 1 (M Gomes, Portugal, 2015)

2pm - Arabian Nights part 2 (M Gomes, Portugal, 2015)

5pm - Arabian Nights part 3 (M Gomes, Portugal, 2015)

8.30pm - Urok (K. Grozeva & P. Valchanov, Bulgaria, 2014)

Sunday 12th:

11am - Bells from the Deep (W. Herzog, Ger/Rus, 1993)

2pm - The Russian Woodpecker (C. Gracia, UK/US/Ukraine, 2015)