Head for the Border

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2014 Trailer from BerwickFilmFest on Vimeo.

Berwick-upon-Tweed celebrates the 10th edition of its Film and Media Arts Festival from September 17 to 21 with the timely theme of Border Crossing. Taking place in the same week that Scotland heads to the polls for the Scottish independence referendum, Berwick will show a collection of films and installations exploring border identities, in-between spaces, and 'debatable lands' (to take the title of one of the installations) from around the world, with several highlighting Berwick's own border town status.

As their festival trailer, above, has it, "The Town is the Screen" - films, live events, workshops, and site-specific installations will manifest the sounds and images of a multitude of border crossings across Berwick's walls.

The installations (several of which are world premieres - a full list can be found here) address the festival's theme in diverse ways - featuring the work of more than a dozen artists and filmmakers including Ben Russell, Rachel Maclean, Kristina Cranfeld, and Berwick's artist in residence Katie Davies - and are spread out across similarly diverse locations in the town. All are free to enter and run between 11am and 6pm every day of the festival. There are also two sessions of several of the artists involved (in different combinations) in conversation on the Saturday and Sunday.

Berwick Festival will open with Mamarosh

Festival passes are still excellent value for money at £35 on the official website and will allow you to access all of the film screenings at the festival, as well as the live events (Orchestra of Samples by Addictive TV on Friday 19th at 8pm, featuring samples and live music from local Northumbrian musicians, and Sound + Vision with Philip Selway (Radiohead) on Saturday 20 at 9.30pm). There are several workshops aimed at teenagers and young adults (free, but you need to book a place) - 'Have a Go VJ - AV Mixing!' (11am on Saturday 20) and 'Everyone's a Critic - How to break into film criticism' (11am on Sunday 21).

The festival programme also includes two competitive events for filmmakers. On the Saturday afternoon, the Young Filmmakers Showcase draws attention to young filmmaking talent from across north-east England and south-east Scotland, and for the first time there are two age categories - The Chris Anderson Award (for filmmakers 15-19 years old) and The Young Filmmakers Award (for filmmakers 14 years and under). On the Saturday night, seven short films and artists' videos compete in the 2nd Inntravel Short Film Awards (the details of the shortlist can be seen here), presided over by a jury consisting of Catherine Shoard (The Guardian's film editor), artist-filmmaker (and co-founder of the festival) Marcus Coates, and Hilke Doering (head of the International Competition at Oberhausen Short Film Festival). All of the films in contention are screened during the awards.

The opening and closing films of the festival both explore the impact of displacement on individual identity in the aftermath of war (the experiences of refugees and immigrants looks to be a recurring theme throughout the festival). Opener Mamarosh (Momcilo Mrdakovic, 2013) sees middle-aged cinephile and film projectionist Pera relocated to New York as a refugee from war-torn Belgrade in 1999. In this new environment Pera discovers that his job is becoming obsolete due to new-fangled digital projection but makes it his mission to introduce people to the magic of "real cinema". He sounds like someone who would appreciate that the festival's retrospective of Powell and Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going!, which is screening on 35mm.

Ida

The closing film is Pawel Pawlikowski's much-heralded Ida (winner of Best Film at last year's London Film Festival and released across the UK on September 26) in which orphaned 18-year-old Anna, about to take her vows to become a nun, discovers that she still has a living relative and sets off to meet her - a voyage of self-discovery commences when she learns how her family story entwines with Poland's past, and that she is Jewish (and that her real name is Ida). It looks like a stunningly beautiful production and a fitting film with which to close the 10th edition of the festival.

The festival's film screening programme is as follows (all are at The Maltings Theatre & Cinema unless otherwise stated):

Wednesday, September 17

• Opening gala: Mamarosh - 7pm

Thursday, September 18

• I Know Where I'm Going! (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1945) - 2pm
• West (Christian Schwochow, 2013) Regional premiere - 4pm
• Inbetween Worlds (Feo Aladag, 2014) UK premiere - 8pm
• Short Films from the Borders (various) - screening at The Barrels Ale House 8:30pm

Friday, September 19

• The Mulberry House (Sara Ishaq, 2013) Regional premiere - 1pm
• The Uprising (Peter Snowden, 2013) Regional premiere - 6pm

Saturday, September 20

• The Legend Of Sarila (Nancy Florence Savard, 2013) Regional premiere - 11am
• Young Filmmakers Showcase - 1pm
• Approved for Adoption (Jung & Laurent Boileau, 2012) Regional premiere - 3pm
• Keeping House (Ian Fenton & Jacob Polley, 2014) World premiere - 3:30pm
• Forbidden Voices (Barbara Miller, 2012) UK premiere - 5pm
• Inntravel Short Film Awards - 7.30pm

Sunday, September 21

• Wee Films for Wee Ones (various) - 10.30am
• Kiss The Water (Eric Steel, 2013) - 11am (Read what he told us about his film here)
• Horizon Beautiful (Stefan Jäger, 2013) Regional premiere - 1pm
• Giraffada (Rani Massalha, 2013) Regional premiere - 3pm
• From Scotland With Love (Virginia Heath, 2014) - screening at Paxton House 5pm
• La Mia Classe (Daniele Gaglianone, 2013) Regional premiere - 5.30pm
• Closing film: Ida - 7:30pm

For more information and to book tickets visit www.berwickfilm-artsfest.com.