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PORTOBELLO FILM FESTIVAL
COUNTERCULTURE 2006
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PFF 2006 programme
Overture
Reception Desk
Portobello Film Festival 2006 exploded onto the world
with a Bella Freud coordinated Fashion Show at Westbourne
Studios, featuring new and vintage clothes from Portobello
Market, modeled by Erin O’Connor, Susie Bick and
Iris Palmer, to the music of Gaz’s Rockin Blues.
Bella and John Malkovich’s cult movie Hideous
Man was also screened. An exhibition of vast paintings
by French poster maestros Les Freres Ripoulin and inflatable
graffiti by Gordon McHarg decorated the cavernous sub
Westway space.
At the same time, at The Inn On The Green, Rob Newman
presented his political comedy show A History Of The
World Backwards. As with all events at the Portobello
Film Festival, entry was free.
Erin O Connor
Attendance and press coverage were spectacular. The
doors at the Rob Newman show had to be closed due to
excess capacity and the performance relayed from the
theatre space to outside via an AV link. The Fashion
Show featured prominently in The Guardian and The Evening
Standard. The Standard also printed a full page piece
on featured local graffiti artist, Alex Martinez, publicising
the Festival.
Warm up shows had already taken place at The Cobden
Club, The Westbourne Tavern with the launch of a photographic
exhibition by John “Hoppy” Hopkins curated
by Sebastian Boyle, and at The Inn On The Green where
Ken Campbell had previewed his Edinburgh Festival Shakespearian
impro show.
Counterculture
This year’s Festival theme was Counterculture.
Portobello has long been an international Countercultural
centre and this is what provides much of it’s
appeal. Local author and historian Tom Vague wrote a
wonderfully researched and poetic text about Portobello
Counterculture Psychogeography 1956 – 2006, illustrated
with a map by local artist Mark Jackson, for the Festival
brochure and website.
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Ripoulin Paintings
Brochure cover artist was Ralph
Steadman, original illustrator for Hunter S Thompson’s
Fear And Loathing series, who contributed a heartfelt
anti-war cry prompted by the Lebanon/Israeli that coincided
with the Festival this August.
Many of the people featuring in the Tom Vague’s
article appeared at the Festival - from the London Free
School to Hawkwind, from the 80s Rough Trade Records
crowd to musicians from the Marley Family.
Local photographers John Hopkins and Charlie Phillips
displayed photos of Portobello from 60s when it was
a bohemian ghetto far removed from it’s present
gentrified preeminance. John’s pictures were of
the emerging hippy movement including a nude Alan Ginsberg.
Charlie’s were of the local Caribbean community.
A film about Charlie’s life and work was awarded
a special prize by Agnes B.
Rob Newman
Evenings of film were
dedicated to local Caribbean, Spanish and Irish communities
who contributed to the area’s evolution.
Other underground, local, and front line acts appearing
included Alabama 3, Gaz Mayall’s Trojans, DJ Splackavelli
(from the Marley Family), and even the first performance
for 20 years of punk legends The Members. All for free.
Comedy was organised by Tony Allen, the inventor of
Alternative Comedy here in Ladbroke Grove in the 70s,
with two shows from Ken Campbell, one from ex Fabulous
Poodle Ronnie Golden, and a very popular Slam Poetry
Competition hosted by Johnny Fluffypunk.
Total audience numbers for the Festival were around
13,000. 68% of the audience was new.
Ken Campbell and friends
In The Mix
Boyle Family hosted the London Free School evening,
a tribute to Mark Boyle and Syd Barrett. After an afternoon
of contemporary Portobello films, this reunion of Portobello
movers and shakers from the swinging sixties including
Joan Hills, John Hopkins, and Dave Tomlin started with
the films of docu-innovator/poet Peter Whitehead –
the inventor of the pop documentary and the music video,
followed by rarely seen original Boyle Family performance
art recordings, a panel discussion, and a poetry reading
from Michael Horowitz. In the Courtyard the groundbreaking
Pink Floyd and Soft Machine lightshows by Mark Boyle
and Joan Hills were projected in the round to a modern
psychedelic soundtrack.
Sebastian Boyle
The Festival ran from ran from 31 July to 22 August
at at least two separate venues every night- sometimes
three. On Saturday 12 Bob Marley And The Wailers Live
At The Rainbow played in the Cinema Circus Tent, The
Members reformed at The Inn On The Green, and a London
Film Makers Convention took place at The Paradise. On
Thursday 17 Satirists Black Eye presented a night of
black comedy and film at Westbourne Studios, Ken Campbell
offered his solo show Eccentric at the Inn On The Green,
and the Human Rights Watch Festival screened the UK
premiere of South African refugee epic Conversations
On A Sunday Afternoon at Westbourne Grove Church.
Michael Horowich
Arts were combined and mixed up at some venues on the
same evening. Hawkwind played their Space Ritual, alongside
a screening collaborator Michael Moorcock’s cult
movie The Final Programme. VJs Hexstatic played in the
Westbourne Courtyard alongside Glastonbury Festival’s
Midnight Circus, featuring Screamin Blue Murder and
Joe Rush’s car scrap sculpture exhibition of anthropomorphic
aliens, as the cream of London’s filmmakers showed
their latest work – hot off the edit suites -
in the cinema.
John Hopkins Exhibition
600 New Films
Main venue, Westbourne Studios, was full to overflowing
every night , as recorded by this correspondent to the
Withoutabox Festival Chatroom (unsolicited):
“I thought it was a real fun night. The only slight
niggle was that it tends to get full around 7:30. By
full I mean heaving, people stood on the stairs and
down both wings of the cinema. My film showed at 6:45
and so seating was 2/3 full and one of the wings had
lots of people standing in it. I think if your film
shows anytime after 7:30 you're going to get a full
house. As it stood mine was a little earlier but still
had a great reception. I even got chatting to one of
the other filmmakers who had his short on before mine.
It was a really friendly environment.”
Charlie Phillips Exhibition
Trois Carres from Les Freres Ripoulin presented a History
of French Video Art, featuring work from Jean Genet
to the present day, and David Ellis of the ICA introduced
and contextualised a series of video art works from
Simon Tysko.
Top Dutch Video Artist Arno Coenen came over from Holland
and gave a masterclass on 3D Animation and Graphics.
Rose Cupit from Film London organised two very enlightening
educational funding sessions from Artists Moving Image
Network illustrated by work from the likes of video
artists no.w.here.
DJ Splackavelli
A new highlight of the Festival was to showcase presentations
from other London Film Festivals: Halloween, Soho Super
Shorts and Something from Brasil. We also presented
a Human Rights Watch Film Festival Evening at new venue
Westbourne Park Church (designed by Manhattan Loft Corporation)
with Conversations On A Sunday Afternoon from South
Africa and a talk on HRW activities. Martin Robertson
brought over and introduced two days of the Ideas In
Motion International Ecological Festival from Canada.
International films were especially well represented
this year with half the 600 movies shown coming from
abroad. Work from Ireland, Holland and Spain (supplied
respectively by partners Network Ireland, Holland Film,
and Madrid Film School) were given special evenings.
Half the international movies came from Europe with
rest coming from as far afield as USA, Canada, Italy
and even Israel, Iran, Montenegro and Singapore.
Russell Brand with PFF volunteers
After last year’s largely rained off park event
with the Megascreen, we screened the Family Films Weekend
in a rainproof Cinema Circus tent (and it did rain).
Full houses in afternoons for Pirates Of The Caribbean,
Madagascar and Strictly Ballroom entertained the kids,
many of whose previous film viewing had been limited
to home DVDs.
In the evenings in the park Cinema Circus tent adults
were treated to Glastonbury, Bob Marley and The Wailers
Live At The Rainbow, and Shooting Dogs.
Just For You London
Of the UK movies screened two thirds (199) were from
London.
The fact that 35% of our audience heard about the Festival
from family, friends or word of mouth indicates a successful
relationship with the local community – North
Kensington – which is one of the 20% least well
off wards in UK
Molly Parkin at The Paradise
There was a welcome return this year for the Portobello
Film Festival Video Café where filmmakers and
audience can select movies from a menu and bring their
own films on the night. Two screens at the Inn On The
Green played host to special requests from Germany,
Italy and local families. Most of the music, comedy
and poetry events were held at this wonderful new venue.
The Festival was heavily featured on most London Tourist
websites like LondonTown, Londonist, Time Out, Last
Minute, and Visit London and even in the Easyjet and
Portuguese Airways inflight magazines. Robert Elms on
Radio London reckoned Portobello Film Festival is now
an institution on the London cultural landscape, and
BBC London TV featured us in their evening slot with
a live feed from Westbourne Studios, hosted by Brenda
Emmanus. We had a number of visitors from overseas who
had come especially for the Festival including a couple
from the USA.
Westbourne Studios
21 unemployed people gained Work Experience and Training
in Event Management based on the practical running of
the Festival, learning skills from front of house to
photography to administration. One volunteer has now
taken up a post as Education Officer at the Tricycle
Theatre. The website was radically redesigned by webmeister
Thomas “Thadeusz” Szabo from Leipzig, Germany
– the birthplace of Johan Sebastian Bach.
The Festival climaxed with our Award Ceremony at the
Electric Cinema, hosted by actress Jenny Runacre and
local author Courttia Newland.
Best Film: JVC Digital
Camera Prize
Roots Time (UK) Silvestre Jacobi
Best First Film: Agnes
B Award/ Medal & 500GBP
Rootical (UK) Nike
Hatzidimou
Best London Film: Weekend
for two at Royal Park Hotel W2
Attack Of The Clones (UK) Paul McCrudden & Alexander
Thomas
Best Comedy: JVC VHS/DVD
Combi
The Wall (UK) Punchdrunk
Best Direction: 100GBP
Fopp Vouchers
The Pitch (UK) Michael
Alexander Dobbin
Best Cinematography: JVC
VHS/DVD Combi
Eddie Loves You (UK)
Karl Holt
Most Promising Newcomer:
JVC VHS/DVD Combi
Our Fate (UK) Mark
Faduola
Portobello Special Appreciation
Award: 100GBP Eclipse Bar Vouchers
Skanked (UK) Blackeye
Films
Best Musical: PFF Certificate
Bhai Bhai (Fr) Olivier
Klein
Best Animation: PFF Certificate
Parade D'Amour (Georgia)
Tamara Sulamanidze
Best Foreign Film: PFF
Certificate
A Word From Our Sponsors
(USA) W. Lorenc
Many many thanks to our
wonderful Supporters:
Arts Council England
Paddington Development Trust
Film London
Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
Time Out
JVC
Workspace Group
Fopp Music, Film & Book Shops
Agnes B
Cobra
Countrywide Markets
The Inn On The Green
Royal Park Hotel
Westbourne Grove Church
The Paradise By Way Of Kensal Green
The Electric
The Cobden Club
Eclipse
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Prizewinners at Portobello Film Festival 2006 at Electric
Cinema Awards Ceremony 22 August, with hosts Jenny Runacre
and Courttia Newland, and Jonathan Barnett and Leona
Flude from Portobello Film Festival. 
Roots Time (UK) Silvestre Jacobi 
Attack Of The Clones (UK) Paul McCrudden & Alexander
Thomas
Rootical (UK) Nike Hatzidimou
