1999 Portobello Film Festival
The fourth annual Portobello Film & Video Festival was the biggest and best yet in terms of attendance, quality of films and party atmosphere. The star of the show was a 20 foot daylight viewing LED screen on Portobello Green (right in the middle of Portobello Road) showing local films, kids films, documentaries and top features over three days. Even the rain miraculously held off for the daily 2pm-10pm screenings and the park filled up with good natured film fans. Other screenings took place in the new Belgo Zuid in Ladbroke Grove and at the fashionable local nightclub, Subterania. With over 3,000 people a day visiting Portobello Green and the 1,200 capacity Subterania constantly being Full House, plus the turnover of viewers changing, we estimate over 15,000 people enjoyed this years film festival. There was extensive press coverage in Time Out, the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, GLR and the local press.

If you've been before you'll know that we are different from other film festivals: We concentrate on video projection. We show every film submitted. It can be anarchic and a bit crazy but this is a living festival celebrating the boisterous cutting edge of the medium. The overall standard of films keeps getting better every year. The arrival of camcorders and now digital video makes high quality film-making possible for anybody. Gone are the days of endless networking and pitching. The filmmakers here have gone out and made their films on minimal budgets from kids on the street with camcorders to disaffected industry professionals bored with endless commercial and music promos. Shane Meadows' early vhs movies are of him and his mates goofing around Nottingham but the wit and grasp of the medium is clearly there. Guy Ritchie's debut The Hard Case marked him out as a great talent as did Sara Sugerman's Valley Girls. These films had their first major exposure at the Portobello Fim and Video Festival. The richness of the culture is overwhelming, these independent films shame the mainstream. So whether you are a first time filmmaker or a humble punter, sit back and enjoy the 1999 Portobello Film and Video Festival!

Saturday August 7th 1999 2pm - 10pm
OUTDOOR SCREENING PORTOBELLO GREEN Thorpe Close, London W10 under Westway between Ladbroke Grove and Portobello Road

YCTV Present Their Latest Work (1 hour)
Local Youth Cable Television

The Fable Eduardo Carrillo (7 mins) Animation, children's drawings and the tale of a hen.

Monsieur Pal Didit Hilda Ellis (2 mins)
The story of a Satyr desperate to escape from the Rage Cage.

Vaudeville Bob Dixon (3 mins)
Meliers inspired New Age Magic Show

The Apartment Cat Sarah Roper (7 mins)
Cat sits on her balcony and dreams of the roof garden opposite.

The Gypsy Jungle George Butler (6 mins) Film made last year by the Lancaster Youth Centre

Topper Ben Owen (11 mins)
Exclusive interview with Nick Headon, former drummer of The Clash

Light Movement/Platform 1/News Stand/Side Partings Helen Hewitt (20 mins)
Urban concepts.

City Of Light Raymond Myndiuk (5 mins) Promo for White City

In The Morning Mike Brook (3 mins)
A unique blend of soul & hip hop

Portobello Tales Mirkovic/Ellis (9 mins)
Talking heads snippets of W10/W11 residents

Only Believe What You Want To Believe/Drive All YourCaresAway HoneyBrothers (13mins) Truth & W10

Travelling Light Kanchi Wichmann (25 mins)
A random journey through an area of East London

Rio Watford Mudfadzi Nkomo(9mins)
A Latin revolution sweeps Watford changing women's lives

Denis Bowen Julian Morgan (14 mins)
A profile of one of the 90s most prolific contemporary artists

The Big O Fizz (6 mins)
A look at the popularity of bagels and the 24 hour bakery in Brick Lane

Interview At Clapham Junction Julian Elvis (3 mins)
A man misses his appointment or does he?

Waterloo Bridge Peter Lewis (7 mins) Through an amazing metamorphical change within reality

The Heath Donald Daby (28 mins)
The change of the name "Wormwood Scrubs" to "The Heath"

Hackney Wick Peter Lewis/Jane Winkles (14 mins)
A housing estate finding individual personal identities

Tai Chi Man Simon J. Richards (14 mins) Hidden romantic yearnings at a local Tai Chi class

Funky Fast Shorts
Biplanar Chris Bird (7 mins)
Exploration of flight and human flight

Spoke Gary Barber (5 mins)
The poetic physical and mental journey of a cyclist..

This Woman, This Knight Kristin Robertson (20 mins)
Beauty and an amnesiac swan princess

Grandpa Andy Shelley (8 mins)
An isolated pensioner uses a dramatic ploy to gain family attention

The Differing Of Flight Ian Firth (6 mins)
The powerful world of film, poetry and music

A Short Film About A Girl's Stomach Donald Takeshita Guy (6 mins)
Was I visited by aliens?

Nan & Fred Sam Marshall (8 mins)
An intimate relationship and the struggle to survive, when one dies

Processed Egg Jan Manthey (9 mins)
A sick lonely man uses a processed egg and ham sandwich

Sunday August 8th 1999
PORTOBELLO GREEN
Thorpe Close, London W10
Jazz For Jesus Michelle Archer (11 mins)
A young nun becomes confused by the nature of her calling
Raquel Antonio David (6 mins)
The World Association Of Secret Police rescue a baby girl
Beyond The Sea Jonathan Perry (2 mins)
A visual of Charles Trenet's La Mer sung by Bobby Darin
Who's To Blame Adele Gonzague (17 mins)
Conceived, written and directed by 15 year olds Conflict Ismat Abdelrahman (8 mins)
Drama about a woman searching for her brother
A Taste Of Telford Youth group production (22 mins)
Video clips of young people made at NKVDP

Danny Miles Is Leaving Home Vardis Marinakas (25mins)
The day he decides to leave, his father dies

Composed Young - Mi Lee (9 mins)
Inspiration via the sounds of passionate love making next door

The Heart Of Football Glenn Carwithen (8 mins)
The appeal of British football

Dedicated Followers Of Fashion Marcus Relton (13 mins)
90s Mods & the Sixties lifestyle

Laughing Matters Christine Schafer (22 mins)
An intriguing look at twitches and sounds

Maniac Poets Robert Hertner (20 mins)
Performances of poets inc. Murray Lachlan Young by Bucky

Peep This R.B. Umali (24 mins)
Soundtrack film of city skateboarding

Misled Youth (20 mins)
Skateboarding film

Real Lives-Terry Cummin - Carnival Tamara Gordon (30 mins)
Behind the scenes preparation and event.12

RealLives-MarkRichard-Carnival Tamara Gordon (30 mins)
A local DJ and the carnival 12

Funky Fast Shorts

Lipstick & Letterbox Rick West (11 mins)
The tale of an unconventional relationship

Falling For Sound Angel Garden (14 mins)
Senju, a young professional cellist and his music

Ruffle Tina Schula (6 mins)
Butho inspired persecution in a rundown house

Compilation Dream Film Dawn VanderVloed (20 mins)
Black & white super 8 slowed down to music

The Millenium Man Sarah Spillane (10 mins)
The surreal world of the aquarium looking at humans

Projected Love Sarah Barr (9 mins)
A young woman becomes obsessed with a local pop star

Klausee Und Dagmar David Phillip (5 mins)
Two personalities cross in Liverpool St Station

Life's A Beach Cassius Rayner (19 mins)
A seaside town and two guys with nothing better to do

Alchemy Calliste Lelliott/Corinne Dipple (13 mins)
Cyberspace unweaves girl's multiple identities

The Routine Jon Wright (13mins)
Fed up with his mundane world, Kaye longs for excitement 18

Bricks Sasha Zivkovic (7mins)
Futuristic bricklayer is wrongly accused of an art crime he did not commit

Home Comforts Laurie Hill (4 mins)
Filmed Guerilla style at midnight in local back gardens

A Doida Bel Bechara & Sandro Serpa (12 mins)
An encounter between an old insane woman & a boy

A Pricked Tease/Spatial Spangles/ID Laura Stevens (7mins)An array of juxtaposed images

The Sleeper Sandip Mahal (8 mins)
Where (Right) angles fear to tread 15

What Men Want Carmen De La Fuente (5 mins)
What the sexes expect and want from one another

No Deposit No Return Barnaby Cook (8 mins)
An insecure boy becomes obsessed with his image

Two Minute Warning Susie Halewood (2 mins)
Dealing with people who talk in the cinema

Orgasm Ray Gun Martin Gooch (3 mins)
Breakthrough invention of an orgasm machine

She's So Alive Peter Lewis/Jamie Morton (3 mins)
Canadian music band video The Orchard Highway

Dream Of Me Natasha Morris (7 mins)
Action dream sequence featuring the life of an immature girl

By Mouth Nil Adam Smith (30 mins)
An exploration into censorship through nullification based on Gary Oldman's version

Such Is Life Andy McCafferty (15 mins)
One of the last gigs by Screaming Lord Sutch

KINGSIZE Matt Harlock (16 mins)
Fast paced comedy in & on the way home from the club scene

I Don't Know What You're Trying To Hide Lewis/Morton (2 mins)
The Orchard Highway video

Sleaze And The Dead Carnall/Pearson/Hobeon (20 mins)A gangster investigates his brother's death

Stop The War! Chris Reeves (24 mins)
Shot in three weeks, an alternative view of the Balkan conflict

PUPS ASH (1 hour)
Two youngsters rob a bank, with Burt Reynolds

Wild Weekend Josh Collins (1 hour 15 mins)
Four nights (only?) of insane retro fun

S and Hens Anniki Sommerville (33 mins)
S&M exuberance during a hen night

Vanessa Deva Palmer (11 mins)
Love, courage and staying power in NY

Kon 'Se, Kwens Charlotte Baxendale (6 mins)
A girl discovers she is pregnant