Newcastle to host slow cinema during March's AV Film Festival

The film strand is part of the larger AV Festival 12: As Slow As Possible, the biennial festival of art, music, technology and film.

The film season comprises 30 landmark films from an array of international filmmakers such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Bela Tarr, Alexander Sokurov and Sharon Lockhart. During the Slow Cinema Weekend (March 8-11) Filipino director will Lav Diaz [pictured] present his lesser-known works and participate in a public discussion with film critic May Adadol Ingawanij.

Notable screenings throughout the festival include Pablo Giorgelli’s Las Acacias; Fate, Nightfall, Frost by Fred Kelemen; Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse, Lisandro Alonso’s La Libertad and The Dead (Los Muertos) and Liverpool; Ben Rivers’ Two Years at Sea and Slow Action; and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Syndromes and a Century.

Other occasions taking place during the Festival include additional talks and discussions with each of the filmmakers, and panel discussions from critics and curators Jonathan Romney, George Clark, and Matthew Flanagan.

There will also be two exhibitions by durational filmmaker pioneer James Benning, one of which will be a world premiere, as well as an exhibition by Torsten Lauschmann (Jarman Award nominee). Following this will be week long mini-installations from Manon de Boer, Martin Arnold, Ben Russell and John Smith. Durational works from Phill Niblock will also be exhibited, as well as the UK’s largest solo display of 16mm and 35mm gallery works from Cyprien Gaillard.