Part of this year’s festival includes an art exhibit in a working butcher’s shop, a sofa cinema and a night of showcasing the best talent of the festival
Popular sofa cinema will return as part of the festival(Image: Submitted)
Popular Hull festival UNTHINKABLE, which celebrates short filmmaking and contemporary art in the city, has announced the judging panel for its awards screening and ceremony. The evening will showcase a handpicked selection of films from across the festival programme, which features dozens of films from local artists. The festival is taking a focus this year on unconventional spaces to showcase art – including a working butcher’s shop and former automotive warehouse.
On Wednesday 7 October, there will be the screenings of a variety of short films at Hull’s Reel Cinema. Hull and Humber local shorts will be packed into four hour-long programmes showcasing work from local filmmakers and creatives.
Then, on Thursday 8 October, there will be Industrial Coast x Unthinkable at HARI, a former industrial automotive warehouse, on Frances Street. Join the festival for a night of noise, experimental sound and radical artistic practice.
UNTHINKABLE culminates on October 10, when audiences and judges will help to decide the festival’s top cash prizes which are sponsored by Wykeland. Chris Colquhoun, a Hull-raised actor, will be among the judges for this year’s awards. He counts Casualty , Holby City , Coronation Street , Vera and Absentia among his TV achievements and has recently joined the cast of EastEnders .
Joining him is Yorkshire-based film producer and founder of Strive Films, Lucy Meer. Meer has built a reputation through award-winning independent film projects and talent development programmes and earlier this year received a BAFTA nomination for The Ceremony .
Completing the panel is artist Richie Culver. Working across painting, sculpture, photography, sound and performance, Culver’s work draws on personal experience and working-class culture. His exhibitions have been shown throughout the UK, Europe and the United States, championing Hull on an international stage.
Andy Pearson, producer of UNTHINKABLE festival, said: “To have an established regular on stage and screen who was brought up in Hull, a BAFTA-nominated producer and one of the city’s most celebrated contemporary artists judging our awards is fantastic. Each judge brings a unique perspective from across the worlds of film, television and contemporary art, and together they represent the kind of creativity and independent thinking that sits at the heart of UNTHINKABLE. The films screening on the night showcase bold ideas, inventive storytelling and remarkable resourcefulness, so we’re excited to have judges who truly understand and value original creative voices. It promises to be a very special night.”
The Awards Screening will feature some of the standout films selected from UNTHINKABLE’s genre categories, including documentary, narrative, experimental, animation and local filmmaking, alongside a special honorary mention selection.
The festival’s Official Winner Award comes with a £500 prize and prizes will be presented for Most Unthinkable (£250), celebrating creativity and resourcefulness in low-budget filmmaking, and the Audience Choice Award (£250), voted for on the night by cinema-goers.
BBC Radio 6 Music DJ and festival mentor Mary Anne Hobbs said UNTHINKABLE is “entirely unique within the festival landscape” and “a place where community connection can build and creative ambition can soar”.
The UNTHINKABLE festival Awards Screening takes place on Saturday 10 October at REEL Cinema, Hull from 7pm to 10pm, with doors opening at 6.45pm. The festival has a much wider programme of events, which includes Sofa Cinema screenings, art exhibitions, filmmaker showcases and community-led creative experiences taking place from Tuesday 6 October to Sunday 11 October across Hull.
Also part of the festival is a month-long art exhibition, which began on September 11 and runs until Saturday 11 October. Adrift with Nothing But What I Can Carry is open now at HARI on Frances Street and invited Hull artists to respond to the eponymous theme.
New for this year’s festival is the inaugural edition of THAW by Ritchie Culver, a new curatorial programme dedicated to exhibitions beyond traditional gallery spaces. The exhibition transforms the everyday setting of a working butcher’s shop into an exhibition space. Visit it at T.L. Norman High Class Butcher, Princes Avenue from Wednesday 7 October to Saturday 11 October.
Tickets for the Awards Screening are £10. That and other festival events can be booked on Eventbrite by searching Unthinkable Festival Hull.
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