The Old Swan Wharf

“The Listeners Project have just produced four short films in the historic Swan Wharf in Hackney, due to be turned into modern flats in 2016. Filming took place on four consecutive days beginning on Thursday 5th February.

Each Director was randomly given one of four distinct spaces within the old victorian wharf and they and their cast and crew had 24 hours each to film in the spaces.  Each writer had Frank O Connor’s poem Advice to Lovers as a jumping off point and all four short films (2 – 6 mins in length) were screened on Valentine’s day at the location to an audience of 60.”

Continuing on from their last project, the Listeners are back with four more interesting and experimental films for your delight and delectation.

The first film is ‘Help’ directed by Sonny Malhotra and starring Oliver Gilbert and Pia De Keyser and is very nicely shot, utilizing the space very well and creating a strange, eerie tone that is both dark and unsettling.

‘Occupy’ is the second in this collection, written by the incredibly talented Steve Bloomer and is directed by Leanne Welham. Great use of space and the dialogue is well written. Starring Charlie Catrall and Elarica Johnson, this piece makes some interesting points about housing.

‘Lovelife’ is a lot of fun. Primarily a dance piece, this utilizes the space well and creates a fun short. Alistair Goldsmith and Sonya Cullingford are the actors/dancers.

The last film ‘The Red Room’ directed by Ben Lambert (who is the main producer on the whole project) is the most interesting piece out of this collection. Starring the very talented, Lizzie Phillips along with Vinta Morgan, this film brings in the idea of the Stockholm syndrome with a touch of the 1984’s. Lizzie Phillips gives a lovely performance in this weird and wonderful little film.

Overall these experiments work and challenge the audiences. It’s great that they are out there being made. I’m a big fan of creatives who go out and do it themselves and for this they get:

4/5

Watch the films here