Manchester Film Co-operative

aurora2009 · Joined: 28 Sep 2009 Posts: 1

AURORA 2009 Common Ground
5 – 15 November

AURORA is a unique festival based in Norwich which focuses on the moving image in the most diffuse sense. For 2009, AURORA goes further than ever before to argue for a broader moving image in which film programmes sit alongside live music, discussion, exhibitions, workshops and talks. The theme for AURORA 2009 is Common Ground. Straying from anthropological or ethnographic studies to oblique explorations of myth and the representation of reality, the theme leads to an entirely literal reading of the 'common ground' in which ecology collides with social history and direct action.

This year, the festival will take place over a ten-day period, with a ‘Festival Week’ (5 – 12 November) of workshops, screenings and music preceding a uniquely intimate, focused ‘Festival Weekend’ from 13 – 15 November.

During the Festival Week, there will be film screenings, filmmaking workshops, live performance and music converging in a series of events throughout the city. Live music this year comes in the form of folk-fusion troubadour Adem and Nancy Elizabeth, folk-psych newcomer Mary Epworth & The Jubilee Band; and Norwich's own Balaclava Kid & Dad and Hoofus, who'll play as part of a double-bill with music films by Jem Cohen. Also based in the city, prog-folk-noise collective Transept play as part of the AURORA Bonfire Night, which includes a rare screening of the incredible Forest of Bliss; Alex MacKenzie performs the hand-cranked, hand-made The Wooden Lightbox alongside Sarah Evans and the McKenzie Break's latest live work; and much more.

At the Festival Weekend (13 -15 November), you get to experience a totally different type of festival… one at which everyone takes part equally, eats together, drinks together. Highlights include film programmes by Jem Cohen and Milena Gierke, introduced by the artists; discussion sessions with Shezad Dawood, Mark Wilsher, Andrew Kötting, Beatrice Gibson and others; thematic film programmes featuring archive work alongside new films; live music and film performance from Alasdair Roberts & Luke Fowler and DJs including Emma Pettit & Nick Luscombe (Roots & Shoots). It's not about attending a 'film festival'… it's about taking part in a unique temporary community. And with that in mind, all meals are included in the price of the ticket!

For more information and to book tickets, please visit www.aurora.org.uk