8mm & 16mm Filmmaking Workshop with Baltic Analog Lab
Magnolia Film Lab is a new kind of film lab for a new generation of film photographers. The lab is a brand new 2020 production, and it hasn’t even opened yet. The grand opening of Magnolia Film Lab is planned on April 11 in Fabrika. For now, Magnolia Film Lab unites a film shop, a camera shop and a shop to “accessorize your analog lifestyle.” The team behind the lab says that is a “movement of passionately devoted film photographers,” often using the hashtag #ArtBornHere as their slogan. The Magnolia Film Lab is all about building a community who choose film over megapixels and their ambition is to provide best technology and techniques for those aspiring in film art. Their upcoming workshop in June is an example of them keeping their word.
In partnership with Baltic Analog Lab, the Magnolia Film Lab will, from June 15, offer a one-week-long 8mm & 16 mm filmmaking workshop led by Latvian filmmaker Ieva Balode, and as the Magnolia Film Lab has promised, it is going to be a “pretty epic” experience.
The Riga-born artist has worked on many solo and group projects, creating analog images. The 32-year-old Balode takes part in international exhibitions and festivals, presenting her work both in installation, as well as cinema and performance situation. As a curator, she is a founding member of Baltic Analog Lab, a collective of artists providing a space and platform for analog film production, research and education. She is also a director of the experimental film festival Process, founded in Riga in 2017.
For her artistic statement, Balode has said: “I am interested in human consciousness and transcendence within it. In my artistic practice, I mainly work with analogue images, both still and moving. I am particularly interested in experimental image-making in the lab and using those images to express concepts I create and live throughout my own life.” It seems that working with her on experimental images will truly be an interesting experience.
Balode’s experience has enabled her to design a workshop as an introduction to film format for beginners, as well as those who are familiar with analog film, meaning that simply the interest for it gives everyone enough credibility to join the workshop.
During the June workshop, participants will be working in small teams throughout the week to produce original short films. When the workshop wraps up, the analog image enthusiasts will able to present the films they have shot during the workshop on the rooftop of Fabrika.
The film workshop will provide the film and various cameras, as well as give an insight into analog editing and projecting. This is also a chance to learn hand processing in the darkroom using lomo tanks and film chemistry – both negative as well as positive. The artist will also work with the participants on experimental narration, using creative shooting, editing, processing and different storytelling techniques.
The cost to reserve your seat for this workshop is 120 EUR. The good news there is that the workshop includes all materials, cameras, projectors, film, chemicals for developing, and a few cold beers, as a bonus, to boot. The bad news here, is that the participant number is limited to 15 and the if you want to apply, you’ll need to hurry since there are only a few seats left.