You may have heard some rumblings, some of which may not be true, but some of which are def-o-nately happening – we ARE going to Branchage!

Do I hear some people in the back shouting ‘what is Branchage’? Well, Branchage Film Festival is a young, ambitious and imaginative film festival combining cutting-edge commissions and creative programming with all that’s charming about Jersey. The festival specialises in site-specific live sound-tracking, music and film screenings, matching each to a complementary and unusual venue on the island.  A hotbed for new talent, Branchage programmes an extensive short film strand, new independent features, industry panels, educational workshops and several parties and networking events and has been going strong since 2008 – exciting stuff all round!

Over at YARN we’ve always been a big fan of the Branchage ethos, so were exceptionally excited when invited to do a special one-off YARN presents… affair as part of this years festival.

What exactly will we be doing? Well, we’ll be presenting our Four Stories High series, putting together a very special performance of The Nutcracker.

You know the drill….take The Nutcracker, divide the story into 8 sections; invite local Jersey talent – 2 x filmmakers, 2 x theatre groups, 2 x novelists/storytellers and 2 x musicians – to take one section each and tell that section of the story in their medium. Put them all back together in story order, and let a terrific performance unfold!

So if you fancy an amazing day out for all the family in Jersey at the end of September, get booking tickets here

The first of the YARN interesting ponderings is upon us. It is an interesting maze of emotion once you’ve popped out the other side of something that has been in your head for ages. I went and accidentally got drunk with some old school friends (a random nightclub in Manchester, c. 2am is the source of this pic) and then I read this little ditty and felt a whole heap better:

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadow. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.

Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “it’s not where you take things from – it’s where to take them to.”

…so behold my inspiration theft.

Thank you Jim Jarmusch for saying it, thank you mark malazarte for turning it into a poster and thank you to ideas illustrated – the money issue for arriving on my door step just at the right time.

YARN presents Four Stories High

That’s right, it’s taken me three weeks since YARNfest wrapped to finally sit and write the wrap up blog and despite it being top of the list of things to do since the 24th of Feb the only reason it’s happening today is that I’m stuck under a quilt recovering from a cold – damn, blogging clearly just isn’t going to come naturally!

YARNfest kicked off back on the 20th of Feb with our TairyFales, and built up to a knock-out Literary Death Match on the 24th – selling out to it’s biggest crowd yet and even had someone wearing a tower of flats as a prop, thank you Richard Milward for that!

In betweenie we saw Tom Wrigglesworth regale us with his oh so familiar tale of an evil ticket inspector on a Virgin train, the Paper Cinema create some seriously magical worlds accompanied by the fantastic Kieron Maguire, the London Short Film Festival lay on an eccentric mix of stories and experimental cinematic works, a glorious presentation of why Toy Story is a Marxist Manifesto at Movies in Minutes and some exceptional interpretations of the Odyssey at Four Stories High.

In it’s debut, YARNfest excelled beyond anything I’d envisaged in my head during the many months of build up and that can only be down to the wonderful, amazing and stupendous performers and co-organisers who poured everything into our events to make them really come alive.

Big thank you to Shooting People, Little White Lies, Faber & Faber and Opium Magazine and a massive shout out once again to our sponsors Bookhugger.co.uk who really went beyond in supporting us bring the first YARNfest to audiences. Also mega thank you to the teams at The Book Club and the Queen of Hoxton for making everything run as smooth as a smooth thing…and to everyone who gave us a shout out!

So…what next? Well, here at YARN towers we’re always looking for new ways to bring story and storytelling to audiences and we’re working up some new collaborations both with practioners and other exhibitors so definitely watch this space. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’re up to anything you think we might be interested in.

Through this blog we’re aiming to bring you tales of new happens and also some interesting ponderings…and slowly but surely I’ll become a regular blogger – promise!

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Marrying the literary and performative aspects of Def Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of X Factor judging, and the ridiculousness and hilarity of the Generation Game!

Join us for the fourth instalment of Literary Death Match London, where four writers will perform their most eclectic work (for eight minutes or less) before a huge audience, and a panel of three all-star judges who take turns spouting affectionate, off-the-wall commentary about each story (also, meanness is never a factor, as judges are there for non-sequiturs and comedy, not serious critique). Two writers are selected to advance to the finals where the show trades in its literary sensibility for an absurdly comical climax to decide the winner.

Judges / Readers will include Nick Hodgson (of The Kaiser Chiefs), Tim Wells, Richard Millward and Salena Godden.

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We’ve taken Homer’s Odyssey and divided it into twelve equal measures, split across the four pillars of modern storytelling – film, theatre, literature and music. Novelists, thespians, auteurs and musicians across the city have been developing their own unique ‘odyssey twelfth’, but what will happen when we try and put it all back together again in story order? Join us to find out!

Our fractional Homers include Harriet Fleuriot, The Android Angel,The Room, Alex Preston and The Strumpettes.

Photo courtesy of boliston

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Do you have movies you wish you’d seen but are now too embarrassed to admit?  Do you wonder what the story actually is in Fellini’s 8 1/2, or if there even is one in 2012?

Join us for a hilarious evening where comedians, cinema buffs and storyteller extraordinaires distill their favourite films into 5 minutes, be that through spoken word, slide show, audio clips – what ever takes their fancy as long as it can be done in 5 minutes!

Photo courtesy of Artamir 

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Bedtime is both an innocent daily experience, but also promises excitement. Adults can see bedtime as full of erotic fantasies, where as children’s bedtime is seen as an innocent cotton-wool dreamlike experience, although bedtime fairy stories do hint at the nightmare world of dark, evil and even sexual predators, with scary wolves and surreal characters. This programme of short films plays on both the innocent and the dangerous – Little Red Riding Hood pops up in two films, and Alice puts in an appearance too, but some films also explore the erotic experience with dream-like scenarios. YARN is also about writing, so there are also films exploring scripts that twist and turn and surprise.

So, come to Bedtime Stories for a varied selection of short films that’ll make you think, before you hit your pillow later on with your bedside hot chocolate steaming next to you.

Photo courtesy of sharianna//

The cereal-box maestros return with another piece of magical ‘live animation’. Using a basic camcorder and a pile of cut-out illustrations they whisk the viewer across the world – in this case to Venezuela – for a retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale of intrepid explorers and blood-thirsty dinosaurs. With Live music by Kieron Maguire.