Private Project

Focus

Pierre, a retired French miner, who lives surrounded by birds and various domestic pets, describes how his life has been blighted by supernatural events. References made to ghosts parallel sequences showing industrial remains that have been preserved as memorials in the northern French landscape, thus representing traces of a recent but nonetheless bygone age. The title of the film relates both to cinematic technique and poltergeist activity and is derived from the Latin word for home. Images of St Barbara, the patron saint of miners, refer to the religious and superstitious beliefs of men employed in dangerous conditions. The presence of caged birds recalls the use of canaries as warning systems in mines and corresponds to the fact that, wherever he goes, Pierre cannot escape forces (whether real or imaginary, psychological or socio-economic) that are not bound by geographical and physical constraints.

  • Simon Welch
    Director
    "Prelude", "Cast", "Euro Vision", etc.
  • Simon Welch
    Writer
  • Self-production
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 37 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2014
  • Production Budget:
    200 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    France
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital file
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 9th Urban Explorers Festival
    Dordrecht, Holland
    June 7, 2014
    World premiere
  • "Reel/Unreal" exhibition
    Project Gallery, Toronto, Canada
    September 5, 2014
  • Filmideo 2014
    Index Art Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA
    September 27, 2014
    US premiere
  • 6th Cairo Video Festival
    Cairo, Egypt
    November 6, 2014
    Egyptian premiere
  • 10th Cologne Off Festival 2014
    Curated program in numerous film festivals
    German premiere
  • NYA Short Film Fest
    Brunswick Studios, Halifax, UK
    October 26, 2014
    Halifax premiere
Director Biography - Simon Welch

IMDb:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6898227/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

British national based in France since 1994.

ART EDUCATION
PhD in Arts, Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, France, 2005.
DEA post-graduate pre-doctoral diploma in Arts, Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, 1998.
MA in Arts, Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, 1998.
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Liverpool Polytechnic, UK, 1988.
Foundation diploma in art and design, WSCAD, Farnham, UK, 1985.

GRANTS
Production grant, French Ministry of Culture, 2010.

SCREENINGS AND FESTIVALS
7th Siding Festival of Film, Creston, BC, Canada, Nov 2023 (Finalist).
Steve Aronson International Film Festival, Costa Rica, July 2023.
L'art à 20 balles, exhibition, La Clayette, France, Nov 2022-Jan 2023.
International Wine Film Festival, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, December 2020.
NewMediafest 2020, WOW2, Cinema B, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, USA, 25-31 July 2020.
NewMediafest 2020, WOW2, Stützpunkt Teufelsberg, Berlin, 16 July, 2020.
Roman-Susan Gallery solo screening at Wedge Projects, Chicago, USA, 9-15 September 2019.
Project/Poetry is broken, film screening by BISTRIK7 at Station House, Durham, UK, 24 July 2019.
The Chaffey Review Film Festival, Rancho Cucamonga, California, USA, 18 May, 2019.
Exploding Cinema Film Show, The Horse Hospital, London, UK, 18 May 2019.
Sreet Light Revisited, Roman Susan Gallery, Chicago, USA, 7-24 May 2019.
9th Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival, Mumbai, India, 20 February 2019.
Lobo Fest, Ciné Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil, 27 November-4 December 2018.
Video Art Film Club, Leyden Gallery, London, UK, 15 September 2018.
Unseen Festival, Counterpath, Denver, CO, USA, 1-30 September 2018.
The Quarantine Film Festival, W.O.W. 19, The New Museum of Networked Art, Varna, Bulgaria, 12-14 July 2018.
Unidxs, exhibition, Side Street Studio Arts, Elgin, IL, USA, 29 June-22 July 2018.
"What is the opposite of a computer", video exhibition, Inner Space: a chamber gallery, Dallas, TX, USA, 5-27 May 2018.
Cinema Perpetuum Mobile International Short Film Festival, Minsk, Belarus, 28 April-1 May 2018.
Regionale 18, Kunsthaus Basellland, Basel, Switzerland, 24 November 2017-7 January 2018.
ULTRAcinema Festival, Puebla, Mexico, 30 November-3 December 2017.
Medrar, film screening, Cairo, Egypt, 14 September 2017.
Es Baluard Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Palma, Majorca, Spain, 25 August-7 September 2017.
Ustructure Exhibition, Theater of the City, Gjilan, Kosovo, 24-28 June 2017.
Burien Film Festival, Burien, Washington, USA, 23-26 June 2017.
Flux, Bath Fringe Arts Festival, Bath, UK, 26 May-11 June 2017.
Filmideo 2017, film screening, Index Art Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA, 22 & 29 April & 6 May 2017.
Festival pour un Temps Sismique, La Chaufferie Gallery, Strasbourg, France, 9-18 March, 2017.
The Video Show, video exhibition, Raritan Valley Community College, North Branch, NJ, USA, 20 February-10 March 2017.
8th Cairo Video Festival, Zawya Cinema, 4 Abdel Khalek Tharwat St., Cairo, February 2017.
aDifferent Festival, experimental film festival, aDifferent Cinema, Woodland Pattern Bookcenter, Milwaukee, WI, USA, 17-18 February 2017.
Hope in the Dark, exhibition, 3rd On 3rd Gallery, Jamestown, NY, USA, 21 January-24 February, 2017.
Ozark Shorts Film Festival, Lamar, Missouri, USA, 2016.
FIVA 06, Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2-4 December 2016.
Frontale International Film Festival, Wiener Neustadt, Austria, 9-12 November 2016.
Southway Film Fest, Mykolalyv, Ukraine, 11-13 August 2016.
Samawa Group Cinema, Samawa, Iraq, 9-12 July 2016.
20 à l’écran Film Festival, Place Toutes-Aides, Doulon, Nantes, France, 20-21 May 2016.
Tulsa Overground Film & Music Festival, Tulsa, OK, USA, 24-27 March 2016.
13th Frames Film Festival, SIES college, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, India, 21-23 January 2016.
7th Cairo Video Festival, Gezira Art Centre, Cairo, Egypt, 3-12 December 2015.
Chrysalis Lens: A Brief Survey of Contemporary Video Art, exhibition, Marylyn & Chuck Klaus Center for the Arts, Marymount California University, 5-26 November 2015.
Szczecin European Film Festival, Szczecin, Poland, 18-26 October 2015.
Frontale International Film Festival, Wiener Neustadt, Austria, 14-17 October 2015.
From Nowhere, video projection at Sluice Art Fair, London, 16 October 2015.
Simultan 11th Edition, media art festival, Timisoara, Romania, 7-10 October 2015.
"Simon Welch", solo video exhibition at Studio 3 Arts, Barking UK, 7 September - 2 October 2015.
Images Contre Nature, video festival, Videodrome 2, Marseille, France, 9-12 July 2015
Audiovisual Experiences, Program IV, ArtvideoKOELN 2015.
Visual in Poetry, exhibition, Capitania Gallery, Aveiro, Portugal, 26 June-26 July 2015.
Incubarte 7, exhibition, MUVIM, Valencia Spain, 18-21 June 2015.
Supernatural, exhibition, New Harmony Contemporary Gallery, Indianapolis, USA, 6 June-17 July 2015.
Filmideo 2015, film screening, Index Art Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA, 25 April 2015.
"What Are You Watching?", video screening at Stairwell Gallery, Bloomsburg, PA, USA, 11 April 2015.
6th International Camagüey Video Art Festival, Cuba, 31 March-4 April 2015.
"Transpositions", solo video exhibition, Galerija 101, Vytautas Magnus University Art Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania, 10 March - 3 April 2015
"Breaking the Fourth Wall" exhibition, Byron Cinema, Nottingham UK, November/December 2014.
6th Cairo Video Festival, Egypt, November 2014.
27th Instants Vidéo Festival, Marseille, France, November 2014.
NYA Short Film Fest, Brunswick Studios, Halifax, UK, October 2014.
Filmideo 2014, annual film screening, Index Art Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA, September 2014.
Cologne Off X Artvideo Festival 2014 programme screening at :
Videoart Festival Miden Kalamata Greece, July 2014; Syracuse International Film and Media Festival Syracuse, Italy Aug 2014 ; Waterpieces Video & Art Festival Riga, Latvia, Aug 2015 ; MIVA International Videoart Festival Quito, Peru, Aug 2014 ; Institut fuer Alles Mögliche Berlin, Germany, Sept 2014 ; "Damen und Herren" e.V. Düsseldorf, Germany, Sept 2014 ; Onomato e.V. Düsseldorf, Gerrmany, Sept 2014 ; Proyector International Video Art Festival, Spain, Sept 2014 ; Athens International Videoart Festival, Greece, Oct 2014 ; VideoBabel - International Audiovisual Festival Cuzco, Peru, Oct 2014 ; EuroShorts Film Festival Gdansk, Poland, Nov 2014 ; Euro Shorts Film Festival Warsaw, Poland, Nov 2014 ; Torrance Art Museum Los Angeles, USA, Dec 2014.
Reel/Unreal exhibition, Project Gallery, Toronto, Canada, September 2014.
Façade Video Festival, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, September 2014.
11-11 video screening, Kitchen Space, Chicago, USA, September 2014.
9th Urban Explorers Festival, film screening, Dordrecht, Holland, June 2014.
Down to Earth, exhibition, W3 Gallery, London, UK, May 2014.
Fat Out Fest, Video Jam screening, Islington Mill, Salford, UK, May 2014
Toride International Video Projection Contest, Toride City, Japan, March-May 2014.
Streetlight: Video + Digital Media, exhibition, Roman Susan Gallery, Chicago, USA, February 2014.
8th International Streaming Festival for Audio Visual Art, The Hague, Holland, 2013.
Moments in Time, experimental documentary film screening, MIA, Amory Centre for the Arts, Pasadena, USA, 2013.
Imagen Digital, video festival, Espacioenter, Tenerife, Grand Canaries, 2013.
Hörlursfestival, audio-visual festival, LAB Gallery, Sweden, 2013.
Arte Creative, online video exhibition, Arte TV, France/Germany, 2011-2012.
Photo & video exhibitions, Galerie Clairefontaine, Luxembourg, 2010/2009/2007.
22nd Instants Vidéo, video festival, Marseille, France, 2009.
Les Yeux, La Nuit, video projection, Les Yeux de l’Ouïe Video Association, Nancy, France, 2009.
Simultan Video Festival, Romania, 2009/2008/2005.
FILE, video & new media festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2009/2008/2007.
Régionale 9, group exhibition, Künsthalle Basel, Switzerland, 2008.
Cinéréel, film & video exhibition, Pompidou Centre, Paris, France, 2008.
The Late Shift, video projection, Sainsbury Centre of Visual Art, Norwich, UK, 2008.
Provopolis, video projection, Norwich Arts Centre, UK, 2007.
The Late Shift, video projection, Sainsbury Centre of Visual Art, Norwich, UK, 2007.
Miden Film Festival, Kalamata, Greece, 2007.
2nd International Film Festival on Water, Bangalore, India, 2007.
Cinéfleuve, itinerant film and video festival in Germany, France, Luxembourg & Belgium, 2007.
Vidéoformes, video festival, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 2006.
Nomad (Load/Flow/Mix), video festival, Bucarest, Romania, 2006.
Les 1001 Nuits de Strasbourg, outdoor video projection, ACECA, Strasbourg, 2005/2003.
Reel Shorts, video exhibition, Saratoga County Arts Council, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA, 2005.
Des Limites, group photo & video exhibition, Stimultania gallery, Strasbourg, 2003.
Morceaux choisis, group exhibition, Gallery Medium, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2003.
Council of Europe, exhibition, Strasbourg, France, 1998.
Gallery Prego, exhibition, Tokyo, Japan, 1994.
West Soho Gallery, exhibition, London, UK, 1993.
Smith’s Gallery, exhibition, London, 1993.
Cairo Atelier, solo exhibition, Egypt, 1990.
Egyptian Artists Union, exhibition, Cairo, 1990 (sponsored by British Council).
Merseyside Artists, exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK, 1986.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I’m a British filmmaker based in France since 1994. I originally studied painting but now work exclusively in the audiovisual domain. My films are regularly screened in international film and video festivals and exhibitions. I attended a foundation art course at West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham (UK). I then studied for a BA in Fine Art, specialising in painting, at Liverpool Polytechnic in the late 1980s and resumed my studies in the late ’90s at Strasbourg University where I did an MA and a PhD in visual arts, including elements of cinema and video. In the meantime, I’d stopped painting and concentrated on installation pieces using video projection which eventually led me into the field of single-channel video production. The thematic concerns of the films include the following : reality and illusion in relation to the in-built naturalism of audiovisual media; the generation of meaning through the juxtaposition or superimposition of different temporalities; the cinematic construction of narrative and the construction of narratives by individuals themselves in order to give meaning to their lives; relationships between people and, generational conflict; the relationship between humans and nature and between culture and deterministic belief systems; the notion of transformation; the dichotomy between the rational and the supernatural, in which the supernatural may represent a social, political or historical issue or even relate to filmmaking and the nature of cinema itself.