PLEASE VISIT CHIARA’S NEW WEBSITE HERE
RAFT, a proposal by Chiara Ambrosio, shortlisted by Artangel for their Open 100 website
http://www.artangel.org.uk/open_100/chiara_ambrosio
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A NIGHT AT THE CINEMA MUSEUM
Friday 17th June 2013, 7pm sharp
Flux Soup presents a night of short films and animations by Chiara Ambrosio, and live music by Bird Radio, in the unique and extraordinary setting of the Cinema Museum in Kennington!
The night will celebrate the launch of “A WALK THROUGH WOODA” DVD, CD and book publication, a companion to the “A WALK THROUGH WOODA” film-cycle, featuring texts by Gareth Evans, Kate Barush and Chiara Ambrosio.
PROGRAMME
Part 1. Chiara Ambrosio- Selected short work
Part 2. A Walk Through Wooda film-cycle, with live accompaniment by Bird Radio
Part 3. Bird Radio live recital
The night will feature a conversation between the artists and writer and curator Gareth Evans.
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Chiara Ambrosio’s and Jo Wonder’s Animated film night
25th February, 7pm at West Hampstead Community Centre, Dornfell Street, London NW6 1QN
Chiara Ambrosio is a visual artist working with video and animation.
Her work is an exploration into ideas of memory, loss and illusion through the use of animation, photography and video installation, deeply rooted in the surreal, absurdist world of Czech and Eastern European animation and literature.
Her work is informed by a personal interest in anthropology and more specifically in the symbolic quality and ritualistic relevance of objects and images; film is a tool through which to explore the ability to remember and to conjure back into existence all that is ephemeral and transitory about our experience as human beings, our memories and surroundings.
Jo Wonder’s work which started in the 1980’s and will be included in a book coming out this year on the history of animation. On this animation evening she will be including one of her first works which was considered ground breaking at the time for its effective but simple means of production.
‘There’s no one way of looking at JoWonder’s work. There’s no one way of looking at anything! We only have to shut one eye and you get a different angle, turn our head quickly for another, so imagine (ha) what the brain can do through the lens of our perceptions, our values, memory, body and past.” Jan Woolf
http://www.jowonder.com
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SEASON’S MIST- THE ARTS OF AUTUMN
Curated by Gareth Evans
Chiara will be premiering her film-cycle “A Walk Through Wooda”, which will be presented with a live music score by Bird Radio, on the 5th of November at 7.45 pm at the Purcell Room, Southbank.
The screening will be part of the event Season’s Mist: the Arts of Autumn, curated by Gareth Evans and featuring work and presentations by:
Jay Griffiths (author of ‘Wild’), one of our great writers on place and deep belonging.
Multi-award-winning poet Robin Robertson, who mixes the force of fable with contemporary unease.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney and iconic multi-instrumentalist and sound artist Jem Finer tracking brooding songs of love, loss and lament.
“At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds…”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
Tickets need to be booked in advance from this link
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Chiara will be screening some of her short films and music videos as part of Mr Slaptail’s Curious Contraption, on the 7th of November, downstairs at the Vortex.
More information here
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LA FREQUENZA FANTASMA- THE GHOST FREQUENCY
Editing is finally completed on Chiara’s debut feature-length film.
A trailer will be published online soon, together with news of screenings in the new year.
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LA FREQUENZA FANTASMA- THE GHOST FREQUENCY
coming soon…
Chiara is in the final stages of editing for her film portrait about the ongoing struggle between life and death in a small village in the south of Italy.
A meditation on home, on otherness, on the passing of time, on the whimsical poetry of everyday life, it will feature sound and original music by Bird Radio.
This project was developed as part of Chiara’s Fellowship programme in the Visual Anthropology department of Goldsmith University, with the generous support of Chris Wright.
With great thanks to all the inhabitants of Verbicaro, and the town itself, for allowing access to their lives.
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Chiara has contributed a plate to the inaugural exhibition of the wonderful Herrick Gallery:
PLATE
Herrick Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of artists’ plates in an exciting variety of shapes, sizes & media transformed into unique artworks especially for the gallery’s inaugural show.
Private view: Thursday 28th June, 6-9pm
Exhibition dates: 29th June – 12th August 2012
Gallery opening times: Saturday & Sunday, 1-6pm or by appointment.
List of artists:
William Alexander, Frida Alvinzi, Chiara Ambrosio, Uliana Apatina, Vanya Balogh, Chris Bianchi, Florence Boyd, Robson Cezar, Marlowe Chan-Reeves, Choolips, Cedric Christie, Mat Clum, Angela Cockayne, Darren Coffield, Adam Dant, Christopher Duncan, Paul Duncan, Annabel Elgar, Tessa Farmer, Gordon Faulds, Laura Fishman, Nancy Fouts, Monica Fristedt, Vanessa Fristedt, Maria Teresa Gavazzi, Carolyn Gowdy, Cate Halpin, Mark Hammond, Paul Hazelton, Aly Helyer, Alice Herrick, Alice Hoult, Jimp, Nicholas Jolly, KeelerTornero, Matthew Killick, Flo Kohl, Kate Kotcheff, LEO, Lee Maelzer, Jaakko Mattila, Jonathan McLeod, Jeff McMillan, Hugh Mendes, Reno Miller, Isolde Nash, Tony Nonose, Mark O’Rourke, Simon Ould, Raul Pina, Rose Pomeroy, Hélène Rallo, Max Reeves, Martin Richman, Rodolph de Salis, Paul Sakoilsky, Rebecca Scott, Liam Scully, Lindsay Sekulowicz, Martin Sexton, Jane Simpson, Bob & Roberta Smith, David Spero, Andrew Stanney, Brigitte Stepputtis, Peter Suchin, Geraldine Swayne, Samantha Sweeting, Marty Thornton, Gavin Turk, Raisa Veikkola, Steph von Reiswitz, Jessica Voorsanger, Simon Willems, Mark Woods, Viktor Wynd.
‘Eat Me’- pencil, acrylic, papier maché & putty on paper plates
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Chiara has produced a number of original illustrations and two illustrated books for “Victoria Revealed”, the new permanent exhibition opening this Monday 26th of March in Kensington Palace. Go and have a look!
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Chiara is currently in Wooda Farm, on the beautiful and wild coast of North Cornwall, walking, writing, experimenting and developing new work.
Her Residency will culminate with an on site exhibition of work produced throughout her six weeks there, on Saturday 24th of March 2012.
You are all welcome to join her there!
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Chiara has directed “VICTORIA 4 ALBERT” a short animation for Historic Royal Palaces.
Here is the trailer:
The film will be released episodically commencing on Valentine’s Day- 14th February 2012, and you will be able to watch the episodes here.
Excerpt from the official press release: “…The films’ release starts the countdown to the re-opening of Kensington Palace, and major new exhibition Victoria Revealed, on 26 March 2012. In using Queen Victoria’s remarkably candid personal diaries to tell the story in her own words, the animation reflects the approach that will be taken in the exhibition. It also features several of the pivotal moments in her life that took place at Kensington Palace, including her birth, her unhappy childhood under the so-called ‘Kensington System’, and her first meeting with Albert on the palace’s Stone Stairs.Commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces, these films have been created and directed by acclaimed filmmaker and animator Chiara Ambrosio, in collaboration with animators Veselina Dashinova, Fiammetta Horvat, composer James Hesford and sound artist Mark Peter Wright. Voiceover by Julia Rayner (The Pianist, Extras)”.
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Chiara will be contributing three cabinets to “Glitterbug”, Viktor Wynd Fine Art’s third mid-winter group exhibition curated by Alice Herrick, opening next Sunday 18th December at The Last Tuesday Society’s Little Shop of Horrors.
There will be a wealth of stunning, AFFORDABLE work, a perfect opportunity to finalise your Christmas shopping with some true flair!
At
VIKTOR WYND FINE ART INC.
11 MARE STREET
LONDON E8 4RP
T +44(0)20 7998 3617
info@viktorwyndfineart.co.uk
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The video for Othon & Tomasini’s next single “Impermanence” is finally ready, and will be coming your way early next year… keep watching this space!
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Chiara is currently Visiting Research Fellow in the Anthropology Department of Goldsmiths University, developing her documentary about Calabria.
The film will be completed by August 2012.
With many thanks to Chris Wright.
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Chiara is the proud recipient of next year’s Wooda Arts Award Residency!
She will be spending six weeks early next year roaming around the wild north coast of Cornwall developing new work… stay tuned!
With many thanks to Wooda Farm and Elspeth Owen.
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Chiara has contributed some work and some writing to the Tate website conceived as a celebration of the moving image and Tacita Dean’s Unilever Series Turbine Hall Commission.
The website was curated by Gareth Evans and it includes contributions and works by many inspiring and groundbreaking artists, writers and thinkers.
Really worth a visit!
Tacita Dean Moving Image website homepage
Chiara’s contribution
Gareth Evans
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5th-27th March 2011, Wednesdays to Sundays, 12-6pm
at
VIKTOR WYND FINE ART
11 Mare St
London E8 4RP
020 7998 3617
“…THE WALLS DISSOLVED AS THEY WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR,
AND ALL THAT WAS LEFT WAS WHAT HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE…”
A dialogue of work by mixed-media painter Nicholas McArthur and filmmaker and animator Chiara Ambrosio.
Chiara’s exhibition is open NOW at Viktor Wynd Fine Art!
Wednesdays to Sundays, 12-6pm, make sure you don’t miss a rather special event!
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You can now buy Chiara’s book at Bookartbookshop, 17 Pitfield St, LONDON N1 6HB
020 7608 1333
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You can now buy a limited edition book of Chiara’s drawings and a DVD of collected short films.
More information on the shop page of this website.
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Chiara will be exhibiting her work for the first time in London together with multi-media painter Nicholas McArthur, at Viktor Wynd Fine Art, private view on the 5th of March. Here is the press release:
OPENING 5TH MARCH 2011
“…THE WALLS DISSOLVED AS THEY WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR,
AND ALL THAT WAS LEFT WAS WHAT HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE…”
A dialogue of work by mixed-media painter Nicholas McArthur and filmmaker and animator Chiara Ambrosio.
Exploring the relationship between film and painting and the use of duration, movement and stillness to tell a story, this exhibition documents the exchange between two artist that have worked closely as peers for many years and whose strong friendship continues to inform the work they make.
Both artists use a distinctive narrative or symbolic structure, often focusing on a single protagonist through which to explore the worlds they create. Their characters are in search of something or someone: this might be a quest for salvation, atonement, or home and it can take the shape of either a physical or a metaphysical journey. This search articulates itself within a system of belief, or new mythology created by the artists, that is self-sustaining and absolute for the character and that can offer psychological fulfillment within the parameters of each specific piece of work.
This exhibition endeavors to trace points of contact between the two artists’ practices while at the same time exploring their diverging approaches to a similar theme. Through the use of cinematic and theatrical devices such as sets, lighting, sound and projections, the artists will give form to an interior landscape and offer an insight into their creative process.
At
VIKTOR WYND FINE ART INC.
11 MARE STREET
LONDON E8 4RP
T +44(0)20 7998 3617
info@viktorwyndfineart.co.uk
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Chiara is in the middle of directing a music video for the fantastic Othon & Tomasini. It will be partly real life, partly stop-motion animation, keep checking back here for updates. In the meantime here are a couple of stills from the making of the video…
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And here is the video for Evelyn Evelyn! Enjoy!
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Here are some stills from Chiara’s latest animated music video for Evelyn Evelyn, the collaboration between Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley.
The video will be online very soon, in the meantime enjoy the images.
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Here is an excerpt from Chiara’s first ever published article, a contribution to the latest issue of Artesian, on the subject of time.
“PRESERVING TIME
A meditation on memory, loss and the moving image
By Chiara Ambrosio
I lie in my bed, in a house that shivers with every gust of wind, waves lapping rhythmically at its foundation.
Not the house where I was born, still a house that remembers me as a child, its rooms, staircases and corridors caving in around me like the four sides of a camera obscura, myself a reflected image, but made of flesh and bone, at once tangible and ephemeral.
I am sleeping.
I was sleeping- last year, and the year before, and just a short while before that my grandmother slept next door to me, despite the waves that, with their albeit gentle lapping, disturbed her sleep and made her heart beat faster.
Her heart beat faster, and now it is silent and still, and my grandmother is made of paper and light in my hands, and on a screen, but not in the room inside the house that is rocked by the sea.
There she is not to be found made of flesh and bone.
But her smell infiltrates my sleeping, quivering nostrils, and she talks to me in my dreams, and the sensation of her soft, robust body and fur in my hands is strong and real.
And she moves on a screen, where she also breathes and talks, and that moment is now, and yet the distance between us is irrevocable…”
For the full article, and many more incredible contributions by the likes of John Berger, Ry Cooder, Iain Sinclair, Jan Svankmajer and Tilda Swinton, please buy Artesian 3 (Time) from the BFI bookstore, The London Review Bookstore, or from here.
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Chiara’s short film “CHARON” will be screening at the launch of the latest issue of Artesian, on the 29th of November at the Horse Hospital.
For more information on the event follow this link.
Artesian 3: TIME features original photography, artwork, poetry and prose from international artists, writers and thinkers, including John Berger, Ry Cooder, Susan Derges, Garry Fabian Miller, Bill Morrison, Iain Sinclair, Jan Svankmajer and Tilda Swinton.
It is also available from the BFI Filmstore, ICA, London Review Bookshop and http://www.gotogetherpress.com
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Chiara has completed a new music video for the wonderful Bird Radio, to celebrate his upcoming single “Who Killed Cock Robin?”, out in December.
You can watch the video here.
Enjoy!
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Chiara is honoured to have contributed a piece of writing and some images to the upcoming new issue of Artesian magazine, on the theme of TIME.
The new issue of Artesian will be launched on the 29th of November at the Horse Hospital.
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Chiara’s short animation “CHARON” was awarded the price for best animation, ex-aequo with “Written in Pencil”, at the Swedenborg Short Film Festival!
Thank you to the Swedenborg Society and all who have supported this film.
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Chiara is happy and proud to announce that her short animation “CHARON” has been shortlisted for the Swedenborg Short Film Festival, and will be screened, together with the other shortlisted films, at the Swedenborg Society on the 29th and 30th of October.
Places are limited, so do book your seats in advance if you want to attend the screening.
Swedenborg Society Film Festival
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Chiara is very pleased to announce two new musical collaborations- one with Bird Radio, to be shot in October, the other with Othon & Tommasini to be shot in November.
Stay tuned for more info coming soon…
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Chiara’s music video for Thomas Truax’s AMAZING track “Beehive Heart” is now online!
You can watch it HERE
Enjoy!
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Chiara’s short films “Apres Moi Le Deluge” and “Sweet Chili” were screened at the Cineroleum on Saturday 11th of September, opening for Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”, thank you Guerrilla Cinema for the honour.
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Watch an excerpt from Chiara’s new short animation “Whale” here
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A very special screening of “Charon” as part of Manifesto Summer, on the 17th of July at the Nave.
It will be a fantastic night of live music, performances and cinema from another time, I do hope you’ll be able to make it along and show your support for this fantastic new endeavour.
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Chiara’s film “Whale” will be screened at the next Light and Shadow Salon, Wednesday 16th of June, 7pm at the Horse Hospital
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Chiara is interviewed for PIG Magazine by Giovanni Cervi, curator of Ketos 2.1 exhibition.
(you can download Pig Magazine for free here)
(english translation)
Have you ever seen a whale?
No, but I am still waiting for her.
What is your relationship with the sea?
The sea is my home, that welcomes me and to whom I entrust myself. In the sea I can feel the passing of time and an instant extending into infinity: at once point of departure and of arrival, woven with dreams and miracles, creator and destroyer, sovereign that contains me and overtakes me.
If you could choose to transform yourself into a marine creature, which one would you choose and why?
Whale or dolphin, because they have a taste for the depths and are inebriated by the air that they breathe. They can at once stare straight into the sky and explore the deepest of sea-beds. They know depth of feeling and melancholia, and provoke these sentiments in whomever encounters them out at sea.
What is your favourite element between air, water, earth and fire? Why?
Water and fire, opposed but profoundly similar in sparking new births and fundamental transformations. Both elements are in a state of constant flux and do not know immobility.
Can you tell us a few words to associate to your process of making artwork?
I believe in poetic gestures/interventions, I trust my subconscious and confide in the ephemeral; I believe in what is subversive and surreal, I look at the world and my experiences through a lens that transforms and liberates them.
How did you create this whale?
The whale is made out of paper and pencil, and is as ephemeral as the materials that constitute it. It is a creature imagined by a dreamer and made with the materials she has at hand, offspring of mystery, dream and desire.
What projects are you working on at the moment?
I am developing an experimental feature-length animation, “The Museum of Ephemera”, a meditation on the fragile and evanescent poetics of the everyday and the creative process, in collaboration with seven contemporary composers- Michael Nyman, Max Richter, Clint Mansell, Zbigniew Preisner, Eric Schwartz, James Hesford and Troy Banarzi.
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Chiara is finalising the illustrations for A*M~P‘s multimedia project The Stories of Rust, to be released as a book+cd in June.
To coincide with the release, she is also producing a brand new video for track “New Crop Rotations”.
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Chiara is directing two brand new music videos- one for one man band-extraordinaire Thomas Truax, the other for Evelyn Evelyn, the new fantastic collaboration between Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer and troubadour Jason Webley.
Stay tuned for more info to come shortly.
Thomas Truax
Evelyn Evelyn
Amanda Palmer
Jason Webley
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“Whale”, a new short stop-motion animation, will be premiering in the group exhibition KETOS 2.1 at the Acquario Civico in Milan from 14th of April until the 16th of May, private view 14th of April at 8pm.
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Chiara is one of this year’s artists in Residence at the Olaf Willums Foundation in Provence, from the 25th of March until the 15th of April 2010.
In association with Myriam Blundell Projects.
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MARCH 2010
Stills from upcoming short animation about a girl and a whale, which will premiere on the 14th of April as part of KETOS 2.1 group show, Milan Aquarium, Italy.
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December 2009- 0ngoing (to be completed March 2010)
Chiara is preparing some multi-media illustrations for A*M~P’s forthcoming new album RUST
A*M~P (Avocado Music Productions)
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CHARON will be screening in the Front Room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, on Friday, 27th of November, at 5.30pm sharp, part of Mikey’s Amazing Friday Tonic.
Followed by great music by Zashiki Warashi and WCMOrchestra plus an ongoing sound installation by Mark Peter Wright.
FREE ENTRY!!!
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I have the pleasure of announcing the birth of “The Light and Shadow Salon”, a new event that endeavors to bring together filmmakers, artists, writers and audience for an evening of moving image and discussion.
The first event will take place on the 22nd of October, from 6.30-9.30 pm, and it will involve a series of screenings, a round-table talk and Q&A’s with all the filmmakers that will be present on the night.
There is also a bar, for those of you who enjoy a neat whiskey with their philosophical talk…!!
The venue is the newly launched The Book Club, 100 Leonard St, just off Great Eastern St, in the middle of Shoreditch.
It would be very nice if you could come along, and hopefully become part of a new network of shared thought and inspiration.
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CHARON screening in London!!!
WCMO “Squeaky Singles” plus “Charon”, a short film by Chiara Ambrosio
Friday 4th September at The Horse Hospital
Cellorhythmics WCMO ( Working Classical Music Orchestra) return to the Horse Hospital after two years of performing their groundbreaking Cellorhythmics Acoustic Project featuring eleven exceptional musicians from the worlds of jazz, classical and experimental pop. Their next venture – “Squeaky Singles” – is a multifarious blend of 50’s and 60’s pop instrumentals, contemporary classical and jazz condensed into a 3 minute pop single format. Also featuring guest artists – “Dave Hindermiff and the Tritones” and Andrew Bailey, an extraordinary surreal comedian, who will join WCMO for the premier of “Nine Bagatelles for Chamber Group, bingo caller and terminally ill patient”.
“CHARON”.
Charon, the mythic demon sailor over the river Styx, sets off on a journey to recover his mortality. He renounces his role as ferryman for the dead and sails away on a sea of oblivion in search for the archetypical home, the mythical place of his childhood where he can finally abandon his boat and die.
This film is about memory, mortality and time.
The Horse Hospital
Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1HX
Doors: 7:30
£7.50 and £6.50 concessions
WCMOrchestra
The Horse Hospital
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12TH- 20TH September: Chiara will be exploring pre-cinematic devices such as camera obscura and lanterna Magica in Clissold Park as part of the Pangolin Ark’s Residency program.
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New music video for Mercury Prize nominees Led Bib is now online!
You can watch it here
or in the film section on this website.
Enjoy!
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Chiara is in pre-production for two music videos she will be directing this month, Scanners’ “Salvation”, from their new upcoming album “SUBMARINE” and Mercury Prize nominees Led Bib’s “Sweet Chili”- more info to follow…
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The latest music video I directed for Polpo Motel’s track “Mortal Angel” is now finished.
You can watch it here
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The film for A*M~P’s track “Back Of Beyond” is now finished.
You can watch it here
A*M~P (Avocado Music Productions)
Mikey Kirkpatrick
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May ’09- Chiara is flying to Poland to direct a music video for the track “Mortal Angel” by Polpo Motel.
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New illustration for the Dresden Dolls, published in their book “The Virginia Companion”, p131
You can view it in my Illustration page.
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Feb ’09- THE CROSSING is being screened at the Berlin Film Festival on the 12th of Feb as part of “Best of Dailymotion”.
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Jan ’09- Chiara is collaborating with performance artist Helena Hunter and sound designer Mark Peter Wright on a series of films to be screened at the National Review of Live Arts in Glasgow this forthcoming February.
Helena Hunter
Mark Peter Wright
NRLA
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Jan ’09- Chiara is preparing a short film for A*M~P’s track “Back of Beyond”, taken from their latest album COMPASS.
A*M~P
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Nov ’08- CHARON IS SELECTED TO JOIN THE BRITISH FILM COUNCIL SHORT SCHEME
Nov ’08- CHARON screening at HERE Arts Centre, New York, part of Drama of Works’ “Carnival of Samhain” Puppetry Festival.
OFFICIAL SELECTION Fantasia FIlm Festival, Montreal, Canada
OFFICIAL SELECTION Cambridge Film Festival, Cambridge, UK
OFFICIAL SELECTION Leeds Film Festival, Leeds, UK
OFFICIAL SELECTION Busho Short Film Festival, Budapest, Hungary
OFFICIAL SELECTION Tehran Short Film Festival, Tehran, Iran
CHIARA AMBROSIO 