The Bigger Picture is pleased to announce the arrival of Bulbo to the Big Screen Manchester. Bulbo are a fifteen strong independent media collective based in Tijuana, Mexico. Cristina Velasco and Lorena Fuentes Aymes, two members of the collective, are in Manchester on a three-week residency as part of Cornerhouse exhibition, Tijuana Organic: Women’s Border Realities.
Footage from Bulbo produced television documentaries, Bulbo TV, will introduce a range of topics touched on by the collective. What is evident from this footage is the high regard they have for descriptions of ‘ordinary life’ – the way the city looks and feels as seen through its inhabitant’s eyes. Video clips are taken in part from Bulbo’s image library as well as from their documentaries filmed around Tijuana and the Mexican border regions, whilst sound includes many samples from Disco Bulbo, the collective’s own record label.
This week is also your last chance to catch open submissions 2006. Selections have now been made from the programme’s first open submission round, with the open call having brought in a staggering number of high quality moving image works.
Highlights are Uniform Sheep Appearance or Shear, Martin Hamblen’s hairy disco, an experimental video piece with a sense of humour, Rachel Davies, Gold, an energetic UK dance on film gem that depicts two young gymnasts in their local gym and speaks of promise, passion, skill and aspiration, and Steve Hawley’s Speech Marks, a short film, shot entirely on a mobile phone, with scenes being a collection of moments drawn from everyday life.
Also, don’t miss Yu-Chen Wang’s, River Islington, a short abstract film that documents burst water pipes in a way that draws out beauty from life’s failures what we are offered are astonishing water falls, waves, small streams and mini lakes emerging in between cars, walkways, street corners and lights. Perfect for the setting of Exchange Square! Lastly, but by no means least, Wai Yan Chan’s Pieces is a focused portrait piece that plays with projection and video overlay.