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Rough Cut

How do you remake a film that never existed? 

Rough Cut, the debut feature from London-based artist Jamie Shovlin, explores the re-making of an exploitation film that never was.  At its dark heart is Hiker Meat, an archetypal 1970s slasher movie imagined by Shovlin, complete with hitchhiking heroine, charismatic commune leader and a group of teens who disappear one by one.  This tantalising film-within-a-film serves to both deconstruct and pay affectionate homage to the often-maligned exploitation style.

Having created a full screenplay, score and cut-and-paste prototype for Hiker Meat, Shovlin filmed key sections and a full trailer in an intense shoot in the Lake District in summer 2013. Rough Cut contrasts these re-made sequences with on-set footage and insights into the development of Hiker Meat’s script, soundtrack and design, to create a compelling mash-up of self-referencing processes, behind-the-scenes viewpoints and time-honoured slasher tropes.

Rough Cut is a co-commission between Cornerhouse Artist Film and TIFF: Toronto International Film Festival.

Looking for showing times at Cornerhouse? View the cinema listing for Rough Cut

International Film Festival Rotterdam offical selection logo

BBFC Certificate: 15

Format: Rough Cut will be available on DCP, Blu-Ray and DVD from 6 Dec 2013. Please note, BluRay and DVD runtime is 86 mins.

2D subtitles/captions are available on the DCP for people with hearing loss.

Terms: 35% / £100 MG (plus transport)

Release date: Rough Cut will premiere at Cornerhouse on Fri 29 Nov 2013. It will go on general release from Fri 6 Dec 2013.

For bookings and enquiries, and to request a screener, please contact the Cornerhouse team at artistfilm@cornerhouse.org

About the director

Jamie Shovlin studied at the Royal College of Art and is interested in the tension between truth and fiction, reality and invention, history and memory. Through his projects Shovlin questions how information becomes authoritative and explores the way that we map and classify the world in order to understand it. Solo exhibitions include Various Arrangements at Haunch of Venison, London (2012), Jesus Rinzoli’s Hiker Meat at IBID Projects, London (2011), Thy Will Be Done at Tullie House, Carlisle (2011), Hiker Meat at MACRO, Rome (2010) and In Search of Perfect Harmony at Tate Britain, London (2006). Recent group shows include NEON at MACRO, Rome, Italy (2012), Bouvard and Pécuchet’s Compendious Quest for Beauty at David Roberts Art Foundation, London (2012), ‘As the World Turns’, Anna Schwarz Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2011), Mythologies at Haunch of Venison, London, (2009), Elephant Cemetery at Artists Space, New York (2007), Becks Futures at ICA, London, CCA, Glasgow, Arnolfini, Bristol (2006).