Tony Gammidge

BABA YAGA CHRONICLES SCREENING AT THE HORSE HOSPITAL

This is a preview screening of the Baba Yaga Chronicles at the atmospheric and cavernous Horse Hospital (The Colonnade, Bloomsbury, Russell Sq. Station, London) 13th-17th Febuary.
This is a film that I have been working on for the last 2 years.It was filmed in Finland, Maine, Florida, Estonia and the UK.It is a personal and autobiographical response to the Russian fairy story rather than an illustration of it and is more of a poetic take than a literal one. The project started with a series of short films (including Nosferatu and the Lost/Eksynyt films) but for this screening I have edited and stitched them together along with a majority of new material.It is a part live action and part animation film and features French actress Carole Villiers and a cast of shadow puppets including bears, wolves, mice and other hybrid beasts, burning boats, dancing pins, ghouls, snow, cheap magic and lots of fire (Baba Yaga is the witch of fire after all).The film is dark and dreamlike with an unsettling and hypnotic soundtrack.
It will be screened on Februaury 13th at 7.30 pm and Saturday 17th at 6.00pm. Between those times the film can be screened by appointment by ringing the Horse Hospital on 0207 833 3644.
There will also be an exhibition of related cloth wall pieces and cloth handmade books featuring drawings and stills from the film. These will be on sale.The private view will be on 13th February 6-9pm and is open Wednesday-Saturday 17th from 12-6.00pm.

Nosferatu

 

This is another film from the Baba Yaga series. It is about fear, anxiety, illusion and cheap magic. Although you do not see Baba Yaga the witch in the film, you do see a shadow of her nosferatu like hands and the power and magnetism that they wield. She can make pins dance and conjure ghosts and ghouls from the recesses of her (your) imagination as if they were real. Is it magic, trickery, illusion or just pure will? Baba Yaga gets her power from causing fear and although her tricks are crude, her magic obvious and her spectres unconvincing, it is amazing how easily the mind can suspend disbeleif.

LOST/EKSYNYT SERIES

The following 3 videos are from The Baba Yaga Chronicles, a series of short films and installations. The Lost/Eksynyt series I made in Finland and reflect my own feelings of lostness in this beautiful and vast wilderness. When you feel lost in this type of wilderness your mind plays tricks on you and it easy to imagine when you hear the crack of a branch in the forest that it might be a bear or a wolf or a moose. I both craved a sighting of these beasts and feared it. I felt that to make contact with them would help me feel less lost, that they would act as a guide.........or eat me. (Un)luckily it was winter and there were very few animals to be seen.

Part 1 Lost in Reflection

 

 

Part 2 It Is Enough To Know That They Are Out There

 

 

Part 3 Lost in the Forest

 

 

A Short Song About Thread

 

This short film was inspired by the myths of Icarus and Ariadne and made in response to a text by playwright Dominic Orlando.

'Do not fly too high you'll melt,
he cries out to his wax wing'd son
Do not fly too low you'll drown.

Thread the needle
beautiful ones
thread the needle
my beautiful ones.



(Dominic Orlando)