The FolkestoneThree Monkeys Film Festival is a film festival with a difference, one that draws as heavily on music, literature and art as it does upon celluloid. Expanding on the Whitehorse film club’s screenings of cult and underground films at the Bar Below in Folkestone, the Three Monkeys Film Festival brings a wealth of regional talent, high profile releases and obscure treasures to public view, accompanied by vibrant live music and literature events. As one of the festivals’ organisers, Janine Grey explains:
‘The name came from the old see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil monkeys. The See No Evil strand will cover films by and about art and artists and tie into the exhibition Chimaera Gallery has kindly curated for us in the members area at the Civic Centre. Hear No Evil will be films about music and musicians and music videos plus a live music performance. Speak No Evil will feature films that have been banned, or are subversive or political and will be followed by a spoken word event at Home Ground.’
This year there is a strong Medway presence at the festival, building on an ongoing artistic and musical exchange between Medway and Folkestone, which has seen acts like Wheels and The Flowing sharing stages with acts from the coast. Medway highlights at the Three Monkeys festival include films by local heroes Billy Childish and Wolf Howard, documentaries on solargraphy and the Medway Renaissance by Dave Wise, films and music videos by ‘Groovy Uncle’ Glenn Pragnell, including a documentary on State Records and footage of The Singing Loins, and Matt Frost’s film on singer-songwriter Pete Molinari.
There will also be a wealth of cutting edge and cult cinema on display, inlcuding Basquiat on New York graffiti artist ans musician Jean-Michel Basquiat, realist classic The Battle of Algiers, Joy Division – The Documentary and Francis Bacon biopic Love Is The Devil. There will be live music from Leah Abrahamson, Tess and Amber Room on 11 March, as well as the RANT! poetry night at Home Ground on 2 April. The month long series of films and live events will see an intriguing interplay between music, art and film, with internationally renowned film-makers sharing the screen with local auteurs, all shot through with a dialogue on censorship and the arts. As Malcolm Richmond puts it
‘We have maintained our ethos of showing films that do not get a great deal of distribution in our cinemas but subjects; art, music and censorship seem to have captured people’s imagination and there is a real buzz around the event. Plus giving a showcase to local film makers has always been part of our ethos and it is exciting to help get their work out there.’
All the film screenings will take place at the Bar Below, Folkestone, between 6-27 March. All-day tickets are £3, individual film screenings ill cost £1 for entry. The See No Evil art exhibition opens at the Chimera art gallery on Friday 4 March, with a private view at 5:30pm. For more details of this and other events at the festival, click here.
Andrew Day
