I know, it sounds like some kind of fantastical dream, but it's true. A cinema will soon be floating along the waterways of London - really, it will. It'll start floating in June and carry on floating all the way through the summer until September.
The Floating Cinema is the brainchild of artists Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie (aka
Somewhere), and was designed by Hackney-based architects
Studio Weave. The vessel will also be the focal point of a special project looking at how communities close to the waterways interact with one another, as well as with the Olympic Park and Olympic Games.
The Floating Cinema is part of the Portavilion Project, described on its website as "one of the most ambitious contemporary art projects to take place in London's public realm." To learn more about the Portavilion Project, click
here.
As you'd expect with a cinema (even a floating one), there will be movie screenings (Titanic would be good, or how about A Perfect Storm?). The Floating Cinema will also be used as a base for film-related activities and other, bigger, outdoor movie events.
But here's the interesting part: the Floating Cinema has put out a call for film and video footage that in some way relates to waterways. Got some video of a boating holiday you took a few years back? Don't worry, audiences won't have to endure the whole ten hours of you sailing about the Norfolk Broads – the artists will edit your footage, and everyone else's, and put together a masterpiece of cinema to be screened on the Floating Cinema.
The final movie will also be screened on various bits of grand architecture found along the waterways in shows that everyone can enjoy (as long as you're by the waterway, naturally).
Time is running out to submit your footage, but if you hurry, yours might be used! Send your waterway film or video as a QuickTime file to:
Somewhere c/o Laura Harford, 19 Links Yard, 29A Spelman Street, London, E1 5LX. If you're a day or two late, or you have trouble converting your footage, call Somewhere on 020 7377 9677 and they'll be happy to help.
The Floating Cinema will be bobbing up and down on waterways in the five Olympic host boroughs – Hackney, Greenwich, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. Keep an eye on the Floating Cinema's
website to find out exactly where and when you can hop aboard.
