Andrew Kötting
Encyclopedia
Andrew Kötting is a British
film director
, writer
and artist
.
Kötting was born in Kent
. He studied BA Fine Art at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, London, 1984; MA in Mixed Media, Slade School of Art, London 1988. In 1989 he collaborated with Leila McMillan in setting up BadBLoOd & siBYL studios in the French Pyrenees. He is currently a teaching Professor in Video Arts Production at the University for the Creative Arts.
One of his first attempts at filmmaking, according to a Premiere
profile, "involved inserting iron filings in the shape of religious icons into his penis and then drawing them out again". For his degree film, a short called Klipperty Klop (1986), Kötting ran round and round a Gloucestershire field pretending to ride a horse.
Over the next ten years, Kötting directed a number of experimental shorts, often produced via the London Film-Makers Co-op.
Kötting's first feature-length movie was Gallivant (1996). A "highly idiosyncratic" documentary, it records a journey the director took clockwise around the coast of Britain accompanied by his 85-year-old grandmother, Gladys, and his seven-year-old daughter Eden. Eden was born at Guy's Hospital, London, in 1988 with a rare genetic disorder – Joubert syndrome
– causing cerebral vermis hypoplasia and several other neurological complications. The growing closeness between these two and the sense of impending mortality give the film its emotional underpinning. Gallivant was premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival, where it won the Channel 4
Best New Director prize.
Kötting's second feature, This Filthy Earth (2001), was loosely adapted from Émile Zola
's novel La Terre
, the film is set in a rural community somewhere and sometime in the north of England. Kötting summed up his aim as "trying to show the landscape in its full beauty and brutality". Since then he has completed Mapping Perception (2002), a short 'science, film and art project' inspired by his daughter Eden. Kötting still sees himself as essentially a performance artist. "Even to this day," he says, "I wouldn't think of myself as a feature film-maker. I'm just making longer pieces of work."
Most recently Kötting has returned to working within the gallery context see his In the Wake of a Deadad . www.deadad.info a piece of work which led to his being shortlisted for the Derek Jarman Award 2008.
His most recent film is Ivul, screened at the 53rd London Film Festival
in 2009, is set in Switzerland and the Pyrenees. Alex Ivul (Jacob Auzanneau) is the boy in a family of three sisters, a Russian father (Jean-Luc Bideau) and mother (Aurelia Petit). Alex is close elder sis Freya (Adelaide Leroux), who is about to leave for Russia. They play taboo games before she leave and when his father finds out he banishes him to the trees by declaring that he should not set foot on the floor again. Alex takes this command literally. In very brief terms, the core themes examine family relationships and his father's dynamic. The film was released through Artificial Eye
in June 2010.
In July 2010, Kötting was one of two directors in residence at the La Rochelle International Film Festival
in South West France, creating work and collaborating with the photographer artist Sebastian Edge, using his self-built camera in the 19th Century process and his http://www.sebastianedge.co.uk/pdf/Sebastian%20Edge%20CV2010.pdfDarkvan, a Transit van Sebastian converted into a mobile darkroom.
Swandown
http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2009/08/17/LOCARNO-09-Review-of-Andrew-Kottings-tree-hopping-drama-IVUL
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
.
Kötting was born in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He studied BA Fine Art at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, London, 1984; MA in Mixed Media, Slade School of Art, London 1988. In 1989 he collaborated with Leila McMillan in setting up BadBLoOd & siBYL studios in the French Pyrenees. He is currently a teaching Professor in Video Arts Production at the University for the Creative Arts.
One of his first attempts at filmmaking, according to a Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
profile, "involved inserting iron filings in the shape of religious icons into his penis and then drawing them out again". For his degree film, a short called Klipperty Klop (1986), Kötting ran round and round a Gloucestershire field pretending to ride a horse.
Over the next ten years, Kötting directed a number of experimental shorts, often produced via the London Film-Makers Co-op.
Kötting's first feature-length movie was Gallivant (1996). A "highly idiosyncratic" documentary, it records a journey the director took clockwise around the coast of Britain accompanied by his 85-year-old grandmother, Gladys, and his seven-year-old daughter Eden. Eden was born at Guy's Hospital, London, in 1988 with a rare genetic disorder – Joubert syndrome
Joubert syndrome
Joubert syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that affects the cerebellum, an area of the brain that controls balance and coordination.-Diagnosis:...
– causing cerebral vermis hypoplasia and several other neurological complications. The growing closeness between these two and the sense of impending mortality give the film its emotional underpinning. Gallivant was premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival, where it won the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
Best New Director prize.
Kötting's second feature, This Filthy Earth (2001), was loosely adapted from Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
's novel La Terre
La Terre
La Terre is a novel by Émile Zola, published in 1887. It is the fifteenth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. The action takes place in a rural community in La Beauce, an area of northern France...
, the film is set in a rural community somewhere and sometime in the north of England. Kötting summed up his aim as "trying to show the landscape in its full beauty and brutality". Since then he has completed Mapping Perception (2002), a short 'science, film and art project' inspired by his daughter Eden. Kötting still sees himself as essentially a performance artist. "Even to this day," he says, "I wouldn't think of myself as a feature film-maker. I'm just making longer pieces of work."
Most recently Kötting has returned to working within the gallery context see his In the Wake of a Deadad . www.deadad.info a piece of work which led to his being shortlisted for the Derek Jarman Award 2008.
His most recent film is Ivul, screened at the 53rd London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
in 2009, is set in Switzerland and the Pyrenees. Alex Ivul (Jacob Auzanneau) is the boy in a family of three sisters, a Russian father (Jean-Luc Bideau) and mother (Aurelia Petit). Alex is close elder sis Freya (Adelaide Leroux), who is about to leave for Russia. They play taboo games before she leave and when his father finds out he banishes him to the trees by declaring that he should not set foot on the floor again. Alex takes this command literally. In very brief terms, the core themes examine family relationships and his father's dynamic. The film was released through Artificial Eye
Artificial eye
Artificial eye may refer to:* Visual prosthesis, functioning implant designed to restore sight* Ocular prosthesis, non-functioning cosmetic replacement for a lost eye...
in June 2010.
In July 2010, Kötting was one of two directors in residence at the La Rochelle International Film Festival
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
in South West France, creating work and collaborating with the photographer artist Sebastian Edge, using his self-built camera in the 19th Century process and his http://www.sebastianedge.co.uk/pdf/Sebastian%20Edge%20CV2010.pdfDarkvan, a Transit van Sebastian converted into a mobile darkroom.
Filmography/Videography
- Early Works (1980)
- Forgive Me (1983)
- Klipperty Klopp (1984)
- Anvil Head the Hun (1986)
- Self Heal (1987)
- Erik and Ingrid (1988)
- Jäckofalltrades masterofnône inalandofman eâtingtrees (1988) Performance
- Hub Bub in the Baöbabs (1989)
- Acumen (1990)
- Hoi Polloi (1990)
- H.B. 1829 (His Badblood) (1991)
- Fleshfilm (1992)
- Diddyköy (1992) A film by Nick Gordon Smith and Andrew Kötting
- Smart Alek (1993)
- Festival of Brent (1993)
- Gallivant the Pilot (1994)
- Là Bas (down there) (1994)
- Jaunt (1995)
- Gallivant (1996)
- Donkeyhead (1998) A film by Andrew Lindsay and Andrew Kötting
- Me (1999)
- Kingdom Protista (2000)
- Invalids (2001)
- This Filthy Earth (2001)
- Mapping Perception (2002)
- Nucleus Ambiguous (2002)
- Too G. (2002)
- The Wake of a Deadad (2006)
- Ivul (2009)
- Edgelands:Tagadada (2010)
External links
- In the Wake of a Dead Dad Website http://www.deadad.info/
- Mapping Perceptionshttp://proboscis.org.uk/mappingperception/index.html
- BFI Screenonline Profilehttp://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/578008/
- Lux Online Profilehttp://www.luxonline.org.uk/artists/andrew_kotting/index.html
- Guardian Articlehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/oct/21/familyandrelationships.family6
- IVUL Review, Locarno 09
Swandown
http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2009/08/17/LOCARNO-09-Review-of-Andrew-Kottings-tree-hopping-drama-IVUL
- La Rochelle International Film Festival Press Release and Programmehttp://www.festival-larochelle.org/sites/default/files/pdf/DossierDePresse2010.pdf