A time honoured, and much beloved here at DN, tradition which predates even our online existence is the annual Reading & Leeds festival screenings which we break away from our computers and head outdoors for each year. Whilst the August bank holiday will always be dedicated to that above mentioned duo of simultaneous screenings, we decided it was high time we stretched our curatorial talents and took the work of some of our most beloved directors to a whole new festival audience. When we sat down to think about it, what could be more challenging than putting together a three day shorts programme that was…completely family friendly? And if you’re talking family friendly UK festivals then the multi-award winning Camp Bestival and its Big Top Cinema was the obvious home we were looking for.
So as you can see, from the 1st – 3rd of August we’ll be kicking off the days’ events with a journey through the weird and wonderful world of bite-size cinema, served up in screenings designed to entertain, enlighten and even educate an audience of all ages. If you happen to be heading to Camp Bestival this weekend then be sure to pop in each morning from 10am onwards and don’t feel shy about letting us know your thoughts either in person or via @WeAreDN or with a comment on our Facebook Page. Rumour has it that we ‘may’ have also curated a yet as unannounced collection of films which will look towards the heavens for their themes and feature one of our favourite animated series about human trouble and strife playing in a beautifully handmade portable star gazing structure so be sure to keep your eyes open for that. As always we’d never leave all our non-attendee friends hanging and so, dim the lights, gather the young, old and inbetween and settle back to watch the best collection of family friendly shorts you’re likely to see this summer:
Oberon’s Observatory
Built by Dr. Oberon, a victorian artist and astronomer, Oberon’s Observatory is a ramshackle but beautiful edifice with a stargazer’s viewing platform. Hidden in the heart of Oberon’s Observatory is an old projection room where once, scientific minds from the 19th century debated the unanswered questions of the universe; now DN & Bestival will screen 20th century windows in to other worlds, space and art. For the period of one lunation only, we invite you to come and explore this extraordinary building and the cinematic wonders within…
Just watched this trailer on Vimeo and Wow!!! After a year attending festivals galore I gotta say that’s a really impressive host of top shorts. Genuinely proud that ‘Sausage’ made the lineup! Made me want to see many of these films again so looking forward to seeing this collection in the future sometime…
It was our pleasure to be able to include Sausage in the line up. Looking forward to your new film for next summer’s screenings…