Two masterclasses at Mata - diro Centro De Creacion Contemporanea, Madrid and Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York

Masterclass one. The Spanish cinematic release of Billingham’s feature film ‘Ray & Liz’ was Friday 6th September. A part of that release, Billingham was invited to give a masterclass at Mata - diro Centro De Creacion Contemporanea, Madrid Saturday 7th September 2019. The Feature film was screened on the release date at the Ciniteca cinema the day before the masterclass with an introduction and audience question and answer session immediately afterwards. After the 45 minute q and a, Billingham's historical art documentary film 'Fishtank' 1998 (47mins) was screened. This was the first time 'Ray & Liz' and 'Fishtank' had been screened together and the event drew insights and comparisons between the two pieces made with very different technologies and approaches 20 years apart. Fishtank was commissioned by Illuminations and produced by BAFTA winning Adam Curtis and co - director of Art Angel James Lingwood and was broadcast on BBC2, to an estimated two million viewers, in 1998 and twice on Arte, France in 1999.
Masterclass two. Billingham was additionally invited to give a Masterclass at the BAFTA qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York, (ASFF), Wednesday 6th November 2019. The International Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York is a showcase for international independent film and an outlet for supporting and championing filmmaking. The festival is a BAFTA-Qualifying short film festival (i.e. if a short film is screened or accepted into two or more of the BAFTA-Qualifying festivals, it may be eligible for a BAFTA). ASFF is a key annual event for emerging and established filmmakers to meet alongside industry professionals. British and international films are in competition in their category for awards, alongside the Best of Festival Award, Audience Award and Best Screenplay. The festival programme is curated and culturally rich; films have gone on to win awards at BAFTA, the Oscars, Sundance and SXSW. It showcases over 400 international films from emerging and established filmmakers in multiple venues across the city of York. Besides masterclasses, the programme also includes networking sessions and panel discussions. ASFF is organised by Aesthetica, a leading publication for art, design and photography, highlighting some of the most important contemporary artists, both established and emerging, through detailed features and imagery. Aesthetica is widely distributed in the UK (over 628 outlets) and exported to 20 countries. It is one of the most read art and culture publications internationally and has a readership of 311,000.
Both invitations to give masterclasses were a direct result of the feature film's impact on audiences. Both masterclasses drew on Billingham's practice as a fine art photographer, video artist, writer and director. They explored how the close observation of everyday life and its photographic and moving image documentation of reality as well as the study of historical realist painting has served as the motivation and inspiration for narrative cinematic filmmaking. The classes explored the idea of staged reenactment inspired by memory and the observation of everyday life and highlighted work of Jeff Wall and Cindy Sherman as influences. Billingham discussed the exploration of the subject of his family in photography, video and film and the way each medium framed and contextualised the subject matter and themes differently each time.