With less than two weeks to go until the gates open for the next edition of Latitude, the UK’s favourite multi-arts festival is pleased to confirm the next wave of performers set to appear across the weekend.
Once again the Film and Music Arena is going to be a destination location with Sky presenting the first two episodes of the second series of the hit show, Yonderland. Performed by the incredibly talented Horrible Histories cast and co-produced by Working Title Films, the new standalone troupe, maintain the sketch-based character-driven comedy style from their previous series. The first series was considered a critical and popular success, earning solid ratings for its timeslot and as well as screening the first two episodes of the new series, ‘Panic in the Streets of Yonderland’ and ‘The Winging Detective,’ Latitude is delighted to announce that Robin Ince will be chairing a Q&A with creators of the show, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond and Jim Howick.
There’s a lot for film buffs to enjoy at Latitude as we will also be joined by Director and visual artist Doug Aitken. In Station to Station Doug has embarked on an experiment exploring a less materialistic and more nomadic direction of art creation, exhibition, and participation. Station to Station is a kaleidoscope of experience and artistic production, as much as it is a story of our evolving creative culture. The film is composed of 61 individual one-minute films that feature profiles shot before, during, and after the trip, and capture indelible moments of the journey such as Beck performing with a gospel choir in the Mojave desert and he will be talking to Financial Times columnist, Peter Aspden about this fascinating film at Latitude this year.
Part Minecraft buildathon, part surreal club night, step into a digitally powered world inspired by the surrealist masters. Animated visuals, created in Minecraft and inspired by surrealist artworks from the Tate collection, will provide the backdrop to an evening of music and making. A team of Minecraft experts will also be live on stage building Latitude’s very own dream landscape with contributions from the audience. What would a surrealist festival look like? Come and make something weird and wonderful in Minecraft before having a drink and a dance to a live DJ set as Latitude's virtual doppelganger emerges on screen. Early on expect soundscapes and aural textures being built up by DJs Beatrice Dillon (Trilogy Tapes, NTS Radio) and Toby Kidd (Are We Here? Thin Man Records) who will be responding to the music of game culture to accompany a surreal evening of digital creativity. Following the buildathon, the music continues with upbeat party vibe electronica from DJ Ben Osborne (Noise of Art) set against the backdrop of looping Minecraft dreamscapes to round off the evening.
Back in 2006 on a stormy December night, Amy Winehouse flew to the remote, south western corner of Ireland to perform for Other Voices, an acclaimed Irish TV music series filmed in Dingle every winter. Amy took to the stage of Saint James's church, and wowed the small, packed crowd with a searing, acoustic set of songs from ‘Back to Black’. Amy Winehouse's Other Voices performance has been named by The London Times as the 17th best gig of all time, in a list of the top 25 concerts ever compiled. Amy's visit, during Other Voices 5, is the subject of the documentary Amy Winehouse: The Day She Came to Dingle directed by Maurice Linnane.
Culinary heavy weights Hemsley & Hemsley will be joining the Literary Arena this year to discuss their brilliant new book The Art of Eating Well. The Art of Eating Well is a revolutionary cookbook by London-based sisters Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley. Shortlisted for ‘Food and Drink Book of the Year’ at the 2014 National Book Awards, it launched in the UK in 2014, followed by releases in the US and Australia and has since been translated into Dutch, German and Polish. Featuring over 150 mouthwatering and nutrient rich recipes, which are free from grain, gluten and refined sugar, the number one bestseller heralds nourishing, home-cooked food. Jasmine and Melissa’s philosophy is simple: a healthy gut leads to a healthy body and mind, and a better, happier you and we can’t wait for them to spill their secrets at the festival.
Joining them in the Literary Arena to discuss her book Edible Garden will be Alys Fowler, a gardener who loves food. The Gardeners World presenter trained at the Royal Horticultural Society, the New York Botanical Gardens and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Whilst living in New York with only a fire escape to grow plants on, Alys found a community that was making beautiful gardens on a shoestring budget. She has since vowed never to waste money in her garden. Alys is a regular presenter on the BBC and she writes regularly for the Guardian, Gardens Illustrated, Grow Your Own as well as other publications and blogs for BBC Gardening.
Dr Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College University is one of a few scientists on the pursuit to bring a more scientific approach to modern psychedelic research and this yeartogether with Dr Owen Bowden Jones will be in conversation with Sex, Drugs & Rock N Roll author, Zoe Cormier who is part of a group called Guerilla Science which aims to make science “amazing and inspiring” and The Standard Issue will present a host of talks with author Mickey Noonan, comedienne and journalist, Hannah Dunleavy, comedienne Sadie Hasler, stand up comedienne Sofie Hagen, actress and comedienne Sara Pascoe, TV presenter, Andrea Mclean, science communicator Dr Suze Kundu and feminist activist and journalist, Caroline Criado- Perez.
Self-styled 'The Urban Birder', David Lindo is a one-man ornithological phenomenon. He is a regular on TV and radio, has a flourishing website and blog plus writes for a host of magazines including BBC Wildlife, Bird Watching and the RSPB's Birds. The latter of which has a readership in excess of 1 million people and he will be in discussion with one of the world's leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena Sound Recordist, Chris Watson on ‘Sounds Like a Bird.’
Also performing in the Literary Arena this year will be Paul Gannon, Iszi Lawrence and Richard Sandling presenting, The Geekatorium, a pop culture comedy show that celebrates everything from Pavlov’s Dog to Henry’s Cat, with Comedy, Music, Storytelling and Games and The Humble Quest for Universal Genius that pits top stand-up comedians against each other for the amusement of the Latitude crowd. Hosted by Mark Allen and aided by his "glamorous" assistant Eli Silverman, the contestants are put through their paces to see if they have what it takes to be considered a true Universal Genius.
Latitude is proud to announce an impressive collection of DJ’s performing at Latitude this year. Joining the impressive line-up will be BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens who has been curating the lake stage since the first Latitude. When he DJ’s he plays bangers, beats, bass and big guitar tunes and Mikee Snooze will bring his Pop Party Bangers Set to Latitude.
You2 will be diving into the industry hard drives for an afternoon of Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, Blues, Ballads bangers and clangers from all the decades 50s-00s, BBC 6 Music DJ Tom Ravenscroft has an astonishingly eclectic record collection and will be playing a few sets full of musical surprises and Propaganda will bring the party with an audio-visual mix from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Daft Punk, Mumford & Sons, Foals, Bastille, and more!
Andrew Backhouse will take to the stage to showcase his enthusiasm and love for music bringing sounds from his legendary podcast. Kissability label manager and Zero Core magazine editor Jen Long who lives to discover and share new artists while still supporting her longer existing loves, returning for his fourth year Gareth Potter has been bringing the out of control house party vibe to Cardiff's Clwb Ifor Bach every Saturday night for the past eight years.
Exciting and final additions to the Lake Stage see’s Manchester’s Blossoms take to the stage with their British pop psychedelia alongside Beach Baby and their fusion of classic indie guitar sounds and female-fronted electronica. Brighton based Theo Verney hits the Lake Stage, bringing his riff heavy garage psych-rock songs with him for all to move and sway to. One half of Mista Men, Mella Dee, brings his UK garage and bassline house to the iArena late night stage.
Sheffield Doc/Fest is a film festival, industry sessions programme and marketplace, offering pitching opportunities, discussion panels and in-depth filmmaker masterclasses, as well as a wealth of inspirational documentary films from across the globe and world-famous parties, whilst combining unparalleled expertise with a rebellious streak, dedicated to new talent and voices. Sheffield Doc/Fest presents This Is Now (Toby Madden), The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul (Kitty Green) The Last Smallholder (Francis Lee) and Dear Araucaria (Matt Houghton).
This fantastic selection of short animated films from around the world has been specially curated by the London International Animation Festival. Guaranteed to make you laugh and cry and generally be amazed these brilliant bite size nuggets of animated wonder are a perfect way to experiment with your film watching. This year their line-up includes, History of Pets (Kris Genjin), Fear of Flying (Conor Finnegan), Mute (Job, Joris, Marieke), Chernokids, and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 2 (Becky Sloan & Joseph Pelling).
Latitude is proud to present a stellar line up of Short Films in The Film and Music Arena this year including The BFI who exists to promote greater understanding and appreciation of, and access to, film and moving image culture in the UK and they will be presenting two films at Latitude entitled presents On Yer Bike and On Yer Bike 2.
The London Short Film Festival returns to Latitude to be as confrontational as ever and prove that the UK is truly a hotbed of film creativity with incredible films such as, Out of Body, 3 Ways To Go (Sarah Cox), Ana (Sole Aguila) Me and Rubyfruit (Sadie Benning) Mound (Allison Schulnik) Tulips at Dawn (Rosie Pedlow) The Nest (Em Cooper) and Redshift (Emily Richardson).
Additions to the short film programme include Gabriel Bisset-Simth’s, Toilets and Smoke. The Muse (Tim Walker), The Bird by Joe Parham and Ben Target, Balsa Wood by Dominique Lecchi and Intervention by Jim Archer. For Life Starring Brett Goldstein (William Bridges) Sink or Swim (Luke Snellin) A Song of Oil, Ice & Fire and A History of Recorded Music in 90 Seconds (Martin Stirling) and Recession (Beryl Richards).
Founded in 2011, Rankin Film Productions is a production company that creates bespoke content for different platforms. In response to the changing way audiences view content, they currently have a variety of projects in development and production; including narrative shorts, web-dramas, documentaries and feature films for theatrical release, television broadcast, and online distribution. This year they present Channel 4 Random Acts which is a short-form daily arts strand on Channel 4, late nights. It launched in 2011 and in its first year showcased 260 specially-commissioned three-minute films chosen for their bold and creative expressions of creativity. Being showcased at Latitude are Balance (Rankin) WeWi (David Allain), Waltz (Sam Blair & Edward Edwards), Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow (Jonny Maderson & Jono Stevens), and Channel 4 Random Acts Collabor8te Year 2 with Tracks (Claire Oakley), Old Habits (The Brothers Lynch) and Advent (Mahalia Belo).
Nestled within the Faraway Forest, theatrical studio space The Little House will host Caroline Horton & Co, China Plate and Action Aid. Following the performance of For The Little People, Murray Worthy, Tax Campaign Manager for ActionAid UK chairs a panel discussion about tax. Panellists include: Mike Truman, Editor of Taxation Magazine from 2004-2015, Theatre Maker, Caroline Horton, Omar Elerian associate director at The Bush and director of For The Little People and Islands and John Christensen, an investigative economist and director of the Tax Justice Network who advised Caroline and Omar throughout the development of Islands
Added to the Poetry Arena this year is Andy Bennett Andy Bennett has been performing stand up poetry for half a decade, around East Anglia and at Fringes and Festivals across the country. He’s starting to think he might be getting quite good at it. His wilfully shambolic style belies a cerebral and acerbic wit, and an honest and celebratory approach to life and performance. Andy writes poems that, two hundred years ago, would have got him rusticated. Andy also likes the word ‘rusticated’ a little more than a man should.
Published on 08 July 2015 by Ben Robinson
