::BRIGHTON FRINGE FESTIVAL 2004 - fourth screening ::

:: PROGRAMME: Thursday, May 20th @ Meeting Place beach cafe, Hove Lawns ::

Due to disgracefully bad weather, this screening was cancelled and re-scheduled for Thursday, August 26th

:: GIVE THE FINGER TO WINTER! - Director Stuart Smith/Laptop Jams - 4 mins ::
Saturday night, September 20th 2003. Brighton's famous Laptop Jams raised a collective digit(al) to winter with the world's first Wi-Fi beach jam on Brighton beach. Webcast live to the world, it used the unique Pier2pier.net wireless network to unleash the output of six synched laptops on an unsuspecting internet. This fascinating film captures the excitement of the event and features a great soundtrack of original ambient funk plus stunning laptop-driven images.

For more information about Laptop Jams, visit www.laptop-jams.com

:: THE MEETING PLACE - Director Richard Harris - 13 mins ::
Short version of this popular film about the old Meeting Place kiosk originally shown at the 2002 festival and specially re-edited for tonight's screening. Two years later, this nostalgic look at a much-loved Brighton institution still packs an emotional punch. The staff who appear in the film - and still work the cafe - will be on-hand to serve you with refreshments and autograph your rock cakes. Originally broadcast on SKY TV and selected for inclusion in the BFI archives.

For more information about this film (inc production stills), visit www.bigbamboo.org.uk

:: WEST PIER BURNING - Produced by Bigbamboo - 5 mins ::
You've probably seen newsreel footage of the West Pier on fire, but these amazing images filmed and digitally manipulated by Brighton video artists, MetaLuna, are something else. Accompanied by a Faithless mix and with the real West Pier in the background, watching this film will be a powerful and moving experience. Question: why didn't they torch the Conference Centre, instead - and do us all a favour?

For more information this film (inc production stills), visit www.bigbamboo.org.uk

:: BATTLING IN BRIGHTON - Director Will Jewell - 11 mins ::
A lively, fast-paced look at Brighton's burgeoning hip hop scene from local film-maker, Will Jewell. This ear/eye-popping film documents a rhythm and rhyme battle: a musical boxing match involving sixteen MCs competing to win a cash prize. Contestants are drawn against each other at random and battle through to the final. The entertainment value of watching grown men insult each other on stage to a hip hop beat rates a solid 10/10. The rules include no cussing of mums!

:: MAKIN' MONSTERS - Director Neill Hodgkinson - 3 mins ::
A fascinating, fast-paced documentary charting the construction of a life-size puppet robot of the kind seen on the streets of Brighton during the festival. Great soundtrack.

:: SNOT - Director Noel Stephens - 8 mins ::
When Kofi and Dave discover that Connor has double-crossed them, they take him to the middle of nowhere to extract the appropriate, i.e. fatal price for his betrayal. With a knife against his throat and no way out, the line between life and death is a dangling sliver of snot! Selected for the BFM International Film Festival.

:: THE WORTHING OUTRAGE - Director Paul Dooner - 15 minutes ::
This controversial and hard-hitting film tells the story of how one of Britain's few cannabis coffee shops - Worthing's Quantum Leaf - was forcibly closed by police during an early morning raid last winter. Extracted from the feature documentary Green Britain - The Battle, due for release later this year, it reveals how the local cannabis community resisted these moves, led by disabled cannabis activist Chris Baldwin.

:: AFFECTIVE DISORDER - Director Ben Bruges - 10 mins ::
Fresh from the ICA's Halloween Film Festival, this powerful and beautifully-filmed drama tells the story of Jean, a mental health service survivor, who revisits the institution where she was held for many years. Her aim is to extract a very personal revenge.

:: HIGH TIDE - Director Ben Rollason - 4 mins ::
Boomclick's off-beat ballad, High Tide, is gentle and simple - and so is this delightful and very unusual music video with a twist in the tail. Shot on Super 16mm from the top of an 8ft steadicam pole, it casts a giant's eye over a wintry London Street, looking down on passers-by who smile and wave. But who is this giant and why does everybody hold him in such awe?

::THE ART GALLERY - Kirsty Jones - 2 mins ::
Another ultra-short from this talented and prolific film-maker, this time taking us on a trip to a London gallery with a bunch of old folks.

:: THE BOOT - Director Jake Proctor - 4 mins ::
Mike awakes to find himself bound and gagged in the boot of a moving car and as the journey progresses, he pieces together the events of the past 24 hours in an attempt to identify his captor. Is it Ian, a former employee, his mistress or even his wife? Will Mike be able to work out who his captor is before it's too late?

:: COME OUTSIDE - Director Rob Hurtt - 12 mins ::
It's called agoraphobia. Noel just wants to be left alone in his room, safe from the cruel world. But someone else has other ideas in this unsettling film about a scared man's desire to remain in his sanctuary and to block out the outside world. Until the arrival of unwelcome visitors who's sole purpose is to force him outside!

:: RODS & MOCKERS - Director Chris Daw - 4 mins ::
Clever, funny animation remembering and sending-up the famous bun-fights between rival gangs of two-wheeled enthusiasts on Brighton beach in the mid 60s. Yes, that's almost 40 years ago! Great soundtrack from The Who.

:: WORSE THAN DEATH (TRAILER) - Director Dominic Jones - 1 min ::
Although this new horror gore-fest from Brighton film-maker, Dominic Jones, is still in post production, it is already being talked about in the local media. This trailer has been specially prepared for Final Cut audiences, giving them a sneak preview of what is to come.

:: THE DOLL COLLECTOR - Director Annetta Marion - 1 min ::
Second screening of this spooky ultra-short from talented New York director, Annetta Marion. It tells the story of a weary traveller, relieved to find a room for the night. But, it's never that simple, is it?