Pocket Film Festival 2022

We can’t believe this is the fifth year of our small, but perfectly formed, film festival. Like a proud parent we are so chuffed at how our baby is growing up….

The festival is now all grown up and we are brimming with pride to see what it has become. Anyway, enough of the strange child analogies… I suppose what we are trying to say is that this year’s festival programme is ace, so don’t miss out, as once it’s gone, it’s gone!

Here are a few snippets all about some of the brilliant events we have lined-up…

Festival Artist Feature: Meg Morley

Playing for her first silent film four years ago, Meg Morley has quickly become one of the UK's pre-eminent silent film accompanists, performing at various international film festivals (including Flatpack Festival, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Nederlands Silent Film Festival) and playing regularly at the London Cinema Museum where she is a resident pianist for the Kennington Bioscope. Her latest silent film projects include: a commissioned score (2018) by the British Film Institute for a UK tour and DVD release of several Mabel Normand films - which featured the Meg Morley Trio (a group hailed in All About Jazz as “one of the most exciting on the current UK scene”); and a commissioned piano score (2019) by Kino Lorber for a DVD release of Alfred Hitchcock's The Ring.

For more information: megmorleymusic.com

Festival Artist Feature: Rawz

Rawz is an MC and Poet. Growing up in one of the UK’s most deprived areas, Northfieldbrook (Greater Leys) in Oxford, he first discovered lyric writing in his early teens. It was an essential way to channel his emotions and organise his thoughts. A self guided therapy.

Since then, Rawz has performed his craft all over Europe both as a solo artist, and with the Inner Peace Records collective which he helped to form alongside other artists from Oxford and London’s hip hop scenes in 2015. He has collaborated with musicians from all over the world and shared stages with some of his childhood heroes. Rawz’ music and lyrics share his exploration of our interconnected worlds, and his responses to them, promoting outer change and advancement through inner reflection and positive action. Rawz does this while covering an unlimited range of topics including love, capitalism, nature, community, crime, science, religion and more.

An experienced youth worker and teacher, Rawz set up The Urban Music Foundation in 2009, through which he delivers mentoring services, tutoring, lyric writing, poetry, music and arts workshops, artistic and musical commissions, character education projects, film and video work, community research projects, consultancy and other creativity focused endeavours in a wide variety of settings.

THE URBAN MUSIC FOUNDATION

A grassroots organisation which started in Oxford's deprived wards, bringing over a decade of experience delivering music related projects in a diverse range of communities. UMF began as a way for it's founder, Rawz to share lyric writing skills that had helped him through hard times in his youth. The project quickly began to diversify into a wider field of music and arts based provision, and as its reputation grew, the Urban Music Foundation started to collaborate on various art and community focused projects with like-minded groups.

Now experienced in working with people aged 5-95 in a range of settings, The Urban Music Foundation is currently available for commissions, mentoring, tutoring, music and art based workshops, character education projects, community research and other youth, community and/or creativity focused endeavours.

You can find all of Rawz’ profile and social media here: https://linktr.ee/rawz_official

Festival Artist Feature: Count Skylarkin

We’ve got some brilliant artists taking part in the festival this year, each of them bringing something extra special to the events. First up is DJ extraordinaire - Count Skylarkin. The Count will be performing after our showing of The Harder They Fall at Red Rum on the Friday 16th September.

From compiling TDK D90s in the early 90s to touring with The Wailers, remixing for Trojan Records and performing in front of thousands at festivals all around the world, Count Skylarkin has been making people dance for the past 25 years – specialising in new and vintage reggae, rocksteady, Jamaican ska, hot swing, jump blues, dancehall, hip hop and jungle vinyl and guaranteed good times.

Over the years The Count has shared stages, decks and rum with such musical luminaries as The Wailers (UK Tour DJ), The Specials, Toots & The Maytals, Chronixx, Protoje, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, The Skatalites, Prince Buster, Alton Ellis, Beres Hammond, Ernest Ranglin, Max Romeo, Susan Cadogan, Mad Professor, Don Letts, Massive Attack’s Daddy G and Horace Andy to name but a few. In 2015 the Count was invited to appear on David Rodigan’s BBC Radio 2 show, where he shared tunes and tales from two decades in music.

Count Skylarkin counted the late, great DJ Derek among his greatest friends, and they gigged together in excess of 200 times. Since Derek's sad passing in 2016, The Count has continued to bring Derek's famous 'Sweet Memory Sounds' by special request to festival stages all over the land, among them Glastonbury, Boomtown, Larmer Tree, Wilderness, Shambala and Somerset House.

As co-founder of The Disco Shed he has made headlining appearances at Bestival, Latitude, Leeds, Reading and The Big Chill. Over the years The Count has also rocked The Secret Garden Party, Outlook Festival (Croatia), Common People, Standon Calling, Notting Hill Carnival and countless others. An authority on reggae music particularly, he has written for several music publications, including Knowledge and NME.

An East Oxford resident of some 20-odd years, Count Skylarkin is proud to have played at every Cowley Road Carnival since its inception in 2001, during which time it has expanded to become one of the biggest street festivals in the UK. His stand outside The Bullingdon is consistently the busiest soundsystem at Carnival.

These days probably busier than he’s ever been, when he’s not racking up motorway and air miles gigging across Britain and the world, Count Skylarkin is the creator and curator of the critically-acclaimed Big Ten Inch and Skylarkin' Soundsystem clubnights in London and Oxford.

You can find Count Skylarkin here: https://skylarkin.wordpress.com/residents/

To get you in the mood here’s a spotify playlist of some of The Count’s highlights.