Meet Andrew KottingXXX
See examples of Andrew's work:
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Can you tell us about a film you have shown at the Electric Palace or at our film festival?
I’ve shown many of my films over the years at The Electric Palace, perhaps most recently The Whalebone Box. The liquorice used to be very good as was the ginger beer.
Do you remember a moment when your love for the moving image was sparked?
Eraserhead by David Lynch was the first film that I’d ever seen that made me feel odd in a profound and unexpected way. The atmosphere of the film was overwhelming. I didn't know what I was watching.
Dr Zhivago also had an effect on me when I was perhaps eleven years old and saw it on the BIG Screen in Leicester Square with my parents. I fell madly in love with both Geraldine Chaplin and Julie Christie and could barely sleep the nights thereafter. I went on to name our golden retrievers Tanya and Lara.
I watched the film again in a very cold cinema ten years later when I was living in Finland and still couldn't make up my mind about whether I loved Tanya more than Lara....
Can you tell us about a film that you would have liked to have made?
The Colour Of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov, again because of the atmosphere it exuded and the fact that it was unbearably exotic and poetic.
What does filmmaking offer you as an artist?
Curiosity, heartache and freedom. The alchemy of possibility and the un-fathomability of what it means to be alive.
Is there something you try to subvert, avoid or rebel against in your work?
I try to subvert the conventions of mainstream story telling by incorporating the notions of reverse engineering as a means of structuring. I also pay as much attention to the sound in my work as I do to the moving image.
How do you plan your work – with a script, storyboard or another method?
The process is very organic and usually born out of an idea or concept. With much of the work there is also an underlying current of autobiography, psycho geography and hauntology. If there is a script or storyboard, which I have used in the past then invariably it gets lost en route as improvisation takes over.
Do you need to collaborate to make your work?
I don’t need to but I love to. I can’t remember the last time that I didn’t collaborate. There is a generosity of spirit and trust that is needed which can be quite difficult to navigate, especially given that artists in general have enormous egos.
Has living in Hastings influenced your work?
Yes. The seascape and the landscape and the inscape that is provoked by the former two. As well as the rich assortment of artists and miscreants that have washed up down here. It reminds me of Deptford-on-Sea.
Is there a difference in producing films for a large screen or making work for online viewing?
There is a difference but as with most things in life it is relative. Since COVID the viewing of film has changed drastically. My own work has been seen by thousands of people online that would never have seen it at the cinema and this has inspired me.
Have developments in camera technology changed the way you work?
Yes. Especially the use of a smart phone to record both sound and image.
Do live audiences in a cinema matter to you?
Yes. Very much. Their presence is palpable and whenever I watch one of my films with an audience it can be both exhilarating and terrifying.
Can you tell us about an unusual event where you have screened your work or attended a film screening?
I have screened my film Swandown to an audience in Denmark who were all sat in Swan-shaped pedalos. It was very uncomfortable. But perhaps the most hilarious memory I have is when I showed a Super 8 film at a CRASS free screening event in Catford, way back when. The film I made had some explicit sex in it and a very drunken gang of anarchists approached me after the screening and demanded that I project the film again because they had missed the sexy bits. So I obliged them by standing still whilst Leila projected it onto my tee shirt.
What continues to inspire you as a filmmaker or artist?
Life.