THAMESMEAD TEXAS is a nomadic artist led project space, based in Thamesmead founded by artists & filmmakers Vanessa Scully & Liam Scully, who create events, exhibitions, screenings, workshops and residencies centered around an art bar. Their latest project ‘The Thamesmead Travelling Cinema’ is a ‘social sculpture’ that aims to bring people together through the shared love of cinema, as well as continue sharing histories & archives unique to the people of Thamesmead, the biggest social housing estate in England.
WHO WE ARE
DIRECTORS
Scully & Scully have been curating and commissioning film screening events in Arthouse Cinemas and Galleries since 2011 in sites across London including The Aubin Cinema, Sugarhouse Studios, Close Up Cinema, Horse Hospital, Genesis Cinema, Deptford Cinema, The Rio, TACO! and CCA Glasgow. In 2018-19 with artist Dean Kenning Scully and Scully founded Sick Monday, a film Programme that commissioned new works by 18 artists including Mirza & Butler (GB), Paul McCarthy (USA), Laure Prouvost (FR), Lindsay Hallam (AU) and Ben Rivers (GB). Recently Scully and Scully were recipients of a HLF (heritage lottery fund) commission, to make an artwork that engaged with so called hard to reach communities, including their voices in the Thamesmead Community archive. Celebrating 50 years of Thamesmead, the outcome included 15 new interviews, a multi-screen installation and the Thamesmead Travelling Cinema.
ADVISORY BOARD
Roz Mortimer is an artist,writer and independent filmmaker who lives and works in London. She initially trained as a textile artist and exhibited installation and sculptural work before starting to make films in 1995. She has an MA in Visual Sociology and a PhD in Documentary Film, teaches alternative documentary practice at universities in the UK and USA and is currently Senior Lecturer in Film at University for the Creative Arts. Roz’s genre-breaking films blur the boundaries between staged theatre and documentary whilst challenging our social and political understanding of the world.
Alex Tuckwood is a local Designer and Maker with a passion for finding out how things work by taking things apart and fixing items which are broken. Recently he completed building The Thamesmead Travelling Cinema and is Director of Plastic Please, a recycling project based in Thamesmead.
Andrea Luka Zimmerman is an Jarman Award winning filmmaker and artist whose engaged practice calls for a profound re-imagining of the relationship between people, place and ecology. Focusing on marginalised individuals, communities and experience, the practice employs imaginative hybridity and narrative re-framing, alongside reverie and a creative waywardness. Informed by suppressed histories, and alert to sources of radical hope, the work prioritises an enduring and equitable co-existence. Andrea grew up on a large council estate and left school at 16.
VOLUNTEERS 2022
Sai Li is a visual artist based in London. Her work ranges from photography, film to installation.Her research focuses on a binary of power confrontation, using the dynamic power in gender relations as a metaphor to further explore the fluid power relations between individuals and society. The reason for her to join the Thamesmead Travelling Cinema is that she enjoys the community atmosphere and the more human-focused group. Her favourite movie is American Beauty.
Andre O’Garro is an aspiring documentary filmmaker/producer who recently finished studying Film and Media at Keele University. His interest in the medium blossomed at age 20 when he made ‘Out of The Cage’ a documentary about Lynne Bailey and her creative life post-retirement. He wanted to join the Thamesmead Travelling Cinema to meet other aspiring creatives and learn more about cinema programming. Read about Andre’s experience here
Mike Dunford went to Goldsmiths College and did sculpture in 1964, and towards the end started making films in Standard 8mm. That led to showing work at the Drury Lane Arts Lab in 1968, and to joining with other film-makers to set up the London Film-makers Coop where they were able to make, process and show their films in their own cinema. Mike liked the idea of joining the Thamesmead Travelling Cinema because of a romantic attachment to the idea of a Travelling Cinema and also because he enjoyed the gig he had in Oakland California as a projectionist showing political documentary once a week at a community arts centre. And he also like the idea of being able to talk with audience members about what we all just saw.
Lydia de Matos is a 21-year-old student of language and cultural theory at University College London. Her research and artistic practice is interested in cinema’s relationship to time, memory, and constructed space, and expressions of stillness in the moving image. She believes in community-led, thoughtfully programmed cinema, and her favourite film is Miguel Gomes’ Tabu. Read about Lydia’s experience here
VOLUNTEERS 2021
Whitney Manassian is an Italian artist whose work investigates the concepts of beauty nostalgia and love. Originally from a fine art background, Whitney came to the UK inspired by her passion for illustration and cinematography to explore and experiment. She has recently graduated from a BA Hons in Illustration and Animation, at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury. Whitney’s interest for cinema began at the age of four when on the big screen, she saw Spirited away and grew as she discovered Akira Kurosawa who directed one of her favourite movies “Dreams”.
Racheal Oshunfuyi is a 22-year-old Irish Nigerian, with A level qualifications in Sociology, Psychology and Applied Sciences; she is currently undertaking a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Counselling, whilst working as a Housing Officer. Rachel joined the Thamesmead Travelling Cinema because she admired the work of the organisers and felt it was an excellent opportunity to develop her interest in film and also serve the very diverse and wider community of Thamesmead. Rachel’s favourite film of all time is Coraline, which also served to introduce a young Rachel to the genre of psychological thriller, which is her favourite genre of film.
Raymond Ukwenya is a 28 year old Music Producer from South East London, and originally from Nigeria. Over the last 10 years, I’ve been blessed with lots of different opportunities that have allowed me to develop lots of different skills across many different areas, including – Events, PR and Marketing and Production. Over the last year I began to learn Music Production, which has given me a wider perspective on people and expression. I joined the travelling Cinema because it sounded like a really cool community project, and I was excited to work together with other like minded individuals, contribute, and learn some new skills. My Favourite film is Guardians of the Galaxy. I just like the sense of fun and adventure from all the characters. The characters couldn’t be more different from each other but they all come together to add to the action. I love the retro aesthetic of the film too.