The
Cary Comes Home Festival, in partnership with The Video Essay Podcast
The
Sixth Cary Comes Home Festival focuses on Cary Grant as an acrobat. Cary Grant, born Archibald
Leach in Bristol in 1904, trained as an acrobat with the Pender Troupe of
Knockabout boys. This acrobatic training is evident in his physical onscreen
performances in some of his best-loved films, from pratfalls and tumbles in Bringing Up Baby to
dodging a crop-duster in North
by Northwest. To celebrate the 120th anniversary of his birth, we
invite you to submit video essays on the theme of Cary Grant as an acrobat.
We want to
explore Cary Grant as a showman, from his training as an acrobat and
apprenticeship on the vaudeville circuit and Broadway to how this is evidenced
in his physical on-screen performances. We encourage submissions that explore
the following themes, but we’re very open to other interpretations:
- "The Greatest Show on Earth": An exploration of
circus and performance, focusing on the impact of Grant's acrobatic training on
his film career.
- "Slapstick Prince-Charming": Inspired by
Pauline Kael’s description of Grant, this theme could focus on his screwball
comedies
- Leading Ladies, explore how his
co-stars interact with his physical performances and their own physicality on
screen, such as Katharine Hepburn’s athleticism.
- Early Influences and Comedy Legacy: Drawing on the
silent films Archie Leach watched in Bristol cinemas as a boy and examining how
these early influences shaped his comedic style. And how do Cary Grant’s performances
impact other filmmakers?
- The Art of Cary Grant – In Action: thinking
about his physical prowess and how he performed some of his own stunts
- Movement and Performance: examining the way
he moves, from his facial expressions and gestures to the way he walked, his
grace and style
Video
essays should be between 5 and 20 minutes in length and submitted by Friday 19
November 2024. Selected essays will be featured during our festival from
November 29 to December 1, 2024.
But you
don’t have to make a full blown video essay!
In attempt
to encourage those with varying levels of video editing proficiency, we will
also accept submissions of Videographic PechaKuchas. What is a
PechaKucha? Developed by
Christian Keathley and Jason Mittell, a PechaKucha is an exercise designed for
video essay beginners. It’s simple: select a Cary Grant film, choose ten clips
from the film of exactly six seconds each, pair them with one minute of
continuous audio, and then you have a mini, one-minute video essay! You can find dozens of examples here.
We will
then take the submitted PechaKuchas (you’re welcome to submit more than one, or
a PechaKucha and a video essay!) and edit them into one long supercut dedicated
to the acrobatics of Cary Grant.
Please
submit your entries join us in celebrating the life
and legacy of Cary Grant through his remarkable physicality and showmanship.
Guidelines
We are open to all forms of audio-visual
criticism, including video essays, fanvids, and any kind of video that
reappropriates footage of Cary Grant.
Videos
of any length will be accepted but the ideal length will be between 5-6
minutes.
All
submitted work will be featured on the Cary Comes Home website and on The Video Essay
Podcast website. Some of the best work will be featured on an
episode of The Video Essay Podcast which will be recorded live at the virtual
festival in November. Creators will be invited to join the conversation.
Please
add “For Study Purposes Only” at the end of the video, include a list of the
sources of clips used, any references cited and ideally, if you want to use a
backing track, please only use copyright-free music for that purpose. If you
use copyrighted music, we may not be able to feature your work at the festival.
You
will need to upload to your own Vimeo page. Learn more about uploading in their
Video
Guidelines, Compression Guidelines, and Help Center.
If
you are new to making video essays you might want to check out the series of
videographic exercises listeners were assigned as “homework” on The Video Essay
Podcast, here.
Rolling Deadline until: Friday 19 November 2024
We’ll
begin to post submissions to the website from September.
Cary Comes Home is a biennial festival
which aims to celebrate Cary Grant’s Bristol roots, develop new audiences for
his work and recreate the golden age of cinema-going, directed by Dr Charlotte
Crofts (Associate Professor of Filmmaking, UWE Bristol). The festival will take
place online this year, 29 November – 1 December 2024. Learn more at www.carycomeshome.co.uk
The Video Essay Podcast, hosted by Will DiGravio,
features interviews with critics, scholars, filmmakers, and other leading
creators of videographic criticism. The show is accompanied by a weekly
newsletter, ‘Notes on Videographic Criticism,’ which features original essays,
interviews, and links to events and news related to the form. Learn more at www.thevideoessay.com.