Now We Are Grown Up, Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor (desperate optimists)
Hopes, Fears, 20 Years, Kartoon Kings (Simon Grennan & Chris Sperandio)

Big Screen Launch: Thu 19 October, 6.00pm
Post Screening Event: Thu 19 October 7.15pm

Works from two of the UK's most highly regarded artist duos are being shown on Big Screen Birmingham (Chamberlain Square) next week. Now We Are Grown Up and Hopes, Fears, 20 Years, work specially commissioned by Cornerhouse, Manchester for its 20th Birthday last year, are coming to the screen as part of a tour to cities throughout the UK.
Artists, Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor of desperate optimists will be joined by a guest speaker to discuss their work and answer questions from the audience at a special free event taking place at VIVID, following the screening.
(To guarantee a place at this event please phone Cornerhouse Box Office on 0161 200 1500).

About The Works

Now We Are Grown Up a film by Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor (desperate optimists) is part of Civic Life, an acclaimed moving image series, consisting of seven short films made in conjunction with local residents and community groups, and foregrounding the relationships these local communities have to the environments in which they live and work. Each of these high quality films can be likened to an intricate narrative painting, revealed to the viewer piece by piece. Now We Are Grown Up was filmed entirely on location in the Grand Hall of Manchester Town Hall with a cast of performers all 20 years of age. Perfectly positioned and synchronised, the piece is filmed in two smooth and immaculately planned takes.

The Civic Life series has met with great critical success, with Who Killed Brown Owl winning the award for Best British Short Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2004. In the year since the premiere of Now We Are Grown Up Civic Life has been released on DVD, Who Killed Brown Owl has recently been screened as part of the Serpentine Gallery and Time Out Park Nights and desperate optimists have been commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and Liverpool Culture Company to create a new work for the Made in Liverpool series; Daydream, their most ambitious project to date will premiere at Cineworld, Edge Lane in October. 
                                                                                                              
Hopes, Fears, 20 Years a film by Kartoon Kings (Simon Grennan & Chris Sperandio) is based around a series of 50 interviews the artists conducted with members of the public from all walks of life between the ages of 25 and 100 in 2005. Each of the people interviewed were asked just two questions requiring a single five word or less response: What’s been your single greatest hope since 1985? What’s been your single greatest fear since 1985? The collected hopes and fears have been assembled into a series of vibrant animated texts, with key words and ideas often exposing contradictions and diverse opinions. Using the Big Screen as a video soapbox in a crowded and demanding street environment, Hopes, Fears, 20 Years presents real voices in an extraordinary way, creating reciprocity between the contemporary street and the lives of the people who use it, striking at the core of the relationship between individual lives and the recent growth of UK cities. The original soundtrack underwrites the drama of the animation, introducing suspense, narrative, humour and climaxes to the visual sequence.  Kartoon Kings work screens only on the big screen, so this is a unique opportunity to see this film.
 In the past year Grennan & Sperandio have also been working on an eight part TV series set in the New York art world. Art Star takes a new spin on reality TV as artists compete for a solo show at a major New York Gallery.
 
For more details visit:
www.vivid.org.uk
www.cornerhouse.org