Channel 4 launches new hour-long shorts strand The Shooting Gallery

7 March 2012

Channel 4 is providing a new television platform for short films called The Shooting Gallery and has been working closely with online video platform Vimeo as partners.

The Shooting Gallery will bring the best short films, branded content and virals from around the world and showcase them alongside original commissions funded by innovation support fund - the Alpha Fund.

In its previous incarnation running as a strand in the mid-1990s, The Shooting Gallery introduced the early works of Shane Meadows, Annie Griffin and Clio Barnard, amongst others.

The 2012 version marks out Channel 4 once more as the destination for new talent and creative risk-taking, but also rides the wave of new short form content that has exploded on the internet in recent years, but until now, has yet to find a mainstream TV outlet.

The strand will return periodically to support programmes in Channel 4's peak schedule. The first show The Shooting Gallery: Caught on Camera, will broadcast on the 22nd March and focus on a mixture of original commissions, award-winning shorts and internet hits focusing on still image and photography.

The Shooting Gallery: China will broadcast on March 29th and comprises of a selection of shorts, a number of which have been curated by Vimeo, which centre on modern China, supporting Niall Ferguson's new series China: Triumph and Turmoil as well as Gok Wan: Made in China.

The Shooting Gallery has been commissioned by Director of Creative Diversity Stuart Cosgrove and Media Project Manager for Creative Diversity Ravi Amaratunga.

Stuart Cosgrove said ‘The Shooting Gallery is a concept Channel 4 has returned to across time. It's a great way of bringing smart new short films to an audience and we welcome it back.'

Ravi Amaratunga said ‘It really feels timely to bring back The Shooting Gallery now. More quality filmmakers are emerging from across the world than ever before thanks to the DSLR revolution. We're proud to provide a platform for this incredible new talent on Channel 4'

Jordan McGarry, Senior Curator, Vimeo said ‘This is a really exciting partnership for Vimeo. Channel 4 are the first UK broadcaster show this vibrant online content to a TV audience. It's really exciting and feels of the moment.'

 

The Shooting Gallery: Caught on Camera will feature:

 

Back to the Future: Irina Werning
An original commission from Channel 4's Alpha Fund, this short doc profiles the work of Argentinian photographer Irina Werning who took the net by storm last year. We follow her as she travels the world, intricately recreating old childhood photos with the same person many years later.

Director: Jamie Jesset

Exec prod: James Payne

Prod Co: Lemonade Money

 

The Neglected
UNESCO-award winning photographer David Gillanders brings us the harrowing world of child drug addicts from the streets of Odessa, Ukraine in his stunning photo film commissioned through Channel 4's Alpha Fund.

Director: David Gillanders

Exec Prod: Nicola Black

Prod Co: Blackwatch Media

 

In Focus: Pete Eckert
A short documentary following blind photographer Pete Eckert. Whilst he can't see, we discover how Pete, through his photography, proves that he is a visual person, as we follow him on an incredible journey that leads him to an unexpected exhibition of his work in New York City.

Director: Christian Schneider

Prod Co: Artists Wanted

 

Dark Clouds
An incredible still image film from Chinese-British photographer Ian Teh. We get a glimpse of China's rarely seen industrial coal fields, and uncover the hidden side of China's miracle economy.

Director: Ian Teh

Exec Prod: Anna Stevens

Prod Co: Panos Picturs

 

Caracas
An insightful mini-portrait of the slums of Caracas and the people who inhabit them. A wart-and-all portrayal of Hugo Chavez's ‘Bolivarian Revolution.'

Director: Adam Hinton

Exec Prod: Anna Stevens

Prod Co: Panos Pictures

 

A Life Alone
A beautifully poignant video by New York-based photographer Maisie Crow. It tells the story of Tom Rose, who after 63 years of marriage finds himself living on his own, forced to reengage with his community and battle with his bittersweet memories.

Director: Maisie Crow

 

The Stolen Scream
The incredible story of Noam Golai, who, having posted personal photos to flickr, discovered them on t-shirts, international magazine covers and even on Iranian walls as a sign of protest, all without any knowledge of how they got there, nor any payment for his work.

Director: Lee Morris

Prod Co: Framestoppers

 

 

The Shooting Gallery: China will feature:

 

Goodbye Shanghai
While embezzling $14 billion from a Chinese bank for the US government, two Western bankers grab $15 million in cash for themselves. Goodbye Shanghai explores the negative effects of Western imperialism on modern Chinese culture.

Written & Directed by: Adam Christian Clark

Exec Prod: Ruth Surrey

A Deanland Studios presentation of a Blueberry Films production.

 

Kitty and LaLa
A short documentary profiling Chinese wedding photographers Kitty and Lala, who have become icons of strange sort in China. Evangelists for individuality, expressiveness and modernity, representing a younger generation of Chinese for whom such values are of increasing importance.

Director: Qiao Li

Exec Prod: Kelvin Mak

Prod Co: The Bag Ladies

 

August 15th
Sundance nominated Chinese short film from director Jiang Xuan. Based on a true story, a young Chinese woman boards a bus with her boyfriend to head home to meet his parents. What was supposed to be a joyful holiday turns unpredictable when a pair of countryside crooks hijack their bus. Traveling through China's dangerous mountain passes, the passengers must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice for their own safety

Director: Jiang Xuan

Exec Prod: Gareth Chang

Prod Co: Alpha Media

 

Cult Youth
An insider's view of Beijing's underground comic art scene that follows five members of the comic group "Cult Youth". Combining film with animation, this short documentary depicts the lives, works and personalities of these struggling and engaging artists. Cult Youth celebrates the benefits of a new shared creativity emerging in urban China.

Director: Coco Wang and Mi You

Prod Co: Dazed Digital