The Demon Crew - into reality

There were at least eight of them in the room. They sat nervously biting their lips, watching us take off our coats and settle into our seats.

These are some of the final-year Creative Writing undergraduates. We’re here to see their poems, their stories and anecdotes. They’re here to show us their hard work, as they prepare to take their work as writers out into the real world.

Each piece of work was a delight to listen to. It was great to see each author and how happy they were with each piece of work. The event had an excitable charge to it, with the audience and speakers all eager to hear what would come next.

My favourite poem of the event was called ‘An Average Life’. It was witty, clever and totally unexpected.

I will definitely be going back next year.


Annabel Easton

Student films - definitely not amateur

A still from... actually, it says in the image. By Sammie Williams.

I think one of the things that has struck me most about the Cultural Exchanges festival is the simply fantastic output from DMU's creative students. Whether it was the Fine Art department's Art Auction or Creative Writing's own showcase pieces the week has been bubbling with originality and vision. But the event that has struck me most was the 1 too 3 showcase, an exhibition of video pieces from across the university.

And quite frankly, the films on show were stunning. The pieces on display ranged from the playful intimacy of Red Wine Hangover to the unsettling surrealism of the Idiosyncracies dance video and seemed to cover everything in between.

What with drama, comedy, horror and a good dose of fantasy, the films showed eager young creators at their best - doing what they love and getting to show the end result to the public.

Two pieces really stood out for me.  One was Mechanical Angel, a strange mash-up between science fiction and a haunting music video.  It put me very much in mind of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and of course the Expressionism movement that inspired it.

 

The other was Sean Goldthorpe's piece that depicted a relationship in reverse - sometimes literally - from the unfortunate break-up to the couple's chance meeting. The cinematography in this piece was wonderful, including slow, lingering shots to set the rather gloomy mood and even using a black screen to divide the couple, reflecting the distance between them.

All the videos mentioned here are going to be on display again tomorrow throughout the day and are totally free of charge, I highly recommend checking them out at Newarke Houses Museum (10-6, Friday 1st March).

 

Lex Griffiths