Throwing Shapes virtual premiere which will take place online at: Throwing Shapes | Cork Midsummer Festival 14 - 27 June 2021 on Friday June 25th from 6pm . The stream will be available for two days on demand
Best described as a music film, Throwing Shapes is the culmination of two years of writing, performing, and development with a core group of eight young artists attending The Kabin in Knocknaheeny. The project has evolved from an experiment in creative writing into a play and now it has become a film.
These eight young people are central to The Kabin Studio –a Cork Education and Training Board facility in Knocknaheeny run in partnership with GMC Beats and MGCC –and the film showcases their music, their words, their performance and their journey in expressing themselves through Hip Hop, spoken word and composition. This is music and art that is unmistakably of Cork City. Navigating self expression, dealing with loss, having the craic, making beats and throwing shapes. The film is a musical reflection on what it’s like to be young in Cork City today.
Advisory ahead of the film premiere is that those watching should be 16 years or over as the 30 minute film makes references to suicide and sexual assault that some viewers might find upsetting.
The film explores this familiar landscape through a youth lens, coloured by the experience of the pandemic, and showcasing the creativity that sparks in challenging circumstances, with writing and performance development support from Graffiti Theatre, music and writing creative support from Garry McCarthy, Ophelia McCabe and Rory McGovern (The Kabin, MGCC) and the partnership of Cork Midsummer Festival.
“For me, it was a stepping stone. I would have been shy but this showed me that I was able to do lots of things I never thought I could do, to express myself, and I met loads of new friends,” - Kayleigh Russell.
Performers/writers: Alex Pacino Brady, Ava Collins, Cian Hearn (Gatch), Katelyn O’Sullivan, Kayleigh Russell, Patrick (Ricky) Salmon Anson, Daniel Sheehan (Jester). Also featuring supporting artists from the Kabin MGCC programme’s junior and senior groups.
Creative facilitation team:
Niall Cleary (Graffiti Theatre and Fighting Words), 0phelia aka Ophelia McCabe, Garry McCarthy (GMCBeats, The Kabin Studio).
Executive Producers : Ayla Amano and Brendan Canty (Feel Good Lost who have created videos for Hozier, Dermot Kennedy, Saint Sister)
Directed by Rosie Barrett and filmed by Albert Hooi (recent work includes Gemma Dunleavy’s Up The Flats and Jape’s Sentinel project)
Co-produced by GMCBeats at the Kabin Studio, Music Generation Cork City Cork, Graffiti Theatre Company, Cork Midsummer Festival
Project support from Music Generation’s Creativity and Collaboration Fund, the Department of Education and Skills, Arts Council Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Cork City Council’s Arts in Context fund, City Northwest Quarter Regeneration Fund, Cork Midsummer Festival and Youth Work Ireland.
If you are a young person and have been affected by any of the issues explored in this film please go to SpunOut.ie; Ireland’s youth information website created by young people, for young people. They provide information on a range of different topics broken down into sections; education, employment, health, life and opinion. https://spunout.ie/.
If you are a young person or adult having a difficult time and wish to talk to someone please contact: https://www.samaritans.org/ireland/samaritans-ireland/
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