WE OWN THE STREETS
Virgin filmmaker Alan Kavanagh grapples with the undefinable talents of XL – living-room music producer, free-runner, free spirit.
[A mockumentary project made in 2010 for RTE's Storyland series - 5 x 7min episodes.]
FULL EPISODES HERE
“Music is a big part of my life.”
RTE TRAILER
The work of gifted virgin film-maker Alan Kavanagh finally sees the light of day via RTE’s Storyland Competition. WE OWN THE STREETS is Alan’s tough yet poignant documentary on a homegrown enigma – Cork’s XL.
But who is this man of mystery?
XL is a free-thinker, free-spirit, free-runner, and self-styled music impresario. While on work experience with Alan, cameraman Ian came across XL on a music chatroom while looking for a free white-label music soundtrack.
Alan saw some small screen potential in XL’s free-wheeling movements and thoughts.
Rigorously applying the tropes of cinema verité, Alan always shoots on location, in real time and employs no artificial lighting, props, special effects, or caterers. His vision is to show the world the world through XL’s eyes.
The aspects of cinematography that Alan strives to capture are raw action, lighting, an element of surprise, good-looking actors, and the hardest of all to capture – love.
Cast and Crew Biographies
Subject: XL / Ekz Elle
XL is a pseudonym for Tom. He is a producer of all things electronic that are related to music. Music is in his blood since he played alto saxophone with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland from 1992 through 1998. Now he is 30 years old and is reaching to break through with his personal blend of dubstep, grime and technol. He feels a strong connection between his music and the city streets because they are hard and unforgiving, like his music. Together with his flatmate Frank who has a decent digital camera, XL set about filming his reinterpretation of movement through the streets, with a nod to the film that first demonstrated the potential of running in a creative way – The Legend of Zorro. His Youtube page along with his photoblog (Peachy Shnaps) are what first attracted the attention of Chutney Films. Now that filming has begun XL is delighted with the prospect of a national platform for his ideas and music.
Sound man: Myles
Myles has been part of Alan’s crew for approximtely two weeks but his experience in sound goes back at least three months before that. Myles always uses his Seinheisler ME66 worth in excess of two hundred euro. His CV includes work on The Tudors, Ballykissangel and sporadically for Nationwide, depending on where they were filming. The jewell in the crown of his CV of course is his having met and actually having lunch with Daniel Day Lewis in Roundwood. Myles is also a mean poker player from time to time.
Director: Alan Kavanagh
Alan’s directorial career is in the ascendancy since he landed a place in RTÉ’s Storyland with his project “We Own The Streets”. His background is in guerrilla film-making having tackled such broad subject matter as greyhound racing, architecture, freshwater fishing and even underage drinking – all with an astonishingly low budget. The aspects of cinematography that he strives to capture are raw action, lighting, an element of surprise, good looking actors, and the hardest of all to capture – love.
2nd Camera: Ian
Ian has a college degree.
The Dream Team
ALAN’S CINEMATIC VISION
Following on from his award-winning thesis in film-studies, Rancid Ashes, Alan has gathered a team of like-minded film enthusiasts who are willing to follow him unquestionably in my odyssey to capture the purity of documentary-making and complete character analysis therein.
I tend to pick from a shallow pool of filmic references, oevres and people that I would say inspire me. Alan would readily credit D.A. Pannebaker’s “Don’t Look Back” as his earliest influence, showing me for the first time that one could make a film and go out on the tear at the same time. And with famous people at that.
Cinema Verité (or Green Cinema) is something that Alan comes back to again and again in my work. Like Warhol’s Always Leave Them Wanting Less, I favour this ethos of filmmaking as you never need a proper editor, and you can leave in all mistakes you’ve made and call them art. Green for go.
According to Wikipedia, Alan would also fall under the bracket of DogMe 95 film directorsb(Lars Von Trier & Thomas Vinterberg), and tends to follow the rules of their manifesto, “Vows of Chastity“. Though having scanned through it he would change a couple of their golden rules. Because he loves music. And action.
Like the manifesto itself (which was written in apparently 45 minutes) the award-winning Rancid Ashes is Alan’s film of himself at his desk in the kitchen, writing his final year film project, and how it would come together 3 and 1/2hrs before the final submission. Rigorous adherence to the conventions of Green Cinema meant that this was shot on location and in real time, 3 and 3/4hrs before final hand-up.
In all of his previous films on such subjects as grey-hound racing {Dogs}; fresh-water fishing {Fresh-Water Fishing In Ireland and Wales 1&2}; underage drinking {God Bless The Little Palsy Monsters}; and architecture {Spaces Within Spaces Within Space}; Alan strove for finding beauty in the banal and everyday, much like his great-granduncle Patrick Kavanagh, the poetry guy (not sure if he’s actually an uncle, but definitely a cousin anyway).
It’s not just film he’s interested in, architecture is also influential. Like the Dutch mystros Neutling’s Riedijk, whose paper On Laziness, Recycling, Sculptural Mathametics and Ingenuity is something I like to re-read again and again. I find their point of view particularly relevant. Plus they live in Holland.
See also Alan Watts, John-Luke Goddard, Werner Herzog and Michael Moore
