My short sketch film 'Berlin Blue'

Hi!

Here's a little film I made, mostly shot in Berlin on a Christmas trip there with East Street Arts. I shot it on black and white reversal film, hand-processed it, and then toned it blue in a bucket.

It's a very short piece, a little sketch. See what you think.

After years and years of working away on film, I'm finally getting to the stage of digitising them so I'll be able to share them with you! It feels really wonderful.

Some of them are simple film poems, like this one, and others are more involved and intricate. I'll be posting more on this blog really soon.

I hope you enjoy it!

Berlin Blue from Cherry Kino on Vimeo.

... and here are a few still images:

x Martha

My project 'Bird' for Woolgather's Art Vend!

Hi everybody!

Beautiful day today, and guess what, I'm indoors packaging up 150 little art works to go into vending machines around Leeds available to buy for £1! They've taken me aaaages to make, so I really hope you enjoy them!

A few photos were taken along the way too, so here are a few of the 'highlights' for you.
As you can see, it's just another day at the office...

Yep, that's a bottle of bleach...

Cracking the eggs with a knife and gutting them with a knitting needle...

Graphic stuff. When you think about it...

Disinfecting the empty eggshells

Filled with goodies and art...

Mini chocolate eggs...

A magic black lizard's egg... only one of these was made, so one lucky person will get this 'genetic throw-back' lizard egg filled with goodies! The Super 8 strip in this particular egg is really long. It is almost entirely black, with little bits of different birds at the start and end, and symbolises the kind of 'blind spot' of evolutionary tipping points...

... and a massive pile of flavoured condoms! Of course. Like, don't you have condoms on your desk? No? Weirdo. PS as you might have guessed, I don't really have a desk, I just borrow other people's... I spend most of my time in odd positions often on the floor or in the dark room. And no, that is not a pun. 

The finished pieces, ready for packing up in bubble wrap and putting in the capsules for the people of Leeds to pop open and explore!

The lizard egg has extra things in it and a super long piece of film. Here's the note that goes inside this one single lizard queen egg:

'Congratulations! You've won the ONLY egg like this - all the others are plain white. Yours is a magic black lizard's egg, a genetic throw-back to birds' reptilian ancestors... Enjoy your presents inside, and follow the link here to find out more and watch a short Super 8 film! The piece of film you have here, coiled up, is the black part of the film. It symbolises the 'blind spot' of the evolutionary tipping point, where one species becomes another. The image on the back of this piece of paper is actually a bird skeleton, but you can see why I chose it for you... please please leave a comment on vimeo, since you are the only one to get this special egg... I'd love to hear from you! http://vimeo.com/69701241 You are officially a lizard among hens. Enjoy your difference. Revel in it.  X Martha Jurksaitis/Cherry Kino.'

'Bird' not only involves these (lovingly and laboriously made) egg surprises, including a piece of my Super 8 film 'Bird', but the vending machine capsules also include a flavoured condom... for an explanation, see my vimeo channel link here:

https://vimeo.com/69701241

You can also see the film below!

Bird from Cherry Kino on Vimeo.

and a few still images:

x Martha

New way of developing b/w reversal film - without sulphuric acid! Hooray!

Hi everyone!

I've just watched a test strip of film that I developed using an alternative to sulphuric acid for the bleach part of the black and white reversal process! I'm totally thrilled! It has come out beautifully. I have always avoided using sulphuric acid to mix my own bleach because I'm quite freaked about how utterly volatile and dangerous it can be. I know there are safe ways of working with it, including loads of ventilation and goggles and lots of protective gear, but I didn't fancy having to spend loads of cash on stuff like that. And sometimes, when I have a real aversion to something, despite assurances it's all ok, I like to listen to my gut. So, for a few years, I've mostly been developing colour film, or else developing b/w film as a negative process, or using a fomapan reversal kit (which isn't brilliant for Tri-X - it makes footage shot on a sunny day look like it was really overcast, and it's pretty pricey too).

So I found out about an alternative solution on the website www.photosensitive.ca which involves using 65 g/L sodium bisulfate and 10 g/L potassium dichromate. For photographic / cine developing purposes, this is almost identical to the sulphuric acid bleach, because the resulting solution is chemically identical to an equal mixture of sodium sulfate and sulphuric acid, and the sodium sulfate is photographically inert! Genius!

It's basically R9 bleach!

Because sodium bisulfate is a powder, and behaves differently to how acid behaves, it is so much easier and safer to use. Of course the potassium dichromate, the other powder used, is seriously dangerous to health and should absolutely never be inhaled, and spillages should be cleaned up promptly otherwise they dry and the powder gets into the air and can be inhaled, but at least cutting the sulphuric acid out of the equation means there's one less thing that could go wrong!
A little extra info about potassium dichromate, courtesy of Florian Cramer (thanks Florian for flagging this up). It is seriously nasty stuff, so utmost care people!!

"But as you write in your original posting, people should be aware of the health risks of Potassium dichromate which according to Wikipedia is "one of the most common causes of chromium dermatitis; [...] especially of the hand and fore-arms, which is chronic and difficult to treat. Toxicological studies have further illustrated its highly toxic nature. With rabbits and rodents, concentrations as low as 14 mg/kg have shown a 50% fatality rate amongst test groups. [...] As with other Cr^VI compounds, potassium dichromate is carcinogenic and should be handled with gloves and appropriate health and safety protection. The compound is also corrosive and exposure may produce severe eye damage or blindness.[9] Human exposure further encompasses impaired fertility, heritable genetic damage and harm to unborn children."

Here are the timings I used for developing my test strip of Tri-X b/w reversal Super 8 film:

first developer - D-19, 7 mins
rinse
bleach - 65 g/L sodium bisulfate (NOT bisulfite!) and 10 g/L potassium dichromate, 3 mins
rinse
clearing bath - 50 g/L sodium sulfite (NOT sulfate!), 1 min
rinse
re-exposure to light
second developer - D-19 (same as first dev), 4 mins
rinse
fixer - non-hardening (only because I intend to tone the film), 4 mins
rinse - 15 mins

Et voila!

Very pleased. Has really worked brilliantly. Off to process 3 full Super 8 films now, and get on with making that music video for 'Kiwi', the single by Leeds band 'Just Handshakes'.

The developing is only a tiny first step - then comes toning by hand using brushes on each individual frame. Not to mention the editing! I have so much work to do at the moment, better go and get on with it!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent teaching children Super 8 filmmaking in Cambridgeshire. It was ace fun. I spent a day with 6 year olds on Thursday! They were so sweet, and really focused on the filmmaking, I was totally impressed. The next day I spent with 9-13 year-olds doing b/w filmmaking with caffenol and applying colour by hand, and the day after that was shooting colour reversal and cross-processing it, with 8-14 year-olds. I slept for England afterwards!

My friend Marko from Bristol also sent me an email about how mac laptops are totally influenced by the design of Braun Nizos! It was a revelation - but one that makes perfect sense when you think about it! That brushed steel look - total winner.

Enough film geekery for now...

Laters!

x Martha

The Ukrainian Centre, Leeds

So, today I went to Leeds' wonderful Ukrainian Centre, a huge lovely building in Chapeltown that is so beautifully ornate inside, with all kinds of embroidered table cloths, painted eggs - some wooden, some real - flock wallpaper, photos from years gone by of young Ukrainians in costume, some dancing the awesome Kossak-style dance, girls with beautiful textile dresses and headscarves.

An old wooden bar, a dance hall in the basement, and a glass cabinet full of Ukrainian books.

And photos of men - large portraits, or embroidered pieces, moustaches curling and eyes intense - hung all over the walls.

Here's a photo of Peter, who kindly let me in to film today with Clara and Jim from 'Just Handshakes', the Leeds band whose song 'Kiwi' is the reason for our music video shoot.

Thank you Peter! It was a pleasure to meet you. Here he is sitting in the window seat in the bar:

The bar is open between 12 noon and 1pm on Saturdays! It's the most fabulous place to take someone for a drink. Try and go if you can. Don't be put off if you're the only one there apart from someone from the Ukrainian society who can serve you drinks - it's notoriously quiet! Set back from the road, with a big green grassy lawn outside, it's a gorgeous spot. And an absolute dream to film and photograph. Shall be returning soon to take some analogue photographs, for absolute definite!

So watch this space for the music video (well, film!) for 'Kiwi'!

Here are some ace photos Clara from Just Handshakes took on the day - enjoy!

x Martha

Filmverkstaden Analogue Film Organization in Finland!

Hi!

While I was in Finland, I was generously invited to travel to Vasa on the west coast of Finland, in the predominantly Swedish speaking part, to give a talk about my work. It wasn't just any old talk, it was a luscious vegetarian brunch in an old soap factory! On arriving in Vasa, I was struck by the immense natural beauty of the place - Britt, who was hosting me, told me that the birds had only just returned after the long hard winter, and what a joy it was to hear them sing again! That place is just perfect for making films, and I imagine with those long summer daylight hours, you could make an entire feature-length film in a short amount of time.

Filmverkstaden is an analogue film and sound art organisation, founded by Britt Koostra and her partner Arvid van der Rijt, who are both artists and who live in a gorgeous house in the countryside by a river that keeps overflowing its bounds and that their son Heikki loves to gondola across! They showed me such amazing hospitality, they're beautiful people, I hope years don't elapse before we see each other again!

As well as hosting screenings and artist talks, Filmverkstaden organise filmmaking workshops including workshops on Super 8 and 16mm, analogue photography workshops, and sound art workshops. During my visit, I met an artist called Patrik Qvist, who kindly gave me a copy of his book on shacks - a beautiful, poetic piece of work with a collection of honest, touching, beautiful writings and drawings and paintings of shacks he has imagined and also physically made. A very interesting artist.

The brunch took place in Patrik's appartment, with all manner of delicious foods prepared by Britt and Arvid, and great coffee from Patrik. Oh and a pretty amazing raspberry cake was there too! Britt and Arvid's family were also there - Heikki (9), Pirkko (6) and Bogi (2). The event was open, and I met some really great people, all who were interested in filmmaking and who were such a receptive, brilliant audience to have  - I couldn't have wished for better! We discussed all kinds of things, and I showed two of my films, and some of my pinhole Polaroid photographs I'd been working on at Arteles during my residency. I also passed around the black and white Super 8 films I'd processed in coffee for people to take a look at. After the talk, we also watched a few of the Super 8 reels from the recent Filmverkstaden Super 8 workshop Britt had run, playing them on an 'agfa family' projector.

Ah, what a wonderful experience! I went back to Arteles by bus afterwards, glowing with pleasure and feeling all inspired and happy. Thanks so much, Britt, Arvid, Heikki, Pirkko, Bogi, Patrik, and all who attended the talk!

I was even paid well for my time, which was an added bonus to an already great day.

I took a Polaroid of the brunch that conveys it really well, but I haven't scanned my Polaroids in yet so it'll have to come a little later, but in the meantime here are a few photos!

And here's a link to Filmverkstaden!

x Martha

What is Cherry Kino?

Hi!

Recently I've had a nice fresh look at my dreams and goals, and it seems a good time to define what Cherry Kino is, so here it is!

Cherry Kino:

My name is Martha Jurksaitis, and I'm an analogue film and photography artist.

I channel my activities through Cherry Kino, which is and always has been a very personal expression of my love for analogue film and photography, presented for others to experience and share. Cherry Kino encompasses my filmic and photographic art, my curatorial and teaching work, creative writing, and resources about analogue film that hopefully help others become inspired too.

I believe we are born to do what we love, and I love making analogue images! 

I’m fascinated and moved by all the wondrous techniques that can be applied to film, and I’m delighted to share Cherry Kino with you. Thanks for visiting me!

x Martha

Arteles Arteles, how I miss you...

Hello!

Well, I'm back in Leeds/Bradford now, after spending the whole of April in Finland at Arteles on a residency. It was... how can I say? Immense? Intense? Beautiful? Happy? Sometimes a real challenge? Moving? All of those things. And you know, it gave me something huge - it gave me a brilliant perspective on how to move forward, how to fulfil all those visions and dreams, how to stay in touch with myself and be inspired and happy and full of positive energy for life! I know this all sounds a bit full on, but, well, it is! Full on in the best possible way! So one thing I realised when in Finland was that I have too many belongings, and that many of them have become things that stop me moving forward, so I've decided to sell lots of equipment from my lab studio, and also to complete half-finished projects I've been working on for ages, and share them with people at long last. I also want to make a book of the work I made at Arteles, which means I have to professionally scan the hundreds of analogue images I made! I'd better get started then, hadn't I! 

x Martha