The official launch of Cross and Cave

11 September 2013

Cross and Cave is a short 5 min. documentary about the creation of UK based artists Heather and Ivan Morison’s sculptural artworks, specially commissioned for and by the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Inspired by caves and shelters, the sculptures sit like urban relics in a newly landscaped northerly section of the park.

They are formed from simple leaning arrangements of large pre-cast concrete slabs, creating rudimentary, cave like shelter within their geometric forms. Half buried in the ground, they appear to be part archaeological find, and part ruin from the future. The dark concrete surface of the structures bear the marks of the burnt timber shuttering used to form them.

Young people working on the film

The film has been commissioned by the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and is made by emerging young filmmakers from east London.

The film was directed by Muzzammil Hashmi who worked closely with sound recordist Shajna Begum and camera operator Sandy Abdelrahman, as well as photographers Benji Smith, Frances Baker and Tahmina Rahman.

The film was produced by Eelyn Lee Productions who specialises in working collaboratively with young people to create high quality outcomes. The filmmakers were given exclusive access to film Ivan Morison preparing the burnt casts at a timber yard in Sussex. They also have access to Byrne's Brothers yard in Beckton where the forms were cast and to the Orbit and the Olympic Park itself.

Muzzammil Hashmi, the film’s director, talks about his vision for Cross and Cave.

"I was inspired by the artist’s impression drawings and their previous work. I was really interested in taking a different route in capturing the making of this piece. I tried to bring in a bit of me to this project.

I’m proud of London and I tried to use the ‘beauty’ shots and the time-lapse to show all the different parts of the city from the A12, Stratford, all the way to Canary Wharf that one of the Shard."

Over the past few years, A New Direction has invested in developing the film making and photography skills of a group of talent young people who live in East London Boroughs (Barking & Dagenham, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, and Waltham Forest). We have paired them with industry professionals and provided exceptional commissioning opportunities.

The film premier is this weekend at the Olympic Park and it will then go live on A New Direction and the Olympic Park’s websites from next week. We are pitching for it to make local cinemas and short film festivals, locally in London and further a foot.

Want to show the film?

We’d love for you to show the film to your students. It shows a glimpse into how London’s biggest new park has been transformed through massive sculptures, promotes innovative UK based artists duo in Heather and Ivan Morison, and shows off the great ability of Londoners like Muzzammil and the other filmmakers and photographers who grasped an opportunity, refined existing skills, and present their interpretation of London’s latest new space.

We hope you enjoy it!

To watch Cross and Cave go here