TRANSLATE
Featuring 3 award-winning short films | 1 storming live gig
And the secret of how rock’n’roll can teach you how to make movies
SEE:HEAR intertwines a live musical performance of some of Nick’s best-loved songs; a screening of Nick’s three highly-acclaimed short films (including the Oscar-shortlisted “Shoe”); and a witty and compelling discussion on the many strong links that Nick sees between making music and movies.
In October 2010 Nick Kelly, former frontman with The Fat Lady Sings and Choice Music Prize-nominated solo artist, embarked on the latest chapter in his musical odyssey with the release of “Nine Lives” under his newly adopted alter ego Alien Envoy. This release, created over the course of GESTATION, a unique 9 month live / online project, has met with widespread acclaim:
"Warmth and richness... a lovely experience" - Sunday Business Post
"A deep, thoughtful, sensitive and intelligent musical artist...bravo!" - Hot Press
“A poet’s eye for detail” – Irish Independent
"Incapable of constructing a duff concept, musical or otherwise" - Irish Times
“A warm, brooding and intimate affair” – Get Ready To Rock (UK)
"Kelly has taken his legacy to a new level" - Roots & Branches (UK)
In November 2010 “Shoe”, the third short film written and directed by Nick, was shortlisted to the last 10 films in contention for the Live Action Short Oscar at the 2011 Academy Awards. This recognition by the Academy is only the latest success in Nick’s nascent career as a film-maker. His previous short “Why The Irish Dance That Way” was one of just nine films selected by New York’s MoMA for Shortfest: Outstanding Films From The International Festivals in 2008, and his first short “Delphine”, lauded by the late Michael Dwyer in the Irish Times (“this witty vignette packs a sharp punchline”), has been bought for TV broadcast by 16 countries around the world. Most recently, “Shoe” won the title of “Best Irish Short” at the Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival 2011.
SEE:HEAR, which was first staged in the Project Arts Centre in October 2010, is a show which brings together both these strands of Nick’s creative life.
“Up until recently, I tended to try to keep these two distinct parts of my artistic life separate. I just felt that it might be too confusing for people”, explains Nick. “But in 2010 when I found myself with both a major film and a major music project coming out at exactly the same time, I realised that actually I don’t myself make a big distinction between the two forms. The subjects that inspire me, the muscles I’m using to do the work, the kinds of people and processes I interact with, the challenges I face and even the skills I’ve developed to meet those challenges are all pretty much identical.
“I truly believe that my background in rock’n’roll gives me huge advantages as a film-maker. SEE:HEAR is my way of justifying my own creative process, and explaining how I think these two art forms can cross-pollinate and benefit each other.”