Kuljit S Chuhan ::
creative producer : video : digital art : cultural projects
:about + general: :video: :digital art: :other projects:

    view a selection of online short videos right now - click here

Kooj’s numerous video works have been shown at festivals including Kino (Manchester), Bite The Mango (Bradford), Fillum (London), Document (Glasgow) and BlackScreen (Liverpool). After winning a couple of awards early on, he founded the Fresh Roots Video Festival (for video work by, involving or giving voice to disempowered groups) and focused on artistic approaches to narrative film-making. 

He currently lectures directing & production in Contemporary Film & Video (Manchester Metropolitan University), has recently developed a series of inter-related works for Virtual Migrants, and has delivered training at all levels.  He has also developed approaches to video for performance, which has integrated into the “No Trace” project and work by Virtual Migrants.

 

   selected video works:

DRESS YOU’RE HEART OUT (2011; 9 mins)
Director, producer, writer, editor.

Mad youth comedy with dressing in crazy costumes for charity, a mad boffin, a light bulb freak, a money-fixated dealer, a spirit from another world, an inedible pizza and an addictive board game from West Africa.

GIVING PEOPLE A VOICE (2011, 10 x 5 mins)
All roles
10 films for the ACE Centres national charity to promote, advocate for and introduce people to their work.

CLASSIFIQUE FM (2010; 16 mins) Drama.
Director, producer, writer, editor.

Youth drama about a grass-roots mixed culture radio station which has problems when some presenters air reports on human rights abuses which criticise the powers that be.

GENERATIONS (2010; 13 mins)  Documentary.
All roles

A pioneering intergenerational theatre project by Action Transport Theatre dispels myths, develops cohesion.

INTRODUCING COLLECTIVE CONVERSATIONS (2009; 5 mins, Promo-Documentary)
All roles.

Concise overview of an extensive video-conversation project developed for the Manchester Museum.

NO TRACE (2007; 19 mins) Short Film Drama.
Director, Co-producer.
Darryl, a low-life private-eye, searches for missing kids because he can’t deal with his own abuse when in the army, but the maze of phantom city-scapes within his terrain seals his reason to double-cross Emma’s mother for his own self-respect and also Emma’s.

BETWEEN ZERO AND ONE (2007; 30 mins) Documentary.
Director, Producer, Researcher, most production roles, post-production.

A critical documentary charting selected views on ISEA2006 and the Zero One international digi-art festival.

NO FRAME REQUIRED (2006, 16 mins) Documentary short
Director, Producer, Researcher, Post-Production and most Production
An intimate portrait of the enormous adversity within three very different lives encompassing bullying, fostering, poverty and old age.  Yet the people-centred creative activities run by an arts project introduce confidence, hope and change.
BROAD TAKES (2004, 19 mins) Promotional Documentary
Writer-researcher, Producer, Director
Intended for video-streaming, this charts the history leading up to the 'Lets Go Global' internet-TV station for the Old Trafford locality, and the hopes of various local people and projects for their creativity and participation in programme-making

WIDENING PARTICIPATION (2003, 13 mins)  Promotional Documentary.
Producer,  Director, all production.
Through documenting various approaches used by University-based galleries and museums to involve local schools and communities, this film explores the barriers to get into higher education for young people from particular backgrounds.

WHAT IF I’M NOT REAL (2004; 5 mins)  Art-Drama.
Co-writer, Director, Camera, Editor.
Three masked figures each on a raft at sea, the conflicts between a parent, a child and officialdom play out the bloody physical drama around asylum and global terror.

RESPECT (2004; 7 mins) Documentary.
Director, Camera.
About the issues facing teenage mothers, with three close-up profiles creating both intimacy and a powerful message.  Produced for YWCA (England & Wales) and broadcast on the Community Channel.

FACING UP (2002, 14 mins) Drama
Director, Editor & all production roles.
Four young regular guys – all proper stereotypes – are forced to address their lack of ability to be real with each other when the plain ordinary one has a crisis.  Distributed regionally and nationally with an accompanying workshop pack to a range of schools and youth settings.

FROM PUNJAB TO FOOTBALL (2001, 5 mins)  Multimedia Art-Documentary.
Writer, Director, Producer, Editor & various production roles.
A visually compelling art-documentary about sport and globalisation, contrasting the little-known Sikh sport of Gatka with the most global of all sports - Football.  A short film co-commissioned by Manchester United Football Club, premiered at Manchester United in June 2001.

RED SUN (2001, 4 mins)  Drama.
Writer, Director, Producer, Editor & all production roles.
Dislocated from his homeland and alienated from rural England, a young man from Bangladesh is saved by a surreal apparition from above.  A short art-film intended for web-streaming, creating a compact drama in an unusual yet moving form.

OUTER HEAT, INNER BURNING (2000, 6 mins) Multimedia Video-Art.
Director, Producer, Editor & all production roles.
The final production from being video artist-in-residence on the theme of "Fire" in a rural community, involving poetry and visual art from local school children.  Originally screened on www.mcaltd.org.uk as a web-stream.

PURE ENERGY (1999, 16 mins)  Drama.
Writer, Director, Producer, Editor & various production roles.
Drugs and aids threaten an Asian footballer's chances; screened at festivals including Kino (Manchester), Bite The Mango (Bradford), Fillum (London) and BlackScreen (Liverpool)

NOT EXACTLY LINFORD (1996, 9 mins)  Drama.
Writer, Co-director, Producer and various production roles.
An Asian athlete fights against both external stereotyping and his own internal prejudices; screened at festivals including Kino (Manchester), Bite The Mango (Bradford).

RAAG, GLITTER & CHIPS (1996, 17 mins)  Documentary with drama and art sequences.
Writer, Director, Producer, Editor & various production roles.
A major Arts Council funded production about the struggle for Asian music in British society, well-received and screened at festivals including Kino (Manchester), Bite The Mango (Bradford), Fillum (London) and BlackScreen (Liverpool).

   


you can contact Kooj on:  info[a]kooj.net