Jukebox Kino: the seal of cinematic quality!
Ashley Horner of Jukebox Kino.
This year's Festival sees the launch of Jukebox Kino, a unique film distribution subscription service that provides maverick feature fiction cinema every quarter to a select group of yearly subscribers - we talk to Ashley Horner, the man who hopes to revolutionise film!
BF: Tell us a little about Jukebox Kino?
AH: As a film producer and director I visit a lot of film festivals and often see great European cinema and exciting experimental work. These films never seem to make it to the UK, even via the big digital platforms. Back in the eighties and nineties certain record labels would operate a seven inch singles club, where you paid ten pounds up front and received six limited edition vinyl singles over that year. You didn't know what you’d get, but you trusted the label and at the same time were helping these bands find an audience. As a cinephile I like to watch a film more than once, and I love unique extras such as short films, deleted scenes and director’s commentaries. We’re collectors and have libraries of films and so Jukebox Kino offers you the opportunity to see unique films and support the film makers directly, wrapped up in four beautifully designed, limited edition packages. And for those that don't want a physical thing there are options to download and stream the films, at a budget subscription rate.
BF: What is it about Jukebox Kino that makes it different to other DVD distributors and video-on-demand platforms?
AH: Well firstly we’re a yearly subscription distribution service, so you pay up front without knowing what you're gonna get. You have to trust Jukebox Kino and me! I'm working with two curators who programme for Critics Week and Quinzaine in Cannes, and also Carmen Gray, Dazed and Confused’s film editor. Between the four of us we see a lot of cinema, and have similar left field tastes which range from super lo-fi mumblecore to rarefied high art cinema. It's the eclecticism you buy into, the treat of a DVD landing on your doorstep every 3 months and the knowledge that you can't see this film anywhere else in the UK. Jukebox Kino is the ONLY way to see it! Initially the first year’s subscription will be limited to only 500 unique copies of each release, becoming instantly collectible.
BF: You’ve selected a fine choice for a first film in Dummy Jim – when will it be available on Jukebox Kino, and what’s next for you and the film’s director, Matt Hulse?
We launch the label at Berwick on September the 19th, with the first film shipping early October, and there will be a special discount code for those with Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival accreditation to help entice you to sign up. I'm really excited we got Dummy Jim, Matt Hulse’s hybrid fiction/nonfiction film that played at Edinburgh last year and was voted Best of the Fest. It's a truly beguiling piece of cinema that took twelve years to make and you can feel the passion and playfulness in the work. It's the story of a profoundly deaf man who accidentally cycles from Scotland to the Arctic Circle in 1951.Profound, funny, experimental and maverick, a perfect Jukebox Kino film.
Matt and I are now working on a new documentary about Britain’s youngest punk band from 1979. It's called The Hippies: Punk Rocked My Cradle and is a fascinating journey into the world of young kids playing punk rock, being managed by their mother and writing songs about Rabies and their Maths Teacher, hot political potatoes in the minds of pre-teens! Matt was their drummer as a ten year old, so a reunion might be on the cards...
BF: What are you looking forward to most about your launch event at Berwick?
Having a dance to the excellent DJ Stagger Lee Fisher who will be spinning an eclectic mix of reggae, retro punk and math rock, all at 45 rpm. And perhaps a wee glass of Festival ale...
Like what you read? Visit the Jukebox Kino website for more.
Jukebox Kino launch party is at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival on 19 September, find out more.