Shortlist announced for the Jarman Award, celebrating the UK’s moving image artists

Six artists have been shortlisted for the tenth Film London Jarman Award, the annual prize celebrating the UK’s most innovative moving image artists and filmmakers. The shortlist comprises Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Oreet Ashery, Adham Faramawy, Melanie Manchot, Charlotte Prodger and Marianna Simnett.

Last year’s winner Heather Phillipson went on to be commissioned for the 2020 Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, while other previous winners include Turner Prize nominees Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Laure Prouvost.

The winner will receive £10,000, and every shortlisted artist will be commissioned by Channel 4 to produce new films for Random Acts. An exhibition of the shortlisted work will travel around the UK to 12 venues from 1 October – 19 November 2017, culminating in a weekend of screenings, discussions and performances at the Whitechapel Gallery. The award is supported by Arts Council England.

Spanning web series, augmented reality sculptures, immersive installations and autobiographical works filmed on an iPhone, the shortlist is billed as “the most diverse yet” by Adrian Wootton OBE, chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission. “These artists work in a world that is fast-moving, innovative and ever-changing, and their work reflects this,” he says.

Charlotte Prodger, for example, works predominantly on an iPhone and has previously combined YouTube video and spoken text taken from internet forums. Adham Faramawy uses moving image, sculpture and print, and explores the relationship between technology and the body. Marianna Simnett creates large-scale sets and casts real people and actors to create “uncanny world that lies between documentary and drama”.

Find out more about the shortlisted artists here or via the showreel below.