Anton Hecht is an English artist born in London. In 2007 he asked musicians from around the Durham area to contribute to a soundtrack for a film.[1] In 2005 he was one of seven artists involved in a project to recreate the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven in Lego.[2]

His film Blinking Ballet, made with old people using morphing technology, has been screened at the Gateshead Interchange metro station.[3] A poetry film, made with children from Shotton Colliery, was shown at the Royal Festival Hall's Poetry International 2000 festival.[4] An early poetry film called I Am Romeo (1996) featured in a British Film Institute touring poetry show reel.[5] He has exhibited a multimedia film at the Myles Meehan Gallery in the Darlington Arts Centre[6] and has delivered workshops as part of Architecture Week.[7] He is currently making a work where many people play individual notes.[8] A recent narrative film Motivation, for the UK Film Council, is part of the British Council national touring scheme.[9] He has also written and directed a number of theatre works that incooperate video with live performance, such as Rescued by Rover at Winsford Art Gallery [10] and Having My Pretty at Hull Screen [11] and his theatre work Wrestling Shakespeare, where Hamlet goes World Federation.[12]

Perhaps now his most successful film work is The Trolley Dance, made with old people in Darlington. Over 50,000 people viewed it on YouTube and it was featured on the website of a national newspaper.[13] Another work, using members of the local community with no playing experience to create a visual musical piece was called One Note Band, sometimes called The Spirits i have Called, and Variations this also was a featured video on YouTube and received a lot of web support as well as being shown in European festivals.[14] A new work has been commissioned for the angle of the north celebrations, and is to be projected besides the landmark piece of sculpture, the work is a poetry film where people pose as the letters in and about the streets of gateshead..[1] A collaboration with film maker Richard Lawson on a short called Developed has been shortlisted for the Project direct competition on YouTube [2] He has recently been commissioned to make a work for the Capture scheme run by the Film Council and a TV channel. This work was Bewick Court a musical, which received wide media attention and a premiere at the Baltic art gallery in Newcastle. [3]

References

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  1. ^ "Hitting 'de-note'". BBC Wear. 26 June 2006. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  2. ^ "Town is to be recreated in Lego". BBC News. 22 August 2005. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  3. ^ nexus.org, accessed September 14, 2007. [dead link]
  4. ^ turning-the-tide.org.uk Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, accessed September 14, 2007.
  5. ^ lux.org.uk, accessed September 14, 2007. Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "The Northern Echo, June 26, 2006". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
  7. ^ architectureweek.org.uk Archived 2007-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, accessed September 14, 2007.
  8. ^ journallive.co.uk
  9. ^ britfilms.com Archived October 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Live Art Archive - Rescued by Rover - Anton Hecht - Vale Road Community Arts Centre, - 1994
  11. ^ Live Art Archive - An AHDS Performing Art & Collection
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 March 2005. Retrieved 1 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ Roberts, David (4 March 2008). "Trolley Dance attracts thousands of visitors". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  14. ^ Art Video Screening - Screening 2008