I’m Tim Grabham, but I’m also sometimes known as iloobia and I’m a filmmaker and animator. Currently I’m living by the sea in Brighton UK, where I run my little independent studio ‘Cinema iloobia’.
My shorts and features have screened internationally and won a few awards even though they are a bit weird, and what is most important to me is being able to spend my days and nights being creative.
Between leaving film school and before getting back into film making I spent quite a few years doing installations and live visuals for gigs, clubs and festivals. I travelled with bulky screens and film and slide projectors across the UK and Europe to events in an old military base in former East Germany, a chalk quarry in Budapest, the Big Chill in the UK and many others until finally we set up our own club night in my home town of Luton where we took over three floors of the 33 Arts Centre once a month with DJ’s, live music and visuals. The rave scene at the time was highly influential on me and the group of creative friends I lived and worked with. The Exodus Collective was a rave movement that came from Luton and the many, many nights of joining convoys at midnight to go to a secret location in an old sand quarry or warehouse along with 15 thousand other people was unforgettable. It drove us to want to create our own collective of creatives which we did for a number of years.
BUDAPEST
A hugely influential period in my life was living for a number of years in Budapest in the 1990’s. This was before Hungary joined the EU. It was (and still is) a wonderful city, but at that time there were a proliferation of amazing raves, club nights, free music events, old independent cinemas and out-door beer gardens to explore throughout the year. A highlight for me was setting up projectors in the huge cave labyrinth under Buda castle hill. A section of the labyrinth which was normally closed off was opened up and thanks to pretty relaxed health and safety regulations it was rammed. These events were legendary. People had known of these tunnels for years but there was rarely access. And now here was a whole massive section being opened up for a giant party. Unique times.
GHOST AMBER
Currently im working on my third feature project which is titled ‘Ghost Amber’. Its the first feature I have directed alone so its very exciting in that regard. The film is a mix of live action and animation, and could be described as a documentary but in the skin of a ghost story. It is primarily about the material of celluloid, however the twin themes of impermanence and memory are ever present. In the current moment where the idea of impermanence could not be more vivid, the film feels very timely.
If you need some animation, motion graphics, title sequences or more, get in touch with us here or contact Tim directly here.
