Bertolt Brecht was not a man of compromise.  Sure, he looks like the harmless little fella that runs your local newsagent but his vision single-handledly changed the face of theatre in Europe.  Yes, it is that simple.  Developing a combined theoretical and practical approach to epic theatre as well as his fundamental belief that the stage was a forum for political idea, we can suppose that it was circumstance that led him to Hollywood in the 1940s.

Every writer and director of note (and a great many not) has had their unsuccessful LA period and Brecht's is interpreted by artists Anja Kirschner and David Panos in their newest film The Empty Plan.

Funded as part of the FLAMIN Productions scheme to develop new and innovative works, The Empty Plan - the artists' first feature-length production - shows a Brecht ending up in California during the heyday of the Hollywood studio system while fleeing German fascism, frantically despairing against the culture he then comes up against in the US.

Subtly shifting the international focus from the stage to the silver screen, The Empty Plan juxtaposes a typically Brechtian approach to epic drama against the backdrop of Hollywood excess.  Using theatrical performance and reconstruction, Kirschner and Panos have taken their successes of the past few years and come up with something as unique as Brecht himself.

The Empty Plan is on show at Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea between 22 November - 4 January, 2011 before taking a place at the British Art Show 7 when it transfers to London's Hayward Gallery, London, 16 February - 17 April, 2011.

tank.tv is back!.  Since 2003, tank.tv has has exhibited some of the most exciting artists' film and video over the web, bringing the work high-profile international artists and younger, emerging artists all for free, open-access.  Having shown the work of artists including Martha Rosler, Philippe Parreno, John Smith, John Latham and Joan Jonas is the only online curated gallery of contemporary artists' moving image.

Re-launching this month, tank.tv is showing Itinerant Texts, featuring the work of artists including Isaac Julien, Elizabeth McAlpine, Anna Boggon, Lizzie Hughes, Ane Lan, Jamie Lau, Nada Prlja and Chia-Hua Wu.  The following week, gallery two will open with an exhibition of work from the tank.tv permanent collection, guest curated by the award-winning filmmaking duo Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, fresh from the premiere of their latest work Civic Life: Tiong Bahru.  Including an online project space and a forward programme that includes exhibitions of David Blandy, newcontemporaries 2010, Melanie Manchot, Marie Losier, Ergin Cavasoglu and Maria Marshall, tank.tv will be supporting their online programme with a series of live events as well as providing free access to the entire archive of tank.tv exhibitions.

tank.tv wears its heart on its sleeve and truly takes the internet for what it is: a truly democratic and international experience.  The reputation that it has developed for exhibiting a great roster of artists' film and video is richly deserved.

Itinerant Texts is shown on tank.tv from November.

images: still from Better Life (2010), Isaac Julien, courtesy the artist.  still from Frehel - La Plage (2005), Marcel Dinahet, courtesy the artist.  still from The Colony (2007), Chris Hite, courtesy the artist.

newcontemporaries was established in 1949 to provide a platform for British art students and recent graduates to exhibit their work professionally and over the decades has helped launch the careers of almost every major contemporary British artist, including names such as Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Mike Nelson and Jane and Louise Wilson.  Hosted traditionally in either Manchester or Liverpool before moving to a London exhibition, it this year returns to the ICA, its home for twenty-five years between 1964 - 1989.

Mexican artist Gabriel Kuri, 2008 Turner Prize-winner Mark Leckey and painter Dawn Mellor, a former S&M cabaret performer and painter of grotesque celebrity portraits, form the panel of judges who have chosen this year's 49 artists from the diverse selection of British art schools who can claim their place among the great and the good (and worse) of post-war British art.

Amongst the them is Lebanese artist Caline Aoun from the Royal Academy, who uses inkjet printers and everyday materials such cardboard tubes, Somerset paper and the old Pink'un to make colourful wall drawings and sculptures that tackle the mechanics of how images are created nowadays.  Or there's Nathan Barlex from the Royal College of Art, whose gloopy paintings are layered so thickly with oils, resins and bees wax that the images appear as psychedelic mutant forms melting from the canvas.

From the Slade School of Fine Art there is Ed Atkins, filmmaker and writer of unrealised screenplays.  Goldsmiths gives us filmmaker (and former director of tank.tv) Laure Prouvost, who recently exhibited her video IT, HEAT, HIT - a frantic video-montage of storytelling, pictures and films of everyday events such as a frog swimming in a pond - at Tate Britain. And we even have sculptor and performance artist Pablo Wendel, who caused a media furore in 2006 when he dressed up as a terracotta warrior and joined the clay army in China's ancient capital Xian - until he was discovered and dragged away by the authorities. Wendel once again caught the attention of the press this summer when he squatted in a derelict Battersea fish and chip shop for his Royal College of Art degree show, only to have the staircase into his installation dismantled by staff on health and safety grounds.  In addition to the venue exhibitions, this year sees a record number of exhibiting artists working in film and video, and a curated selection will be screened on tank.tv in December.

Marissa Cox

Bloomberg newcontemporaries 2010 was at A Foundation, Liverpool, from 18 September - 15 November and is at ICA, London, between 24 November - 16 January, 2011.

images: still from A Thousand Centuries of Death, Ed Atkins (2009), courtesy the artist.  still from Rain Translation, Jessica Harris (2009), courtesy the artist.  still from In Ictu Oculi, Greta Alfaro (2009), courtesy the artist.