So there we have it.  It's the morning after the night before the most glamorous night in all of Hollywood.  The night that every star of the silver screen - at least, every star worth seeing - will not dare miss.

And if you did miss it?  If you didn't want to ruin your Monday by staying up until 4am?  Well, let's just say there were few surprises.  As hosts, James Franco and Anne Hathaway were genial, accommodating and audience friendly in a way that Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes wasn't (though probably slightly more fun for it).  Colin Firth, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale all picked up their awards on time and as expected; Firth alongside the major players from The King's Speech, as it also collected Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.  Hmm...what else?  Inception won the top technical awards...Umm...

Oh well...who watches the Oscars for a surprise, eh?  You know what you want: Glamorous girls, hunky guys and more glitz than you can shake a pimp cup at - and Hollywood delivered.  Banksky, of course, missed out in the Best Documentary category for Exit Through the Gift Shop, Cate Blanchett's Givenchy gown was incomparable to anything that walked the red carpet, Jennifer Lawrence (nominated, Best Actress, Winter's Bone) channelled Baywatch-era Pamela Anderson and made it Oscar-safe and Scarlett Johansson really should have done her hair.  And this is all we want.  As one, probably slightly deranged fan commented on the web: "It Was all a Gift to US THE FAN'S to once again Enjoy,Laugh,Cry in Wonderment with all of You Very Talented Actors and Movie Masters...You are Our Escape in This Tattered World...."  His sentiment, though, is sound.  (ps. Maybe it would have been more edgy if Charlie Sheen had turned up???)

Maria Marshall received her BA from Wimbledon College of Art, London, and later studied sculpture at Chelsea College of Art & Design, London, and les École des Beaux-Arts, Geneva.  It was only later that she turned to working in film and video.  The influences, though, continued to present themselves.

On-screen, Marshall presents us with aspects and situations; physical, philosophical and potential.  Often featuring children, Marshall's films develop and build, explore and exploit the anticipations and emotions of tension.  Though these are clearly films made through a visual artistic creative process, the emotional impact has more in common with a more traditional form of cinema-based narrative film.  It's not an easy line to walk, for either artist or audience, but Marshall (and we) fall right into place.

Matthew by Maria Marshall is screening as part of tank.tv + Artprojx Cinema NY, on Thursday 03 March at 15.25, at the SVA Theatre, NY.

A girl wakes up into reality a nightmare a memory.  She can't tell. Terrified at what she may have done, she runs.  This film presents a chillingly nightmarish scenario that is both surreal and far too real.  Continuing to showcase the work of the current cream of artist-filmmakers, Because London brings to you Ruth Paxton.

Scottish Writer/director Ruth Paxton makes work that sits at the intersection of art film and artist's film.  Combining a formal cinematic aesthetic with experimental film and video technique, She Wanted To Be Burnt (2007) (to be screened within tank.tv + Artprojx Cinema NY) provides us with the perfect example.  The film, a first-person account of the night before the morning after, episodic series' of various states of mind are connected by nightmarish symbolism and traditional surrealist elements - the litterature contains the account of dreams.  Undoubtedly these are cinematic (in the practical sense) techniques that will please both maker and audiences alike but also break with traditional cinematic conventions in favour of a more visual artistic trope.  And the film has been an international success having been exhibited internationally and nominated in competitions across Europe.  Paxton's latest film, Paris/Sexy, won the UK Film Council Best British Short Film at the London Short Film Festival 2011.

For each of her works, Paxton develops a singular aesthetic, rhizomatically and tangentially influenced through the arts and culture, fashion (her films have a very refined stylistic sensibility) and sound.  It's not too often that women are celebrated as makers of mainstream narrative cinema feature film, and maybe this has something to do with Paxton's visual arts background.  Much is made of the difference between the two but what is she to say?  Hers are just great films.

She Wanted To Be Burnt is screening at tank.tv + Artprojx Cinema NY, on Thursday 03 March, 2011, at the SVA Theatre, NY.