Electric Sheep

Billing itself as “a deviant view of cinema”, this UK-based magazine is published by Wallflower Press, the independent publishers specialising in books on cinema and the moving image. Some of their academic rigour rubs off on Electric Sheep, mixing with the magazine’s sense of rebellion and outsider status to create an absolutely original title, and an antidote to the platitudes of mainstream movie magazines.

The Stack interview

Name
Virginie Sélavy

Job title
Editor in Chief

What is Electric Sheep?
A quarterly film magazine for lovers of offbeat and left-field cinema.

What makes it different to the rest?
Its focus on provocative, visionary and transgressive cinema; its linking of current releases with past films around a shared theme; its combination of art-house, exploitation, genre, cult, animation and experimental cinema; its readable, non-academic but serious, informed approach; its beautiful, inventive design.

Who makes Electric Sheep?
Our team is led by Virginie Sélavy and art director Emerald Mosley, with assistance from Sarah Cronin and Alex Fitch. The magazine wouldn’t be what it is without our fantastic pool of enthusiastic, knowledgeable and talented contributing writers, illustrators and columnists.

Who reads it?
People who are curious and open-minded.

Why did Electric Sheep start?
Because there was nothing else like it.

Why do you work in magazines?
I don’t feel I work in magazines, I work in film! Actually, ‘work’ is the wrong word.

Aside from the print magazine, what else are you involved in?
We also publish monthly issues online at www.electricsheepmagazine.com as a complement to the print magazine. We organise regular film screenings at the Roxy Bar and Screen and at the Vibe Bar. We were a media sponsor of the Raindance Film Festival. We presented a film at the Big Chill Festival in collaboration with Halloween/London Short Film Festival. We have curated a screening for the Exposures Festival in Manchester and a reading event for the London Short Film Festival. We occasionally contribute to radio programmes on cinema and comics on Resonance FM.

What would you change about Electric Sheep if you could?
Nothing about the magazine itself right now. Of course, it’d be great to have more pages, a decent pay for our contributors, and better distribution, but for that to happen we’ll have to grow a bit more.

Can you pick a favourite issue of Electric Sheep?
The winter 08 issue on snow. It just came together so beautifully!

Where do you see Electric Sheep in five years?
The last year and a half has been so full of fantastic surprises, who knows what may happen next?

Tags: Electric Sheep, film