04.09.10
My new film 'Where There's Smoke' got picture lock yesterday. Just thought i'd let you know!
Hopefully next week we will be getting the ball rolling on sound design.
01.09.10
Not a bad start to September! Just got an email telling me that 'Things We Leave Behind' has been selected to screen in competition in the 'Late Lounge' programme as part of Encounters International Film Festival 2010.
Also I will be eligible for the 'Brief Encounters Grand Prix' award with a prize of £2000. Oh that would be nice!
Not sure when it's screening but as soon as I do i'll let you all know.
30.08.10
'Things We Leave Behind' screened at the Sao Paulo Film Festival this weekend and my good friend Tales (who lives in Sao Paulo) emailed me some pictures from the event. What a winner!
22.08.10
Things We Leave Behind' has been invited to screen at the Cambridge Film Festival as part of the Screen East Digital Shorts 2009 programme.
The festival runs from the 16 - 26 September. Dates of when my film is screening to be announced shortly.
For information about the festival visit: http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/.
14.08.10
'Things We Leave Behind' has been selected for the Branchage Jersey International Film Festival.
The festival runs from the 23 - 26 September with my film screening as part of 'Dramatic Moments' which takes place at 2.30pm on Sunday 26 September at the Pomme d'Or Hotel Cinema in St Helier.
For information about the festival and all the other great screenings visit www.branchagefestival.com.
07.08.10
I should have posted this news a week ago but social life took over and I forgot. Whoops!
‘Wires and Bows’ was selected to screen at the ‘The Train’ in Dalston, London.
The event was held on an amazing rooftop space that was completely Astroturfed, had vegetables and flowers growing in raised flower beds and a small white picket fence surrounding it all. There was also a BBQ and a small pink shed that drinks were being sold out off up one end and at the other end a large white wall used as the cinema screen.
The night included performances and a great selection of short films ranging from archive animations to black and white silent movies to more experimental new shorts like ‘Wires and Bows’. Fun was had by all.
27.07.10
More festival success. 'Things We Leave Behind' just got into the 7th Naoussa International Film Festival in Greece. Yeay!
It runs from the 30th Sept - 3rd Oct 2010 so if any of you guys live in sunny greece pop over and take a look. It looks like a great festival this year.
20.07.10
Bit of an update about the edit for my new Screen East / UKFC short 'Where There's Smoke'.
After a week or two of letting the dust settle and then a week of watching my beautiful rushes, me and my fantastic editor Aggi spent 2 days last week editing the footage into our now 15 minute rough cut. I say rough cut but that would be doing Aggi an injustice. It's very far from rough and actually is looking in pretty good shape. Obviously we still know there is loads of work to do to improve it but we feel it's at the stage that we should get some feedback from my lovely executives Sam Burton (Screen East) and Julia Caithness (UKFC/Lifesize).
So thats whats happening now. The DVD's will go in the post this week and we have to wait and see what the verdict is. Fingers crossed!
19.07.10
Some festival updates for you all.
Avanca International Film Festival
(Portugese Premiere)
Mondays ain't all bad hey? Today 'Things We Leave Behind' got selected for competition at the Avanca International Film Festival in Portugal. The festival runs from the 28th July - 1st August 2010.
21st São Paulo International Short Film Festival
Just found out some more exciting news! The festival emailed me the end of last week to tell me that 'Things We Leave Behind' is included in the 'DARK SIDE' showcase dedicated to Horror and the Fantastic and due to it being a very popular screening in previous years they are screening the films 3 times on 3 separate occassions throughout the festival. The festival runs from the 19th - 27th Aug so if anyone is in Brazil around those dates (basically I mean my friend Tales) check it out.
Comic Con International Independant Film Festival
'Things We Leave Behind' is screening this friday at the Comic Con International Film Festival in San Diego and i'm gutted I can't be there as it sounds amazing.
Alongside the short film festival, Comic-Con is the world's largest pop-culture festival and is in it's 41st year celebrating all things nerdy, geeky and cool. It will be showing all manner of video games, movies, television shows, anime, and comics alongside some great previews and screenings of up and coming movies such as 'Tron Legacy' & 'Paul', the new Simon Pegg/ Nick Frost film.
For more info on films featuring at Comic Con have a look at their official website or the Empire Magazine website.
10.07.10
I have just launched the Facebook group for my new UK Film Council & Screen East short 'Where There's Smoke'.
I will be updating it regularly with all the latest news on post production and festival screenings but for now you can look through the production stills and behind the scenes pictures taken by my talented stills photographer Chris Harris.
(NB: Some of the behind the scenes pics are courtesy of Carl Homer.)
So if you'd like to keep up-to-date with my new film please join my Facebook group by clicking here. Thanks for your support.
08.07.10
Today 'Things We Leave Behind' was selected for competition at the 'Sao Paulo International Film Festival' in Brazil. The Festival runs from the 24 October to 4th November 2010.
30.06.10
Tiny update about my new film 'Where There's Smoke'. We finished shooting over a week ago now and are planning to go into the edit this weekend. I will be putting stills from the shoot up on 'Where There's Smoke' film page soon but here is the crew photo for now.
29.06.10
‘Things We Leave Behind’ just got selected for the big Sci-Fi and Horror festival ‘Comic Con International’ in San Diego. It will be screening on July 23rd and will be the film's US premiere.
28.06.10
Just got back from ‘In the Palace’ film festival in Bulgaria where ‘Things We Leave Behind’ was screening in competition. What an amazing time we all had.
I landed Tuesday evening in Varna along with some other UK film-makers and was met by Victor (Festival Organiser) and Tsanko (Festival Director). I rode with Tsanko in his festival Mini Cooper and what a nail biting experience that was racing down pot-holed roads at 110mph.
After pulling my fingernails out of the dashboard, me and my new room mate, Rob Speranza, (Producer & New Yorker living in Sheffield and all round good bloke) dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed off to party at one of the many festival music gigs and to drink lots of 70p Zagorka beer.
When the sun came up the next morning we saw how stunning Balchik really was with the view of the Black Sea from our hotel room balcony.
The festival itself was divided between the coastal town and the stunning grounds of the former Bulgarian Queen's Summer Palace.
Most mornings were spent in the Palace gardens with lunch at the Palace restaurant (50% off already cheap food) then 4 hours of short films. The festival also had a big music festival attached to it so after the screenings we all went into the market square for more cheap beer and live music. The bands were great and ended up hunging out with a Danish band called ‘LA Prostitutes’, drinking vodka and pitbull (Bulgarian Redbull!) around the hotel pool.
Every night was finished off dancing till 6am in the beach bar Dah Dah; a wonderfully bad club overlooking the Black Sea playing nothing but hilariously brilliant Bulgarian music. This track was played every night much to everyone’s delight. Click here for the wonder that is 'Yolanda Be Cool'
Just to add to the craziness of this trip I got asked one night to go on Bulgarian radio to talk about my film. A particularly odd night!
My film screened on Friday evening and seemed to go down well. The festival as a whole was a blast and I met a great bunch of talented filmmakers.
My recommendations from the festival are ‘Life's Hard’ by Gabriel Sirbu which in my opinion should of won the Best Short Award, a charming and funny animation by the Bulgarian / UK filmmaker Angel Yanakiev called ‘Night train’, 'Scent' by UK director Darren Bolton and 'Paper Love' by my now good friend Armin Mobasseri.
I finally got home to the UK late last night feeling a little worse for wear after seeing the sun come up 3 nights in a row over the Black Sea. Not because I love sunrises but because the club kicked us out.
The flight was hellish and was stuck for 3 long hours with 2 screaming kids in front of me and 3 guys behind me with no volume control, but was cheered up when I got home to see an email telling me my film had just been accepted into another festival in the USA. Whoop!
Oh nearly forgot... how wierd is this?
As the plane started it's descent into Luton Airport it flew directly over the spot on the Suffolk coast where I shot my new film
'Where There's Smoke' just a week prior. What are the chances of that happening?
21.06.10
Late last night we finished an intense 4 day shoot of my new short film 'Where There's Smoke'.
(commissioned by UK Film Council / Screen East)
The cast and crew were simply amazing and worked their socks off to help me get amazing performances and stunning shots. It was a pleasure to work with them all and couldn't have gone better. We also got the chance to raise the 'production value' bar from the last film (thanks to Andy Parson's generosity) by using his 26ft jib for the opening and end shots.
I'm now off to Bulgaria tomorrow morning for 6 days to see my last film 'Things We Leave Behind' screen at the 'In The Palace' film festival so will write more about the shoot and the festival when I get back as well as adding some pictures.
11.06.10
The last 4 days I have been directing a project for Andy Parsons' company Bruizer. It was for NHS Mental Health and I had the pleasure of working with some fantastically talented actors. They had to give some really hard, emotional performances and they did themselves proud.
Another bonus of doing this project was getting to work with some familiar faces from my last film ‘Things We Leave Behind’.
Andy Parsons (who was the DoP on my last film) was behind the camera and his faithful sidekick John Fensom was with him which is always a pleasure. Also Carl Homer came down to record sound so it was like a small reunion.
We shot it on the P2 as well as the new Canon 7D which I must say looks fantastic. Still can’t get used to the camera being some small though!
If 4 days filming in Suffolk wasn’t good enough all these guys will be working with me again from 17th – 20th June 2010 when we shoot my next UKFC & Screen East commissioned digital short ‘Where There’s Smoke’. We are filming along the beautiful Suffolk coastline on a beach called Shingle Street. It’s wonderfully bleak (just how I like it) and should look amazing on the RED camera we are shooting it on. How bloody exciting!
06.06.10
Yesterday I was casting for my new film ‘Where There’s Smoke’.
Myself, Zorana Piggott (my Producer) and Katy Moylan (Casting Director) spent the whole day in the small basement of a bookshop near Covent Garden auditioning some very talented actors and have finally (after some deliberation) picked my James, Kate and Tom.
James will be played by Lee Sellers. Kate will be played by Cara Horgan and Tom will be played by Mark Frost.
27.05.10
More festival success!
'Things We Leave Behind' has got into 2 festivals in one day.
It is screening at the ‘Festival of Nations’ in Austria from 13th - 18th June as well as the ‘Ischia Film Festival’ in Italy from 4th - 9th July.
Although I’m unable to get over to see it screen in Austria due to me shooting my new film I will hopefully get to fly out to Italy to see it at the ‘Ischia Film Festival’ at the end of July all being well.
I am heading over to see it screen in Bulgaria though, at the
‘In The Palace Film Festival’ at the end of June. The festival is in the grounds of the Bulgarian Queen’s summer palace overlooking the Black Sea so should be pretty special and will be a nice rest bite after 4 days of shooting in Suffolk for the new film ‘Where there’s smoke’.
13.05.10
Thought you’d all like a wee update on the latest developments with my next UKFC / Screen East digital short.
Since getting the call from my wonderful Exec Sam Burton I’ve been on the search for a new producer. Beth my fantastic producer from my last film has just had a beautiful baby girl called Nell so she was no longer available. So after a week or so of searching I have finally been lucky enough to get the talented Zorana Piggott to producer my next film ‘Where there’s smoke’.
For those of you that don’t know what the new film's about here is a little synopsis to wet your appetite:
‘When James and Kate decided to spend a week on the Suffolk coast things should have been perfect. But some recent news has turned everything upside down.
As James struggles to deal with his emotions a stranger’s good intentions only serve to fuel James' insecurities with tragic consequences.’
02.05.10
This week was the start of the East End Film Festival where ‘Things We Leave Behind’ was screening in competition for the ‘Best Short Film’ award.
My film screened on 29th April at the Rich Mix Cinema along with another entertaining short film ‘Back To Nature’ by Guy Pitt and medium length feature film 'Leaves’ by Ian Waugh.
Being a local festival for me I got to see a lot of shorts over the week. My highlights being the fantastic ‘Mix Tape’ by Luke Snellin, ‘Father’ by David Leon, and ‘My Dad the Communist’ which I was happy to see win the Audience Award on the closing night.
Overall this was such a fantastic festival to be a part of and the award’s ceremony and after show party were a hoot. Unfortunately my film came away empty handed but was great to be caught up in the nervousness of an award ceremony for a second time.
26.04.10
This weekend ‘Things We Leave Behind’ showed at the Hull International Film Festival where it was nominated for the Anthony Minghella Award for Best Short. So on Saturday I was up as earlier as a sparrow fart to head to Hull and back.
Arriving at my £25 a night bargain B&B I felt like Marty McFly in Back to the Future. My room was like stepping into the 50’s. The only difference was I didn’t get here by the Delorean but a colourful MegaBus and my skateboarding skills were less than perfect.
After taking advantage of my ‘tea and coffee making facilities’ I headed into town to discover the delights that Hull had to offer. 5 minutes later I was scratching around trying to kill time before meeting up with an old Nottingham friend and filmmaker Amir Bazrafshan who’s film ‘Shot’ was also nominated for the Anthony Minghella Award for Best Short.
Over the weekend I saw some strong films including the wacky ‘Curtains’ by Julian Barrett and Dan Jemmett, ‘Tortoise’ by Andy Bloom and ‘Butterfly’ by Roger Hadfield. I have to say though my highlights were the experimental film ‘Collide-O-Scope’ by Naren Wilks and a sweet animation called ‘Heartstrings’ by Rhiannon Evans; both receiving a special mention from the Jury.
Sadly ‘Things We Leave Behind’ did not win the Anthony Minghella Award but it was a real honour to have been nominated alongside some fantastic shorts.
13.04.10
Great news today!
I mention back in December that my new script got shortlisted into script development for the Screen East/ UK Film Council 'Digital Short Scheme 2010'.
Well I just had a phone call from Sam Burton at Screen East to tell me that I am 1 of 4 directors commissioned to make another 'Digital Short' this year.
The film is presently entitled 'Where There's Smoke' and is about how a couple’s troubled relationship and a stranger’s good intension collide with tragic consequences.
I'll put up more news about the film as and when it happens.
07.04.10
‘Things We Leave Behind’ has been nominated for Best Short Film at the East End Film Festival.
The complete nominated list is as follows:
THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND (Andrew Brand)
CHEESE ROLL (James Cronin)
THE CITY WITH A DIRTY FACE (Pete King)
FATHER (David Leon / Marcus McSweeney)
FORGIVING YOUR P.E. TEACHER (Warren B Malone)
MY DAD THE COMMUNIST (Lab Ky Mo)
NO WAY THROUGH (Alexandra Monro / Sheila Menon)
SCENT (Darren Bolton)
SHAME (Paul Makkar)
SMALL GIFTS (Brady Hood)
STAND AND DELIVER (Gus Alvarez)
STORAGE (David Lea)
TORTOISE (Andy Bloom)
WHORE (Fyzal Boulifa)
The Best Short Film Award will be chosen by the following Jury members:
Zorana Piggott (independent shorts and features producer)
Simon Savory (Peccadillo Pictures)
Jesse Vile (previously with Raindance Film Festival and Futureshorts)
The winner will receive a year-long diploma scholarship, worth £12,000 from SAE UK, a global network of digital film, audio, multimedia, and animation colleges. (SAE is a partner in Middlesex Skillset Media Academy
06.04.10
My film ‘Things We Leave Behind’ will be screening alongside the feature film 'Leaves’ at the Rich Mix Cinema, London on Thursday 29 April, 6.30pm
For programme details please click here)
Tickets can be purchased at:
RICH MIX CINEMA
Bethnal Green Road
London
E1 6LA
BOX OFFICE:
020 7613 7498
WEBSITE
www.richmix.org.uk
30.03.10
'Things We Leave Behind' will be screening on the following dates:
24th April 2010 - 7:00pm
Reel Hull Screen, Hull
‘Things We Leave Behind’ is showing in the 'UK Competition 2' screening and is eligible for the 'Anthony Minghella Award' for Best International Short.
For more info about Hull Short Film Festival please click here.
To look at the full online brochure please click here.
29th April 2010 - 6:30pm
Rich Mix Cinema, Bethnal Green Rd, London
It will be screened alongside the feature film 'Leaves' by Ian Waugh and another short film called 'Back to Nature' by Guy Pitt.
For more info about my screening please click here.
To look at the full online brochure please click here.
20.03.10
After another day of festival application hell it was all made better with some great news.
‘Things We Leave Behind’ has been selected for the 8th Hull International Film Festival which runs from 19th-25th April 2009. It will be shown as part of the UK Competition and eligible for the Anthony Minghella Award for Best International Short (sponsored by the University of Hull).
I will post up the screening times and exact dates as and when I receive them.
12.03.10
Last night ‘Things We Leave Behind’ showed at the industry screening of UKFC & Screen East’s 2009 Digital Shorts.
Screened at the beautiful Charlotte Street Hotel in London, it was our chance to show some of the UK industry professionals what filmmakers in the east can do.
After a couple of free drinks for Dutch courage we all moved into the 70 seat screening room. They kicked off with ‘Bro’ by Chris Dunton followed by ‘Blueberry’ by Matthew Sanger. I saw these 2 great films at the BAFTA screening back in February but was great to see them again. Then it was my big moment which was not as painful as I expected. It seemed to go down well and was great to see it on a big screen finally. Next up was Rory Lowe’s film ‘Midge’. A man by my own heart! A wonderfully dark and eerie film with beautiful Suffolk landscape shots. This film was followed by ‘Crash! Bang! Wallow?’ by Jon Dunleavy and Keith Wilson Singer; a beautifully scripted and funny animation about the suicidal stuntman. The programme was then finished of with ‘Grace’ by David O’Neill.
Overall it was a strong programme of films and I felt proud to be a part of the 2009 slate of Digital Shorts.
13.02.10
What a lovely start to the weekend.
'Things We Leave Behind' has been selected for the East End Film Festival in London.
It will take place between Thursday 22 - Friday 30 April so hope to see you there.
I'll let you know dates and times of when its screening as soon as I hear.
Also earlier in the week 'Things We Leave Behind' had another screening. Screen East showed three of the 2009 slate of Digital Shorts at BAFTA as part of a Screen Agency showcase of short films. It was great as some of the cast and crew of the film turned up and I finally got to show them what all their hard work went towards. Also managed to fit in some networking with a lovely lady called Jaya from Warp X and arranged a meeting to talk about my future plans.
This screening was also great rehearsal for the industry screening on 11th March 2010, where some of the UK Film Industry's most interesting and influential producers, agents, sales companies, funders and other professionals come to see our films.
18.12.09
It's been a while since I wrote some news (due to the madness leading up to Christmas) so I thought i'd give a little update.
Wednesday I had to travel to Norwich for an interview at Screen East for this years Digital Shorts Scheme. I'd entered my new script idea and been one of the lucky 18 to be shortlisted from 112 applicants.
The interview went well and the next day the lovely Sam Burton at Screen East called to tell me i'd been selected to go into script development in January.
So now there are 7 of us left and only 5 scripts will get green lit. Lots of writing in the new year for me.
I'll keep you posted
25.10.09
My new film ‘Things We Leave Behind’ is finally finished.
This Sunday I had to travel back down to sunny Suffolk to Andy Parson's production studio ‘Bruizer’ to finish the grade and finalise the sound.
Once again my morning didn’t start off as smooth as it could of.
I didn’t wake up late like last weekend when heading to Cambridge for the mix, but instead stupidly woke up an hour early forgetting the clocks went back. This wasn't helped by my slight hungover from a night before at my wonderful Art Director Ruth Parker’s 30th birthday.
If all this wasnt enough to royally piss me off it was finally compounded by the realisation that there was engineering works and I had to get on a train, a bus and then another train to get to Melton. Grrrr!!
Anyhow 3 hours later I met John Fensom at Melton train station where we whizzed off to do the most essential thing in our schedule. Go to the Farm Café in Woodbridge and get a massive juicy burger to kill this proxy hangover.
Now suitably stuffed and watered, John and I headed over to Bruizer to crack on with the Grade. It was amazing fun and incredible to see what John had done to already beautiful footage. It all looks so amazing and he has done a sterling job on it.
After the Grade was done it was just a case of adding the final tweaks to the sound and the film was finished.
So thats it! Everything else bar playing it out to tape is done and I must admit it feels a tad weird.
This film has been a real pleasure to make and I've got the opportunity to work with the nicest bunch of people you could ever wish for. If it wasn't for their generousity with their free time it wouldn't have worked out so well. I am eternally grateful to them all.
20.10.09
This weekend was a sound extravaganza!
I set off to Leicester to spend a day in a windowless room with Grant Bridgeman my faithful sound designer with the aim to finish the sound design on my latest film ‘Things We Leave Behind’.
Grant has a wonderful studio setup in the heart of the countryside and was a beautiful environment to work, even though I only saw bits of it from the car window and during the occasional tea breaks.
20.09.09
Had a great day yesterday in sunny Suffolk
recording some ADR for 'Things We Leave Behind'.
We did the ADR at Andy Parson's (DoP) company 'Bruizer' which is situated down near the beautiful Suffolk coastline.
Bruizer is a fantastic film and video production studio which also providing crews, facilities and production management for all types of media. They are housed in an old fire station on the scenic ex-RAF base at Bentwaters Parks which has oodles of office space, edit suites, sound recording facilities, meeting areas and a versatile 2,000 sq ft studio. It's a great argument for why not to make films in London.
So me and Jonny Phillips (who's now supporting a striking handle bar moustache) travelled down to Melton to grabbed a spot of lunch with Carl Homer, our faithful sound recordist, before driving over to see Andy and John Fensom.
After tea and flapjacks we all sat down to watch the final cut of the film. I was bricking it!! but luckily everyone seemed to really love it which is great as I really wanted the guys to be as proud of it as I am.
Then me, Carl and Jonny cracked on with the ADR which went, as expected... Great! (bar the occasional interuption from jet fighters and blood squawking crows).
After recording some lines of dialogue and trying not to laugh as Jonny made angry noises and kicked an imaginery post, we had just enough time for me and John to take a look over how the Grades going to look. Cant wait as it's going to look fantastic when John's worked his magic.
12.09.09
My my hasn't it been a while.
I lost internet at home for what felt like a life-time, so not been able to update this as much as I hoped.
Oh well i'm back on the internet highway so thought i'd give you all an update on whats been happening since we shot the film all the way back in mid August.
Since the shoot i've been trying to find a new editor as my first editor, the lovely Aggi, unfortunetly had her kit stolen and was unable to cut the film.
Luckily my good friend Simon Ellis offered his expert editing skills so all's well that ends well.
So off I popped to Nottingham three weekends ago to start the edit and what a fantastic edit it was.
It was really nice to be editing with a good mate and we managed to have a really good balance between work and hanging out shooting zombies!! No really we were shooting zombies... Nazi zombies to be precise!
Also got to see 'Inglorious Basterds' which was thoroughly entertaining if not a bit of a guilty pleasure. Has some very nasty bits in it and I did come out of the screening feeling a bit bad at finding it entertaining.
Anyhow after 2 weekends of fantastically smooth and relaxing editing 'Things We Leave Behind' has got picture lock. And if I do say myself it looks fanastic!!
So the edit is done and the next stage can begin. Hopefully next week the Grade and Sound Design will start and this coming weekend a few of the gang will be getting together to record some ADR in Suffolk. Can't wait.
Well that's it for now. More news to follow soon.
22.07.09
My new film 'Things We Leave Behind' has a Facebook page. If you would like to know all about my new film's progress and the festivals you can see it at please become a member.
Just
follow the link below and also recommend it to your friends.
The more support the better!
CLICK HERE to become a member.
21.07.09
'Wires and Bows' has hit the big 30 for International and National screenings.
It will be showing at the 'ArtsFest', Birmingham’s biggest and most vibrant cultural festival on the 12th and 13th September so all go along. It should be a great couple of days.
18.07.09
''THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND' has been shot.
After 4 days of shooting on location in Norfolk and very little sleep i've shot my new film.
'Chris (played by Jonny Phillips) travels to Norfolk to clear his estranged father’s house who’s gone missing from his job as groundsman of a small remote church.
As he starts to clear the cottage of his father’s belongings Chris not only discovers facts about the father he never knew but slowly unveils the possible reasons for his disappearance.
Haunted nightly by a recurring noise Chris explores clues to his father's disappearance, unaware of the dangers he's digging up.'
We had the most perfect weather for the shoot which was lucky as 60% of the film is set outside in the Norfolk landscape and the footage shot by Andy Parsons looks fantastic. I can't wait to get into the edit suite.
I also had the most amazing crew and I have to say that I couldn't of asked for a better bunch of people to spend 4 days filming with in Norfolk so thank you to everyone that made this film happen.
If you are interested there are some great stills by Chris Harris on the Stills Gallery page to give you a taster of whats to come.
07.07.09
Great news again for 'Wires and Bows'. It has been accepted into the 'Rushes Soho Short Festival' as part of the 'Tenderpix Experimental' programme.
It's being screened daily from Sunday 26th July until the 31st at the Tenderpixel Gallery. For screening times you can either visit the Rushes Soho Short Festival website or the Tenderpixel Gallery website.
Also throughout the festival there will be a DVD on sale online and in the gallery containing all the Tenderpix Experimental films from this years festival.
02.07.09
Would you adam and eve it?
'To his knees he fell' is screening again for the 2nd time in as many months. You think after 4 years your old films will never get another screening again so when it happens it's a wonderful feeling.
It will be showing at the Screenlit Festival in Nottingham this weekend so all go along.
It has been programmed into a screening called 'The Long And The Short Of It' by the wonderful guys at the Bang! Short Film Festival.
'Bang Short Film Festival presents a special screening of locally produced short films made by and about Local Legends. Featuring the ground breaking documentary King of the Gypsies (dir Shane Meadows) and To His Knees He Fell, a film inspired by an M. R .James style ghost story (dir Andrew Brand). Guy Noo Bhajan - The Song of the Holy Cow was made by Dena Smiles from Nottingham. It recounts how a cow seems to have fallen from the sky and landed in an ordinary street and one little boy really needs to know if he can keep it as a pet.'
So if your around go and support this great event.
14.05.09
Eureka has finally knocked on my door (and I don't mean Johnson) and i've come up with a new title for my film.
It's called 'Things We Leave Behind' and regular updates will appear on it's new film page.
14.05.09
'Wires and Bows' is closing in on it's 30th screening nationally and internationally with a screening toward the end of June in Derby.
It's part of the wonderful independent FiveLampsFilms film event.
Date to be confirmed.
12.05.09
Well would you adam and eve it. 'To his knees he fell', a film I made nearly 4 years old has got another screening. Still seems to be life in the old black dog!
It's showing at the FiveLampsFilms Film Event in Derby on the 26th May 2009.
So if you up that neck of the woods go and support this great event.
06.05.09
Wires and Bows' has got another screening on the 21st of May at Number 8 Community Arts Centre in Pershore.
It is showcasing as part of 'Best of Flip' in the run up to the 2009 festival.
22.04.09
'Wires and Bows' in screening tomorrow at Digital Expression 2009 as part of the Darklight Touring program.
Darklight presents an animation programme as part of the annual multimedia exhibition 'Digital Expression' in Institute of Technology, Tipperary.
13.04.09
DIGIBYTE COMMISSION - SCREEN EAST
Great news today! I just heard that from Sam Burton at Screen East that I have been commissioned to make one of the five Digibyte this year.
The film is a short haunting based around how in the 19th Century their was a general fear of premature burial. This led to the invention of many safety devices which could be incorporated into coffins, most consisted of some type of device for communication to the outside world such as a cord attached to a bell that the interred person could ring should he revive after the burial.
The general plot startes with Chris travelling to Norfolk to clear his estranged fathers house who has gone missing from his job as groundsman to a small remote church.
As he clears his fathers belongings from the house Chris not only discovers facts about the father he hasnt known for 20 years but slowly unveils the possible reasons for his disappearance. Haunted nightly by a recurring noise Chris explores clues to his father's disappearance, unware of the dangers he's digging up.
07.03.09
Today was the start of a month long screening of 'Wires and Bows' in 15 different cities across the UK.
It is showing as part of the 'BBC Big Screens' event that showcases short films on twenty-five square metres daylight digital video displays in city centres all over the country.
It will be showing in:
Bradford - (Centenary Square)
Bristol - (Millennium Square)
Cardiff - (The Hayes)
Derby - (The Market Place)
Hull - (Queen Victoria Square)
Leeds - (Millennium Square)
Liverpool - (Clayton Square)
Middlesbrough - (Centre Square)
Norwich - (Chapelfield Plain)
Plymouth - (Armada Way)
Portsmouth - (Guildhall Square)
Rotherham - (All Saints Square)
Swansea - (Castle Square)
Swindon - (Wharf Green)
Waltham Forest - (Walthamstow Town Square)
05.03.09
'Wires and Bows' is showing at '9th Belfast Film Festival' on the 30th March at 7pm.
It is part of the Darklight Touring Programme and is in the section called ''New Adventures in Animation'.
13.01.09
Well what a start to the year hey?
When I thought i'd finished with 'Wires and Bows' it rears its ugly face.
I found out today that my film is being screened as part of the 'BBC Big Screen' event.
This is a unique collaboration between the BBC, LOCOG and UK local authorities which will be placing 16 big screens across 16 UK cities in an attempt to showcase short films to a wider audience.
The screens themselves are the latest twenty-five square metres daylight digital video displays, with a computer-controlled playout and audio system so all very exciting stuff.
'Wires and Bows' will be part of the 'Best of the Fest' screening put together by the 'Flip Animation Festival'.
Dates to follow.
20.11.2008
'Wires and Bows' has been selected for the Beyond Film Festival in Durham. It will be showing as part of the Blue Room screening on 23rd November 2008.
03.09.2008
Well it's back from the dead... 'To his knees he fell' is getting another screening. It's showing as part of a special Halloween screen at the 'Film Cafe' event in Walthamstow, London.
The screening starts at 8pm on 31st October at the Rose and Crown Theatre Pub. This is a wonder place that also hosts theatre, jazz and much more. Each screening presented here is a varied, hand-picked programme of docs, animation and drama and a different, smaller, friendlier alternative to the multiplex.
29.09.2008
Well just got back from Scotland to find out that 'Wires and Bows' has been selected for the 'Bolzano Short Film Festival' in Italy. Its showing as part of the 'ShortFilmExperiment' competition with a possible chance of winning the 'Best Experimental Film', 'Jury', or 'Audience' award.
The festival runs from the 12th - 15th November 2008.
18.09.2008
If it doesn't rain it pours hey?
'Wire and Bows' has got into another festival today. Woo!
It has been selected for the 'l'Alternativa 2008 - 15th Barcelona Independent Film Festival'.
This is the first time i've screened in Spain so quite excited by that.
It's featuring as part of the
'Hall Screen'. A space that combines film screenings and presentations by filmmakers, distributors and curators. It is a section programmed thematically, and its main characteristic is the discovery of new, unusual, investigative film and video.
17.09.2008
More festival news.
'Wires and Bows' got into the Leeds International Film Festival aswell as the Dark Light Touring Program.
Darklight Touring Programme is a choice selection of highlights from the 2008 Darklight Festival that Wires' previously screened in June. They have not published where the touring program is screening yet but as soon as I know I'll post the venues up on here.
The Leeds International Film Festival is a 13 day showcase of 'more than 200 screenings and events in a dozen venues to thousands of filmgoers eager to discover what is really happening in contemporary cinema'.
Wires and Bows has been selected for the UK Short National Competition Programme called "Short Film City".
This will be my 1st time at the Leeds Iinternational Film Festival so I have to tell you what it was like when I get back. Festival is on from the 4th - 16th November.
08.09.2008
Im starting to like this month a lot. 'Wires and Bows' got into it's 7th festival today. It's showing as part of the Flip Animation Festival in Wolverhampton on the 6th-8th November and is entered into the Open Shorts Competition sponsored by ToonBoom. Woo whoo!!
04.09.2008
Well a nice start to the weekend. I've finally got my first film screening in Germany. I was starting to think they didn't like me. 'Wire and Bows' has been selected for the International Film Festival Passau.
The festival is starts November 6th - 9th 2008.
09.08.2008
Last night I went out for a drink and when I returned home a letter was sitting on the side waiting for me. The Olympic's must of started in Sawbridgeworth as I had recieved my 1st award for 'Wires and Bows'.
The Festival of Nations in Austria had awarded my film with a 'Diplom Award' or for the english speaking world a 'Special Mention' award. Yes I know it wasn't a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal (or Bear in the case of this festival) but an award all the same. Got a certificate and everything.
08.08.2008
Well finally I got around to putting my films on my website. I know some of you were wanting to watch my films on the site so after a lot of fannying around I worked out how to do it.
So if you want to watch the whole of my DV Short 'To his knees he fell' Click here.
Also I have but up the 'Behind the Scenes' footage from 'To his knees he fell' if you fancy watching that. Click here if you do.
If you want to watch an excerpt of 'Wires and Bows'
Click here.
And finally if you want to watch an excerpt of 'Smoke'
Click here.
Hope you enjoy them and any feedback would be ace.
Oh sorry that 'Wires and Bows' and 'Smoke' are only excerpts but they are still doing the festival circuits so can't put whole film up yet.
05.07.2008
Well campers another good day!
'Wire and Bows' has been put into competition for the Special flEXiff Award at the The First and the Last International Experimental Film Festival in Sydney, Australia. The festival is on from the 19th - 21st Sept 2008 so i'll let you know if I win. Fingers crossed hey?
11.06.2008
Just heard today that 'Wires and Bows' just got into the Darklight Film Festival in Dublin, Ireland... which is ace.
The festival is on from the 26th - 29th June 2008. They havent told me which screening its in yet but i'll update this when I know.
What a good day!
28.05.2008
Well another festival to the list... how exciting.
'Wires and Bows' is showing at the Festival of Nations in Austria.
17.05.2008
More good news!!
'Wires and Bows' has been selected to show at ArtSway as part of the 'Multichannel' event.
Multichannel is a screening programme organised and curated by ArtSway and SCAN that will take place in ArtSway's galleries from 20 June - 6 July 2008. This year’s Multichannel will build upon the highly successful 2007 Multichannel-screening programme, with the continuing intention of presenting single screen video works by artists and practitioners of ability and promise.
So if anyone is around in Hampshire on these dates (20th June - 6 July) go and have a look. It should be great.
PS... Alison Ballard's piece 'Video' is also showing.
23.04.2008
Good news!!!
My new animation 'Wires and Bows' is showing at the Bang! Short Film Festival.
It is part of the Main Screening on Sunday 27th April so if you are in Nottingham this weekend pop down and check it out.
22.02.2008
I have just finished my new film entitled 'Smoke', in preperation for entry into the '3 Minute Quickie' section at Hamburg Film Festival.
The film came about while I was travelling last year...or was it year before... yes the year before. I was sitting in a town square in Rach Gia, Vietnam, where I noticed a gang of street kids (ranging from 2 - 8 years old) setting fire to anything they could find using plastic bottles full of lighter fluid. It was so mad that I had to film it and make something from it. This became 'Smoke'.
14.02.2008
Ive just finished my new films 'Wires and Bows'. After 3900 drawings, 3 1/2 weeks and lots of tea and Hobnobs my first animation is done. Now I have to send it off to festivals and see if it was worth it.