The Bachelor Tree

There’s only one thing that we can really say about this film – we love it! It’s a true delight – a modern twist on the fairy tale, with elements of riddle, limerick and legend.

As Mark Turnock, the film’s director and co-writer explains:

“We made this as our graduate film for UCA Farnham, on a budget of £3,500 (most of which went on petrol), as a labour of love. We wanted to make something silly and bawdy, with an old ‘English’ sense of humour that you don’t really see around much nowadays. The film exists to be entertaining and inconsequential, a vaudeville piece in some seaside theatre, or a pantomime that pulls its audience along and asks for nothing more than they forget the world around them- just for fifteen minutes- and enjoy themselves. When it ends, the viewer should be left with a smile; and the feeling that they’ve reconnected with something magical, a sense of fun that perhaps isn’t really found anywhere else these days.”

Each time we have screened this film, every audience member has emerged from the cinema beaming. We are certainly looking forward to screening this film again soon, and in the meantime, you can watch it here on Vimeo – we would definately encourage you to do so!

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival - August 2010; Compton Verney Art Gallery – November 2010; Ramsgate Summer Squall Festival – August 2011

Uncomfortable

This short film earned David Salas an award at the Two Short Nights Film Festival last year, and it’s no surprise – although the film is only just over 10 minutes long, it packs a punch.

When Frank’s wife collapses he does nothing. We stay with him for 24 hours as his wife remains on the floor, unmoving, and he slowly begins to fully understand the enormity of what has happened.

The cinematography is beautiful and haunting, and draws the audience into Frank’s world, alone and in shock. David Salas has a keen sense for how to draw emotion out of the moving image, and we look forward to seeing more of his work in the future and also to screening this beautiful short film again.

See the Uncomfortable website for more details.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010

Rifts

Vicki Psarias is someone that we suspect is going to go far – she is already a multi-award winning filmmaker, winning plaudits for her short films Rifts and Broken which have screened at international film festivals from Dinard to LA.

Rifts is her MA graduation film, and helped garner her The Channel 4 4Talent Award for Best Filmmaker in 2007 where she was heralded as a ‘future creative hero’. The film has screened at film festivals internationally, picking up Best Film and Best Screenplay awards along the way. A feature screenplay based on the short film and Vicki’s idea is now being written by screenwriter Phil Hughes and produced by Lee Brazier.

The short film follows two warring kebab shop owners, and in the microcosm of an urban British street, it cleverly mirrors much bigger global issues and culture clashes. We certainly can see why the film has been chosen to be developed into a feature length film, and we are looking forward to seeing it!

See Vicki’s website for details of this and all her films.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010

Night / Day

Night/Day is a short film that was commissioned through the UK Film Council’s ‘Digital Shorts’ scheme and co-produced by Somerset Film and South West Screen. It is a moving short drama was filmed on location in Somerset with a local cast and crew, and yet again demonstrates how much talent that the South West film industry is harbouring.

Set in 1979, this film is about David, a ten year-old boy who fears he is losing his mother’s affection. He struggles with the day-to-day impact his bedwetting has on his life and uses the opportunity to sing in his school concert to win her love back.

In 12 short minutes, this film really does draw you into David’s life – it’s a heartwarming and cleverly presented tale, and Jack Osmond, who plays David, is a strong and convincing actor – one to watch in the future!

See the Night / Day website for more details – we very much hope to screen this film again soon.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010

This is Purgatory

To some, ‘purgatory’ relates to a space of limbo between Heaven and Earth. However, to a handful of  residents near Stroud, purgatory is much more close at hand – it’s the name of a small piece of woodland near where they live. This delightful short documentary follows some of these residents as they talk about their own take on the idea of life, death and purgatory.

James Edmonds created the film in 2008; it had a quite unique genesis – 24 artists of various media were invited to respond to randomly generated map references in the Stroud Valleys area of Gloucestershire. His reference included Purgatory woods – but what started out as an attempt to find out why the wood was so named quickly became a fascinating series of character studies and a quirky  humorous  and moving reflection on life now and life hereafter, and there are some absolutely delightful gems amongst the scenes that he filmed. While the film has obvious local interest, the appeal goes far beyond the borders of Purgatory woods!

We look forward to screening this film again in the future.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010

Where’s the Party To?

A cracking short documentary which explores the past, present & future of the legendary music scene in Bristol. With interviews and footage from such Bristol household names as DJ Derek, Pinch, Deli G, Queen Bee, Clipz, Scott Hendy, Parker, Amo, John Stapleton, MC Kelz and many many more. If you are interested in the world-famous music scene in Bristol, this is a great look at the people who actually make things happen! The film focuses on the underground scene rather than the most famous acts who have come out of Bristol. In this way, it shows how this city has evolved to become a key part of the UK music scene, and how it continues to lead the way.

See the Shooting People website to have a look at the film, or the Chemical Records website to buy the film.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010

The Boat People

‘The Boat People’ is a feature length film that was shot in South Devon, but has since travelled the world, earning selections at films festivals from Hollywood to Salento, from Filmstock to Fargo.

It’s a psychological thriller -  Jared is taken to the coast by his new girlfriend, Alice. They stay in the seaside cottage she’s owned all her life with her sister, Cleo. As soon as he gets there, Jared begins to have haunting dreams of a distant exotic land. The dreams excite Alice.

Even more weird is that when Cleo unexpectedly turns up, she somehow seems to know what happens in the dreams without him telling her. Gradually Jared realises that the sisters are using his dreams to uncover a long-buried secret from their childhood, when they lived in Vietnam and their parents were brutally murdered.

But who was the murderer? And why does Jared begin to feel that his life is now threatened? As the landscape and the house reveal their secrets, Jared becomes more and more drawn into the twisted world of The Boat People. First they take over his dreams, then they take over his mind.

‘The Boat People’ keeps the audience on edge, teasing them with flashes from some other place and time. The film is well paced and the cinematography excellent, and we think that this film has certainly earned its place at the international table of film festivals. We look forward to screening it again sometime soon.

See the Boat People website to watch a trailer, get info on where you can see it next and buy the DVD.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010

Sita Sings the Blues

Nina Paley’s feature-length animated labour of love is an inspiring and mystical journey through Indian legend and through her life. Nina chose to distribute the film through a Creative-Commons Attribution-Share Alike License, which means that she has given the film to the world as a gift. In her own words, she states:

“You don’t need my permission to copy, share, publish, archive, show, sell, broadcast, or remix Sita Sings the Blues. Conventional wisdom urges me to demand payment for every use of the film, but then how would people without money get to see it? How widely would the film be disseminated if it were limited by permission and fees? Control offers a false sense of security. The only real security I have is trusting you, trusting culture, and trusting freedom.”

Not only is this a radical, even revolutionary, approach to the distribution of a creative piece of work, but the film itself is gorgeous and deep; a musical, animated personal interpretation of the Indian epic the Ramayana. As Nina describes it:

“The aspect of the story that I focus on is the relationship between Sita and Rama, who are gods incarnated as human beings, and even they can’t make their marriage work.

And then there’s my story. I’m just an ordinary human, who also can’t make her marriage work. And the way that it fails is uncannily similar to the way Rama and Sita’s [relationship fails]. Inexplicable yet so familiar. And the question that I asked and the question people still ask is, “Why”? Why did Rama reject Sita? Why did my husband reject me? We don’t know why, and we didn’t know 3,000 years ago. I like that there’s really no way to answer the question, that you have to accept that this is something that happens to a lot of humans.”

We applaud Nina’s talent and her bravery. To see the film or buy the DVD, visit the Sita Sings the Blues website.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010

Animated Exeter

Animated Exeter is an annual festival initiated in 1999 and developed by Exeter City Council. With an audience of around 15,000, Animated Exeter is now the premier animation festival in the South West. Its core aims are to:
*Excite and inspire young people
*Encourage and foster talent
*Showcase high quality animation
They run a year round programme of workshops for schools and young people in the South West, with information about further education and career paths into the animation industry; competitions for animators; showcasing high quality international animation and curating exhibitions to entertain and inform the public.

We have been pleased to be able to showcase some of the previous winners of the Animated Exeter competitions, and the quality and depth of these short films showed just how much talent the British animation industry has, as well as how many young and upcoming young animators are waiting in the wings.

The next festival is scheduled for 14 – 26 February 2011, see the Animated Exeter website for details. We’re certainly looking forward to it!

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival – August 2010; Compton Verney Art Gallery – November 2010

Petroc Graduates’ Short Films

North Devon College’s graduate class of 2010 produced some great animations and films, and we suspect that there might a few names to watch in the future amongst the class. We wish them all the best of luck with their future careers!
SCREENED AT: Petroc, June 2010 & The Aeon Festival, August 2010

See the Petroc website for details of courses on offer.