Success for new film fest
Isle of Man Film Festival Scene Stealer Challenge. From left Lee Boardman, Phil Hawkins, Gary Myers, Emily Cook, Simon Harris, Bev Lawley, Mike Reaney and Raff Degruttola. Photo - Andi Howland
THE inaugural MannIN Shorts Isle of Man Film Festival has been hailed a great success.
Based mainly at the beautiful Broadway Cinema in Douglas and supported by the Isle of Man Arts Council, the three-day festival was packed to the brim with workshops and film events.
It kicked off with an Isle of Man Film Q&A Screening of multi-award winning Manx shot film The Heart of Me, with producer Martin Pope and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon.
The Saturday then started with a well-attended writing workshop with Anne Marie O’Connor, writer for Waterloo Road and Sky TV’s Trollied.
That afternoon, Isle of Man Arts Council held their Young Filmmaker of Mann showcase and prize giving.
The standard of entries was yet again exceptional, with Brook Wassall and Jack Bridson being crowned overall winners for their beautiful documentary The Play People at Tynwald Day. In addition, 17-year-old Kyle Withington - winner of three categories - was surprised with a special award. The day finished with an Evening with the Indies event, designed to inspire and impassion new filmmakers, as well as create opportunities by networking with internationally successful independent filmmakers. Five special guests screened their material and shared their stories of how to get ahead in the industry. Award-winning filmmaker (and Spielberg’s ‘favourite new director’) Phil Hawkins, Leeds-based filmmaker Danny Lacey, workshop leader Lee Boardman and actor/filmmaker Raffaello Degruttola (Saving Private Ryan, Quantum of Solace) were all on hand throughout the evening.
‘It’s great to see such a vibrant and committed filmmaking community,’ said Phil.
‘After five minutes talking to these guys, it made me really want to just pick up a camera and shoot something. I’ll definitely be back next year. It was a fantastic festival showcasing exciting Manx talent who are definitely ones to watch for the future.’
‘I’m staggered by the amount of talent over here,’ added Lee, ‘not just actors but writers, directors and crew - it’s our hope in the long term to really help along an indigenous filmmaking industry on the island.’
On the last day, Lee and Raff hosted an acting and directing workshop. Then everyone quickly decamped back to Broadway Cinema for the sold out Big Ideas, Mini Movies event, which previewed Manx made MannIN Shorts finalist films I Do and Hide & Seek, along with teaser trailers and first footage from Closet and Solace in Wicca. Cast and crews were invited to discuss their experiences and give the audience an insight into making short films in the island.
But one of the most popular moments of the weekend was the Scene Stealer Challenge competition, where two teams were tasked with recreating iconic scenes from The Graduate and The Shining.
Their incredible efforts were judged by Saturday evening’s special guest visitors and The Graduate team were pronounced winners of the Shortie Award, sponsored by Isle of Man Film.
‘It’s been a huge success,’ said MannIN Shorts’ Dave Armstrong.
‘This is a culmination of many months, years even, of hard work, to get to this point.
‘With this being the first time we’ve run it, we kept everything relatively contained, but the long term idea is to create a festival that will be well respected on the international circuit.
‘We want to encourage filmmakers from around the world to include the island on their hitlist of places to screen, but more than that, we want to shout about the incredible homegrown talent - of which there is an abundance!’
MannIN Shorts thanked all their sponsors for supporting the event.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
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Temperature: 9 C to 13 C
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