the scottish screen industries magazine
feb - march 2009 glasgow film festival | the magic lantern | 4ip | nets 2009 | cinespace
news
Front cover image: Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, screening at The Glasgow Film Festival
editorial February sees the fifth Glasgow Film Festival, and what promises to be, as co-director Allan Hunter says, “the best yet”. There is so much to see – films from all over the world, including a focus on Mexico (Viva Mexico!), an Audrey Hepburn retrospective, and new Music and Film, and Youth Film strands. In addition to bringing the world to Scotland, GFF09 showcases Scotland’s contribution to the world of filmmaking, and shines a bright light on some names to watch for in the future in their Great Scots strand, which Scottish Screen is sponsoring, highlights of which include Richard Jobson’s latest Edinburgh-set thriller, New Town Killers. In this issue, co-directors Allan Hunter and Allison Gardner select (with some difficulty) their own personal recommendations of films to catch at this year’s festival. The Magic Lantern is once again programming the Short Film Festival strand at GFF09, featuring shorts from around the world, which should delight and excite. We talk to Penny Bartlett and Rosie Crerar about how The Magic Lantern has grown and developed in size, scope and ambition. And Penny also writes for us about the recent education exchange she attended to Dieppe in France for the GFT.
Slightly further afield, but included in the GFF09 short film programme, we hear back from Adrian McDowall and Finlay Pretsell, freshly returned from Robert Redford’s prestigious Sundance Film Festival, where their BAFTA Scotland winning short, Ma Bar, was selected to screen. It seems the duo’s promotional tactic of “a full-on Scottish charm offensive and Finlay’s kilt” worked well, as they were greeted with shouts of “MA BAR!” on Main Street in Park City. We also hear from another director, Simon Hynd, whose feature debut, Sensless has been nominated for Best Feature Length Drama at this year’s Celtic Media Festival. Simon writes of adapting his very visual style of filmmaking to a dialogue-packed, tightly-scheduled, and child-acted TV programme, Half Moon Investigations. The way we consume and fund TV is changing, as recognised by Ofcom in their recent review of public service broadcasting. Channel 4's Innovation for the Public Fund (4iP) acknowledges this changing world and aims to discover new public service media. Ewan McIntosh, Digital Commissioning Manager, explains what 4iP is, and the opportunities it presents for media creators of all kinds.
Putting film into new contexts is what Cinespace is all about, and in this issue, Scottish Screen’s Jennifer Armitage explains how this new initiative, involving partners from three European cities, Glasgow, San Sabastian, and Venice, aims to combine technology and moving image to enrich our cultural experiences. Also in this issue, we meet the new batch of NETS trainees, who have just been recruited on the 2009 skills development programme. And Robin MacPherson from Screen Academy Scotland tells us about their recent masterclass with major producing talent, Andrew Macdonald, as well as some of the success stories to come out of the Academy, and a look at the year ahead.
Linsey Denholm Editor
Creative Scotland Creative Scotland, the new body that will inherit the functions and resources of Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council is now expected to be up and running in 2010. The short life limited company, Creative Scotland 2009 Ltd, being chaired by Ewan Brown, will complete the transition process. Creative Scotland, the statutory public body, will be established through the Public Services Reform Bill, which is expected to be presented to Parliament in May this year, allowing the new organisation to be fully established in the first half of next year. To keep up-to-date on all Creative Scotland news please see the Scottish Screen website www.scottishscreen.com.
Published by: SCOTTISH SCREEN | 249 West George Street | Glasgow | G2 4QE | UK e: info@scottishscreen.com | w: www.scottishscreen.com | t: + 44 (0)141 302 1700 Scottish Screen is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC026210
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news
NEW CINEMAS FOR SCOTLAND Eight sites throughout Scotland have been awarded funds to install digital projection equipment and allow access to a wider range of films. Four in total for Dumfries and Galloway, two in the Highlands and Islands, one in Moray, and another venue in Argyll and Bute have all been successful in attracting awards. Film-lovers in Dumfries and Galloway will be closer to a screening venue through an investment from Scottish Screen’s Digital Projection Fund. Two new screening venues will now be established in the area, identified as one of the most underserved for cinema in Scotland. The community in Isle of Whithorn centres around St Ninian’s Village Hall where the installation of a screening room with a capacity of 192 will serve the local population/ area. St Ninian’s Village Hall will launch a film society and show screenings of feature films, documentaries and short films.
Two existing cinema providers in Dumfries and Galloway will see their operations enhanced. The Robert Burns Centre (pictured) in Dumfries already provides an invaluable cinema experience for its local audience with a combination of mainstream, art house and crossover films. It aims to present 100 screenings per year using the new equipment. The Cinema in Newton Stewart will install state of the art equipment after ten years as a successful community run venue, attracting around 20,000 film-lovers per year. The Highlands offer specific challenges in terms of film provision and the awards go some way to addressing this by allowing films to be screened in areas with reduced access to purpose built facilities. Club Film
is an award-winning film society in Skye and is run by Chris Young of Young Films, makers of recent Gaelic language film Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle. The club has a specific focus on foreign language and classic films. They aim to use the equipment to further enhance access. The film society also intends to engage with local secondary schools to attract new audiences to these genres. The Highland Theatre in Oban attracts visitors from a very large catchment area. As the only cinema for 90 miles, it will use the new digital projection equipment to increase the diversity of films shown. The current focus on mainstream and family films will continue and be built on to include more diverse programming. They will screen films by local filmmaking talent, archive materials, foreign language, independent and classic films. The new equipment will also enable the cinema to facilitate after-school film clubs for young audiences as well as screenings to suit their senior audiences. The Universal Hall in Forres, Morayshire has screened films for 20 years with a capacity of 200. There is potential to increase the current diet of 20 screenings per year to two screenings per week, including independent, foreign language and mainstream films to complement the programming in Inverness. An award also goes to Aviemore Highland Resort who are in a unique position to present films to local audiences as well as to Scottish and international visitors to the area. The award will contribute to a refurbishment of the cinema facilities in the resort and aims to show 700 screenings per year. The cinema previously attracted audiences of up to 40,000 per year. On re-opening, the venue plans to run festivals of archive film and showcase work from emerging filmmakers at local higher education institutions, in addition to a regular programme of feature films. The Digital Projection Find was launched to invest £300,000 to help fit-out cinemas, multi-art spaces and other venues in rural and remote areas of Scotland with equipment to enable them to project films digitally. The fund was launched to address a well-defined need for Scottish cinemas to modernise and keep up with the demands of changing technology as outlined in the report Tentpoles and Pixels, which can be accessed from www. scottishscreen.com.
contents 2-9
News
10-11
Media News
12-14
Training News
15
Call for Entries
16-17
Investment Awards
18-19
Glasgow Film Festival
20-21
The Magic Lantern: interview
22
Great Scots at GFF09
23
Scottish Screen Locations News
24-25
Credit Crunch Filmmaking: by David Boaretto
26-27
Half Moon Investigations: by Simon Hynd
28-29
4iP: by Ewan McIntosh
30-31
Sundance Festival Report: by Adrian McDowall & Finlay Pretsell
32-33
Cinespace: by Jennifer Armitage
34-35
Nets 2009
36-37
Screen Academy Scotland: by Robin Macpherson
38-39
Dieppe Exchange: by Penny Bartlett
40-41
Calendar
42-43
Location of the Month: Greenock Municipal Buildings
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Ofcom unveils public service broadcasting blueprint for the digital decade A blueprint for sustaining and strengthening public service broadcasting for the next decade was published by Ofcom on 21 January 2009, in its statement Putting Viewers First. The new approach is set out in a series of recommendations to government and Parliament. It will ensure that people are able to watch programmes they value highly, based on what audiences told Ofcom in the largest-ever programme of opinion research on public service broadcasting. It will also ensure that high quality content will be available on-demand on digital television, over the internet, on mobile devices as well as in the TV schedules. The priorities The main recommendations specific to Scotland are:
Short term
stv should remain as a public service broadcaster. As proposed in their September consultation, Ofcom has decided to reduce stv’s obligations in some genres, including news and other programmes produced in Scotland, concentrating public service obligations on times and areas which viewers most value. To maintain the future of regional news in southern Scotland, Border and Tyne Tees areas will be served by a single regional main weekday bulletin. ITV has now pledged to maintain, within a revamped Lookaround programme, a specific local bulletin broadcast at 6 pm and 10.30 pm for audiences in southern Scotland.
Beyond 2011
The BBC has offered to share its regional news infrastructure and pictures with Channel 3 licensees – this represents an important development. Ofcom will consider whether this raises editorial or competition issues and how these partnerships will ensure real choice in the long-term provision of news in Scotland. Given these risks and uncertainties, Ofcom also believes that to sustain strong news provision in Scotland, the UK Government should plan now for a new model, based on an independently funded consortium of news providers and commercial broadcasters. The Scottish Broadcasting Commission has proposed the establishment of a Scottish Digital Network (SDN). SDN would provide news and other programmes via traditional TV and online methods. Responses to our consultation were also in favour of this new network, alongside stv. Ofcom believes that there might be an alternative model for a SDN whereby the network would be a competitive fund which would support a series of inter-connected Scotland-wide television, local television, online and radio content. If resources and competing priorities allow, Ofcom believes that the Scottish Parliament and the UK Government should give further consideration to all of these options and funding methods in order to decide what’s best for Scottish viewers. Vicki Nash, Director Scotland said: “Viewers in Scotland have told us that they value programmes made in Scotland and in the rest of the UK. Today’s proposals offer new opportunities for viewers to access the diverse, vibrant and engaging content they want in a digital world.”
For the full details of Ofcom’s proposals please see their website http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/psb2_phase2/statement
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London Film School honours Scottish director Lynne Ramsay BAFTA-winning Glasgow-born director Lynne Ramsay was named an Honorary Associate of The London Film School (LFS) at the school's annual graduation ceremony at the National Gallery. She was awarded her degree by the director and producer Don Boyd on behalf of LFS Chairman Mike Leigh and the School's Governors. Ramsay then formally awarded Associateships to 65 graduates of the School's MA Filmmaking, MA Screenwriting, Craft Extension and Composing programmes. Her speech included the following words of advice, "Stick to what works for you, there are no rules. Work with people you love and who understand your way of working. Life's too short, and shorter on a film set."
New online gateway to the UK's Screen Heritage collections launched The first online guide to the UK's screen heritage was launched this week at the Foyle Centre, The British Library. The Researcher's Guide to Screen Heritage is the result of a project to identify the whereabouts of collections of artefacts, ranging from costumes and sets to cameras and cars, and gives access to the collections of over 700 institutions. The website delivers a comprehensive links directory to the leading collections of content and artefacts related to the history of moving image and sound in the United Kingdom. Aimed at anyone with an interest in the history of cinema, television and related media, it is a gateway, which is of particular interest to students, researchers and academics. For the first time, it is possible to discover immediately where films, television programmes, documents, images and associated physical artefacts are held in the UK. The Researcher's Guide to Screen Heritage is the result of a partnership between the National Media Museum, the British Universities Film & Video Council, and Screen Archive South East which are all members of the UK Screen Heritage Network. The project was funded by the Museums Libraries and Archives Council UK. To start your own screen heritage discovery trail, go to http://joseph.bufvc.ac.uk/rgo.
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Scottish projects in Celtic Media Festival shortlist The shortlist for this year's celebration of film, television and radio from the Celtic nations and regions - the Celtic Media Festival - features a strong showing from BBC Scotland, but also includes projects such as Stacked - a production supported by Brocken Spectre, 4Talent Scotland, Scottish Screen and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and Senseless - a feature film from Scottish filmmaker Simon Hynd. The Celtic Media Festival, which is celebrating its 30th birthday, takes place in Caernarfon, Wales, between 25 and 27 March 2009. The Scottish shortlisted entries are: Factual Series Girls Behind Bars - FrielKean Films/BBC Scotland The Real Monach of the Glen: Boar Onboard - BBC Scotland/ Mike Birkhead Associates Factual Entertainment Air an Rathad - Eyeline Media/ BBC ALBA
Short Drama Social Circles - Kinetic Media Feature Length Drama Senseless - Plum Films Current Affairs An Là - BBC ALBA Wasted Nation - Autonomi Childrens De a-nis? BBC Gaidhlig/BBC ALBA Young People Stacked - Brocken Spectre/4Talent Scotland/ Scottish Screen/HIE Entertainment A' Chuirm - BBC Gaidhlig/BBC ALBA Titles, Stings, Idents and Promos BBC ALBA Idents - Design is Central/BBC Alba Radio: Station of the Year BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal BBC Radio Scotland Radio: Documentary Am Bard Bochd - BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal Piper Alpha - BBC Radio nan Gaidheal
Factual Single Ann am Bàta, Nam Aonar Moja/BBC ALBA Radio: Presenter Personality Mum and Me - Wellpark Annie Maguire - BBC Radio Productions Scotland Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives Derek MacKay - BBC Radio BBC Scotland Nan Gaidheal Second Sight - Second Sight Pictures/Necessary Illusions To see the full list of shortlisted Productions please visit www. Hans Petter Moland in conversationprojects, with Dr Alan Marcus celticmediafestival.co.uk/ Arts shortlist. Scotland's Music with Phil Cunningham - BBC Scotland
2009 edition of Film Bang is now available Film Bang is the essential guide for film and television production in Scotland. From its inception 30 years ago, Film Bang has developed into the definitive source of information, listing production companies, facilities and technicians. Film Bang Online gives quick, easy access to all entries. Find the skills, facilities and companies you need for film and TV productions in Scotland and beyond.
You can either send a cheque made payable to: Film Bang, 30 Leicester Avenue, Glasgow, G12 0LU Or you can pay by card over the phone 0141 334 2456. For any enquiries, please contact Film Bang on the following details: T: 0141 334 2456 F: 0141 337 2002 E: info@filmbang.com W: www.filmbang.com
Film Bang is available in an easy to use paperback format at a cost of £25.
Bridging the Gap projects selected for production in 2009 Scottish Documentary Institute has now selected 7 projects for its Bridging the Gap scheme. The projects will now go through an intense period of production with the final delivery planned for April 2009. The selected 7 are:
Matt Lloyd - The Pollyphail Folly (Edinburgh) David Graham Scott - Gone With the Wind (Glasgow) Johanna Wagner - Peter in Radioland (Edinburgh) Jane McAllister - Mr Scott-Maker of Sporrans (Inverness) James Newton - The Space You Leave (London) Richard Simpson - May the Faith be With You (Aberdeen) Vaughan Pilikian - Through a Glass Darkly (London) There will also be a range of Bridging the Gap masterclasses in the new year. For more information, please check www.docscene.org.
Bridging the Gap is supported by the National Lottery through Scottish Screen.
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The Co-operative Young Filmmakers Festival 2009 Following on from last year’s success, Project Ability and The Co-operative Group Scotland, will once again be hosting the The Co-operative Young Filmmakers Festival in February 2009. The festival is jam packed with short films, filmmaking surgeries and workshops. You will be inspired by the creativity and talent on display. Screenings at the Glasgow Film Theatre - free entry Recommended for ages 8+ Thursday 12 February 2009, 11am–12.15pm – for schools and groups Saturday 14 February 2009, 1.45-3pm – open to the public Booking required for Thursday screening and workshops. To book contact Project Ability on 0141 552 2822. For more about The Co-operative Young Film Makers go to www.youngfilm-makers.coop.
Project Ability’s Digital Filmmaking classes For young people (12–18 years) with disabilities. The courses start on Monday 19 January 2008 for 10 weeks, between 6.30–8pm. The cost is £3 per class. Please call 0141 552 2822 for a booking form.
The 2nd London and Glasgow Mountain Film Festivals 2009
Want to see the world’s most exciting adventures on the big screen? A Mountain Film Festival is coming to Glasgow on 5 March and London on 7 March 2009, and brings with it the films that feature the most daring feats on the planet. This is your chance to see the worlds finest adventure films, with a programme that will take you from the Atlantic Ocean to high above the Himalayas. This year’s line-up includes everything from award-winning movies to never-before seen documentaries. Whether you are interested in rock climbing, BASE Jumping or powder skiing, there will be plenty of films to entertain and inspire you. As well as the films, the festival is also exhibiting some of Lucasz Warzecha’s stunning photography. As well as being Alpinist magazine’s photographer of the month, Lucasz is also the winner of a 2008 award from Nature magazine. To find out more about tickets, location and programme, please visit www.super7.co.uk.
Edinburgh screenwriter wins place in Son of the Pitch final Scotland-based screenwriter Philippa Langley has won one of the ten places in the Son of the Pitch competition organised by the Screenwriters' Festival (SWF) and 4Talent. Her pitch, a one-room drama titled The Council was selected from over 900 entries. Philippa will receive a free four-day ticket to the Screenwriters' Festival (worth over £300) courtesy of SWF and 4Talent and a private masterclass in pitching from top UK agent Julian Friedmann before pitching her idea in front of a live audience to a panel of
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industry experts who will both get to ask her questions. Out of the ten pitches, the panel will choose three winners and the audience will also choose their winner.
The Son of the Pitch event is one of the most prestigious opportunities for screenwriters in the UK, in particular undiscovered talent that is looking to make their first breakthrough.
All finalists will get the chance to talk directly to Film4 executives about their ideas as well as being interviewed and featured on the 4Talent website www.channel4.com/ talent, giving exposure to their ideas and themselves to a global internet audience of peers and industry professionals.
The Screenwriters' Festival 2009 takes place from Monday 26 to Thursday 29 October in Cheltenham. To find out more about the competition, please visit www.screenwritersfestival.com.
news
The Network launches search for the next generation of TV Talent Are you interested in finding out what it takes to get a job in TV? Do you fancy working alongside production teams from Big Brother, Sky News, MTV, Coronation Street? Then sign up for highly acclaimed talent scheme The Network and you could be part of the next generation of TV talent. The Network has opened applications for its free event in Edinburgh in August 2009. Over five days, successful delegates will have the opportunity to meet the best TV talent from behind and in front of the camera, listen to talks from TV giants and come away with new skills, contacts and advice. No previous experience is needed, just a passion for TV. The Network, part of the Edinburgh International Television Festival, has helped launch hundreds of TV careers. Past delegates include Newsround presenter Ore Oduba, the Executive Producer of Dragons Den, the director of Blue Peter and a presenter on XFM.
Producer of Hollyoaks, Bryan Kirkwood, opened last years’ event with Hollyoaks actress Emma Rigby (who plays Hannah). Other highlights included a special masterclass with Sharon Osbourne, a surprise visit from N.E.R.D’s lead singer Pharrell Williams and TV forecasts from ITV’s Director of Television, Peter Fincham. Sharon Osbourne says of the scheme: "I think The Network is really important so young people can see how there are ways to get into the TV industry, because so many young people want to be in TV but don’t quite know how to get a break or what area they really want to work in. Whether it’s presenting or producing or editing, The Network will give them a better idea of where they want to go in this industry."’
Russell T Davies and newscaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Thousands of applicants each year are whittled down to a lucky 150 delegates who get the chance to attend the free event, which this year takes place between 27 and 30 August. To find out how to apply for your space on the hottest TV talent scheme log on to www.mgeitf.co.uk/thenetwork Applications via the website www.mgeitf. co.uk/thenetwork are open now and close on Friday 17 April 2009. Delegates who have attended The Network are also given the opportunity to apply for a six month paid work placement at some of the most prestigious TV companies in the UK through The Network at Work programme.
Past speakers at The Network have ranged from celebrities such as Vernon Kay, Kate Garraway, Graham Norton, Simon Amstell and Sir Trevor McDonald as well as leading industry figures including Dr Who writer
Red Oil screens on Friday 10 February on More 4 media co-op's documentary film Red Oil, for More4 and Scottish Screen, will be broadcast in More4's prestigious True Stories slot at 10pm on Tuesday 10 February 2009, to mark the 10th anniversary of Hugo Chavez as President of Venezuela. Made by the multi-award-winning Glasgow company media co-op, in co-production with Germany, Red Oil is the soapy story of conflict and intrigue over who gets the profits from the biggest oil reserves on the planet. It is an entertaining high-octane documentary with crude oil, larger-than-life characters, and true-life cliffhangers. The documentary is produced by the Scottish film industry's favourite Venezuelan Aimara Reques, and directed by Lucinda Broadbent. For more information and to view a clip of the film, click here or visit www.mediaco-op.net.
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news
SCOTTISH MENTAL HEALTH ARTS & FILM FESTIVAL 2009 FILM COMPETITION Have you made a film which links to mental health? If so the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival is offering filmmakers the chance to have their work exhibited across cinemas in Scotland this October, and the opportunity to be considered for one of the festival’s prestigious film awards. Now in its third year as one of Scotland’s most significant cultural events, the festival aims to promote positive mental health in the context of equality and social justice, explore the relationship between the mind and creativity and create a dialogue with the public, the media and the arts about what mental health means to us all. We’re particularly interested in your understanding of mental health, the meaning you take from this term, and how you have interpreted this in your work. Films needn’t be about specific mental health issues, we’re keen to encourage the idea that just like our physical health we all have mental health. We’ll consider films of any length and genre, and films made at any time, provided they
have not been submitted to the festival before. The competition launches on Friday 6 February and closes on Monday 3 August 2009. In 2008, the film selection panel consisted of representatives of the festival’s partner organisations including 4Talent Scotland, Diversity Films, the Filmhouse and the Mental Health Foundation. We are currently curating a similarly diverse panel to review this years entrants, so why not take this opportunity to share your work with industry professionals? The competition last year culminated in our film awards ceremony at the Filmhouse where Nick Higgins’ poetic documentary on the life of artist Angus MacPhee Hidden Gifts scooped the Jury Prize. Will you be this year’s Jury Prize recipient? For further information and to enter the competition please send an email to smhaff@gmail.com. Please see our website for more festival information www.mhfestival.com.
Nick Higgins receives the Jury Prize from Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation
Winners of the 4Talent Award – Positive Mental Attitudes and Katy Dove for Platform Animations
Nicole Marchesseau and Gabrielle Gillespie from Canada received the Highly Commened award from 4Talent Scotland for Under My Skin (A Swarm of Bees)
Photo by Sarah Roberts 8
news
FUNDING NEWS
Archive Skills Continuing Professional Development funding programme The Archive Skills Continuing Professional Development funding programme is designed to provide opportunities for existing professionals working with audiovisual archives to update their skills in priority areas of need. To do this, Skillset is looking to support organisations with national reach and profile, to deliver and manage training in the areas identified with the UK audiovisual archive sector as skill shortages. Full details on these can be found in the funding programme at the bottom of this page. Skillset will be investing up to £115,000 through this grant, and up to 70% of an organisation's total training project costs. Organisations will be expected to
find the remaining 30% of the money needed from sources other than Skillset, as Partnership Funding. A minimum of 25% of this Partnership Funding must be cash, not in-kind support. Follow this link to find out more about Partnership Funding Is your company eligible? To apply for this funding you must be an organisation (not an individual) looking to benefit existing creative media professionals with the delivery of a training project addressing Archiving skills. Your organisation can apply for funding to deliver more than one project addressing different areas of skill, as long as these appear on the funding priorities list.
Training projects will be considered for support if: - your organisation is able to demonstrate that the training is managed by or in partnership with industry, is innovative and provides value for money; and - the recipients of the training are able to prove they have demonstrable professional experience showing a commitment to the archive sector. The deadline for applications is 12noon on Friday 26 June 2009. Please visit www.skillset.org for more information.
Edinburgh youngsters scoop Lottery cash to make films Thanks to First Light Movies, local youngsters in Edinburgh will benefit from thousands of pounds of funding to produce their own short films working alongside professional filmmakers. First Light Movies is a nationwide organisation, which helps young people, aged between five and 19, make their own films. To fund projects First Light Movies distributes £1.1 million of National Lottery money, through UK Film Council funding, each year. As a result of their creative and inventive ideas, 30 young people from Trinity Primary School, aged between 7 and 12, have been awarded £30,000 to work with professional filmmakers on three films, in a project coordinated by Teebster Ltd. The films, all made using low-cost digital equipment, will also have a chance to be nominated at next year's First Light Movies Awards. This year's Activision First Light Movies Awards has been confirmed and will take place at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London on 17 March 2009, hosted by T4's Miquita Oliver and Rick Edwards. A short list of three nominated films has been drawn up using an industry panel and youth jury and the winning film will be judged by a group of celebrity judges.
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MEDIA NEWS media news
MEDIA Surgeries MEDIA surgeries are an opportunity for a oneto-one meeting with Emma Valentine, MEDIA Co-ordinator, to discuss what’s on offer from the MEDIA 2007 Programme. They should be booked in advance with MEDIA Antenna Scotland, by phone on 0141 302 1776 or email on scotland@mediadeskuk.eu. Dundee Tuesday 24 February 2009, Tuesday 17 March 2009 The MEDIA surgeries in Dundee will be held in association with Scottish Enterprise and will be held at their offices. Scottish Enterprise, Enterprise House, 3 Greenmarket, Dundee DD1 4QB. Edinburgh Friday 27 February 2009, Friday 20 March 2009 The Edinburgh MEDIA surgeries will be held in association with Scottish Enterprise. The surgeries will be held at DHP Scotland, 9 -10 St Andrews Square, Edinburgh EH2 2AF.
MEDIA Roadshow 2009 MEDIA Antenna Scotland will be holding MEDIA information roadshows early in 2009. They will give an overview of the MEDIA 2007 Programme and the opportunities it offers in the areas of funding, networking and training. To register, please contact Emma Valentine on 0141 302 1776 or scotland@mediadeskuk.eu. Aberdeen 11am – 1pm, Wednesday 4 February 2009, Aberdeen Maritime Museum, Education Room, Shiprow, Aberdeen AB11 5BY Inverness 11am – 1pm, Wednesday 11 February 2009, Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, The Discovery Room, Castle Wynd, Inverness Edinburgh 2pm – 4pm, Wednesday 18 February 2009, Scottish Arts Council, 12 Manor Place, Edinburgh EH3 7DD
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MEDIA Stand at MIPTV 2009 MIPTV: 30 March - 3 April 2009, Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France MIPDOC: 28 – 29 March 2009, Carlton Hotel, Cannes, France The Marketplace will organise the MEDIA umbrella stand, with funding from the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. MEDIA umbrella registration fee for MIPTV: €715 per person. MEDIA Registration deadline MIPTV: 19 February 2009 To register for MIPDOC (only possible in combination with MIPTV): First delegate: €652 (incl 3 titles) Second delegate: €530 Deadline MIPDOC: 13 February 2009 To register, please contact The Marketplace on info@marketplace-events.com or tel +31 35 695 01 96. Online registration will be possible on their website www.marketplace-events.com.
awarded cannot exceed 20% of the total eligible costs and the maximum financial contribution which may be awarded is €300,000 per action. Deadlines: 27 February and 26 June 2009
Interactive Works 25/2008 The activities for the following interactive works are eligible: Interactive works for computer, internet, mobile phone, games console including handheld presenting a substantial degree of interactivity, scenario and innovation; New format concepts destined for digital television, the internet or mobile handsets where interactivity and narrative elements are significant. In all cases the projects must be intended for commercial exploitation. Works which do not require the active involvement of the user are not considered to be interactive. A production company can submit a maximum of two projects in this call.
Festivals 18/2008
Each grant will amount between €10,000 and €60,000 except for the development of prototypes for games consoles, handheld consoles and computers for which the maximum grant is €100,000. This grant can cover up to 50% of the eligible costs; the applicant company must guarantee matching funds to cover the rest.
A minimum of 70% of the eligible programming presented to the public during the festival must be European. The programming must represent at least 10 countries participating in the MEDIA Programme. Grants of €10,000 to €75,000 can be sought. Deadline: 30 April 2009 for festivals taking place between 1 November 2009 and 30 April 2010
To be eligible to apply, companies must demonstrate a track record of having produced as majority producer an eligible interactive work or an animation of no less than 24 minutes. They also have to prove that this project has been commercially distributed during the period between 1 January 2006 and the application submission date. Deadline: 17 April 2009
Television Broadcasting 20/2008
Development Funding 24/2008
The scheme's objective is to encourage independents to produce television programmes involving the participation of at least three broadcasters from several member states participating or co-operating in the programme.
Companies can only submit one application for development support (Single Project, Slate Funding or Slate Funding 2nd Stage) in this call.
MEDIA Funding
Productions belonging to the following categories are eligible: Television fiction films (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 50 minutes; Creative documentaries (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 25 minutes; Animation (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 24 minutes.
Single Projects The development activities for the following audiovisual works (one-offs or series) are eligible: Drama of at least 50 minutes (the total length of the series in the case of a series); Creative documentary of at least 25 minutes (length per episode in the case of a series); Animation of at least 24 minutes (the total length of the series in case of a series).
The financial contribution awarded cannot exceed 12.5% of the total eligible costs for fiction and animation works. The maximum financial contribution which may be awarded to fiction and animation works is €500,000. For documentaries, the financial contribution
Each grant will amount between €10,000 and €60,000 except for feature-length animations for theatrical release, for which the maximum is €80,000. This grant can cover up to 50% of the eligible costs; the applicant company must guarantee matching funds to cover the rest.
To be eligible to apply, the company must be able to provide evidence that they have completed, as the majority producer, a previous work similar to the eligible projects described above. It must also show that this work has been commercially distributed during the period between 1 January 2006 and the application submission date. In addition, applicant companies must have been registered for at least 12 months. Deadline: 17 April 2009 Slate Funding A Slate Funding application must contain a slate of at least 3 and a maximum of 6 eligible projects. Each project can receive an amount of support between €10,000 and €60,000. The total amount of support that can be allocated under Slate Funding is between €70,000 and €190,000. This grant can cover up to 50% of the eligible costs; the applicant company must guarantee matching funds to cover the rest. The eligible projects comprising the slate must be from one of the following eligible categories: Drama of at least 50 minutes (total length of the series in case of a series); Creative documentary of at least 25 minutes (length per episode in case of a series); Animation of at least 24 minutes (length of the series in case of a series). Within five years leading to the application submission date, the company must have produced as a majority producer two projects in a similar eligible category to the projects described above and these projects must have had international distribution. In addition, applicant companies must have been registered for at least 36 months. Deadline: 17 April 2009 Slate Funding 2nd Stage is only open to companies already selected for Slate Funding or Slate Funding 2nd stage and who meet the following conditions: To be a beneficiary of a Slate Funding or Slate Funding 2nd Stage agreement signed during the course of 2005, 2006, 2007 or 2008 AND; To have entered into production with at least one project supported under the aforementioned Slate Funding or Slate Funding 2nd Stage no later than on the date of submission of their application. Deadline: 17 April 2009
media news
Selective Distribution 22/2008 The scheme is to facilitate transnational distribution of European films. It aims to encourage distributors to release films that might be a challenge were they to be supported by market forces alone. As a result of this support European audiences should gain access to a wider range of films. Distributors wishing to distribute one or more non-national European films must form a grouping, co-coordinated by the film's sales agent or the producer, which will set out to release the film in several European territories. Deadlines: 1 April and 1 July 2009
i2i Audiovisual 28/2008 The i2i Audiovisual scheme supports production companies that bear the costs of bank financing and/or associated insurance and completion bonds costs. It offers subsidy to cover up to 50% of the following modules, capped at €50,000 per project, and at €100,000 per company: insurance costs; completion guarantee costs; financial costs. In order to be eligible companies must present a signed credit agreement, insurance contract or completion guarantee for the project. Companies can apply for more than one module for the same film, unless it is possible to obtain the maximum of €50,000 under one module. The minimum allocation is €5,000 per project. Deadline: 7 July 2009 - for projects that have started between 1 January 2009 and 7 July 2009 ie the credit agreement with the bank or financial institution has been signed within that period and the first day of principal photography has not taken place before 1 January 2009.
For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact MEDIA Antenna Scotland on 0141 302 1776.
Alternatively, you can also email us at
Scotand@mediadeskuk.eu or visit our website:
www.mediadeskuk.co.uk MEDIA Antenna Scotland operates with the kind support of Scottish Screen and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
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training news
TRAININGOPPORTUNITIES Training News Screen Academy Scotland Postgraduate Certificate in Screenwriting (online)
your documentaries professionally. You will also learn the basic principles of lighting, particularly for interviews, and you will get a chance to put this into practice with lighting exercises.
The Postgraduate Certificate in Screenwriting is an 8-month blended learning course delivered by Napier University.
Intensive Production Management Week Date: 9-13 February 2009 DFG’s Production Management Week is an intensive course that will equip you to successfully deal with the many, diverse challenges you will face in this role.
The course combines online lectures, tutorials, discussions and exercises with attendance at three intensive face-to-face workshops. It runs from 2 February to 14 September 2009 in two terms and students will undertake three modules from Screen Academy Scotland's highly-successful masters degree (MA Screenwriting), specially re-designed for online delivery. The course is led by James Mavor, screenwriter and Programme Leader on the MA Screenwriting at Screen Academy Scotland and taught by experienced and active industry professionals. It's designed to appeal to students who wish to develop their skills in dramatic writing for the film, television and interactive screen industries and is ideal for those who wish to study alongside their work as part of their continuing professional development. Students on the PG Cert will receive a Student Pass to the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which runs from 17-28 June in 2009 with opportunities to attend screenings, masterclasses, networking and industry events. To request an application form please e-mail Anne Brown a.brown2@napier.ac.uk or ring 0131 455 2572.
Training opportunities from The Documentary Filmmakers Group The Documentary Filmmakers Group (DFG) is the UK's leading provider of industry focused training in documentary filmmaking and the national organisation working to promote talent and innovation in the industry. DFG and its partner, Goldsmiths, University of London, are members of the elite Skillset Media Academy Network. Advanced Camera and Lighting Techniques Date: 5-6 February 2009 Master the art of shooting and lighting
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For more information about all of DFG’s courses, or to book your space, please visit: T: 020 7249 6600 E: training@dfgdocs.com W: www.dfgdocs.com/training
BBC Training & Development presents multi-platform awareness workshops BBC Training & Development are running a series of multi-platform awareness workshops on the following dates: 6 February - BBC Glasgow 3 March - BBC Bristol 26 March - BBC White City, London This workshop is aimed at all UK freelancers who work in production and have experience in conventional linear production and editorial creative processes. An 80% subsidy is awarded to freelancers who meet the criteria, which means you only pay £32 for this course. For further information including an application pack or details on how to book, or see if you are eligible, please visit: www. bbctraining.com/coursesubsidies.asp. Or contact BBC: E: training@bbc.co.uk T: 0370 010 0264
ICO training course Sustainable Development for Cinemas & Film Festival Date: Tuesday 24 February 2009 Times: 9.30am–4.45pm, followed by networking drinks Venue: Tyneside Cinema, 10 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6QG Cost: £100 + VAT (£115). The price includes lunch, refreshments and networking drinks.
Bursary: Bursaries are available towards fees, travel, accommodation and/or access costs from many of the Regional Screen Agencies and from the ICO. Booking: Download a course registration form and return it with a cheque payable to the Independent Cinema Office by Wednesday 11 February 2009. This course is aimed at creative people from independent cinemas, film festivals and arts centres who are interested in learning essential business skills to sustain and develop their organisation into the future. The course will be taught through talks and workshops delivered by fundraising and management specialists and experienced film exhibitors. If you have any queries about the course or wish to check that it is suitable for your needs, please contact Tilly Walnes, Training & Development Officer by e-mail tilly@ independentcinemaoffice.org.uk or phone 020 7079 0477. For further information and booking, please visit www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/ training_2008.
NPA Producer Training in Spring 2009 Contracts and Negotiations Date: Saturday 21-Sunday 22 February 2009 Time: 10.30am–4.30pm Cost: Non-members price is £205 and members price is £130. Course Tutor: Rebecca Knapp Extra: Sample Contracts provided on a CDRom for future use. The course will take you through all the agreements that you will need during the course of making a film. Five Weeks Intensive Producer Training Date: One day per week over five weeks: 5, 12, 19, 26 March, 2 April 2009 Cost: Non-members price is £425 and members price is £325. Course Tutor: Anita Lewton A course designed specifically for filmmakers with a scripted feature at packaging stage, or with a completed funded short, or similarly who are seriously looking to move into feature financing and production. Budget & Schedule for Feature Film Date: Saturday 7-Sunday 8 March 2009
Time: 10.30am-4.30pm Cost: Non-members price is £205 and members price is £130. Course Tutor: Rebecca Knapp Extra: CD with course materials provided to all participants. This weekend course is designed for production managers/producers/filmmakers wanting to know how to effectively schedule then budget a project. Producing A Short Film Date: Saturday 21-Sunday 22 March 2009 Time: 10.30am-4.30pm Cost: Non-members price is £205 and members price is £130. Course Tutor: Rebecca Knapp Extra: CD with course materials provided to all participants. This weekend course takes you through the areas necessary to produce a short film. Line Producing & Production Management Week Date: Monday 30 March-Friday 3 April 2009 Time: 10.30am-4.30pm Cost: Non-members price is £750 and members price is £500 Tutor: Rebecca Knapp & industry guest speakers Extra: All students will be given a CD-Rom at the end of the course with relevant examples. This five-day intensive course is designed to guide you through the nuts and bolts of film drama production. How to Set Up and Run a Production Company Date: Saturday 11-Sunday 12 April 2000 Time: 10.30am-4.30pm Cost: Non-members price is £205 and members price is £130 Course Tutor: Rebecca Knapp Extra: CD with course materials provided to all participants. This two-day course aims to take you through the dull, but necessary, paperwork you will need to have in order when setting up and running a production company. International Co-Production Training Date: Saturday 25-Sunday 26 April 2009 Time: 10.30am-6.30pm Cost: Non-members price is £205 and members price is £130 Course Tutor: Rebecca Knapp Extra: CD with course materials provided to all participants. Topics covered will include identifying suitable co-producing countries, current co-production treaties with the
training news
UK, international film finance and tax incentives. Pitching Skills for Filmmakers Date: Wednesday 6 May 2009 Time: 6.30-9.30pm Cost: Non-members price is £40 and members price is £25. Course tutor: Rebecca Knapp This three hour interactive seminar will take you though all the information that you need to effectively pitch your projects to financiers, talent and collaborators alike. Please visit the NPA website www.npa.org. uk for more details. You may be eligible to apply for a skillset bursary for these courses please go to www.skillset.org/film/funding.
Final Cut Academy Class Larry Jordan seminar in Glasgow Date: 13 February 2009 Location: Glasgow Bursaries: Skillset Scotland will support freelancers up to 80% of their costs, please contact Skillset Scotland Administrator/Coordinator Sharon Hutt for more information: T: 0141 222 2633 E: sharonh@skillset.org Larry Jordan is a producer, director, editor, consultant and trainer with over 25 years video production and post-production experience. He is currently using his awardwinning skills in training editors to use Final Cut Studio. This eight-hour seminar is designed for the experienced editor looking to expand their understanding of other applications within the Final Cut Suite. This all-day session covers audio, Photoshop integration with Final Cut Pro, and colour correction. This is a classroom-style lecture, however students are welcome to bring a laptop for taking notes. Seminar content may be adjusted to accommodate audience questions and interests where necessary.
Trans Atlantic Partners International Co-production: Focus Europe and Canada The Erich Pommer Institut, Potsdam (Germany) and Strategic Partners, Halifax (Canada) proudly presents a short, intensive film and television training programme for Canadian and European producers. Module 1: June 13-18, 2009 in Berlin, Germany (5 days) Module 2: September 15-20, 2009 in Halifax, Canada, includes Strategic Partners Coproduction Market (6 days) Trans Atlantic Partners will give producers the necessary tools and knowledge to manoeuvre through this complex arena and to overcome the legal and financial barriers. The programme is designed specifically to strengthen ties between the Canadian and European screen industries and provide excellent networking opportunities. An integral part of Module 2, which takes place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, participants are registered as full delegates at the Atlantic Film Festival's seminal coproduction market, Strategic Partners - one of the world’s pre-eminent co-production markets, focusing on film and TV. Fee: €1,500 Euro - includes both modules plus accommodation/meals in Berlin (5 nights) and Halifax (6 nights) as well as registration fee for Strategic Partners. Further information is available from www.coproduction-training.com. Application deadline is Wednesday 4 March 2009.
cont over page...
To find out more and register, please visit www.academyclass.com.
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training news
TRAININGOPPORTUNITIES The Script Factory training course - Script Reading Training For Distributors 2009 Date: Tuesday 10 March, Wednesday 1 April, Thursday 11 June, Tuesday 29 September 2009 Time: 10am–5pm Venue: The Soho Theatre, Central London Cost: Free for anyone currently working in film distribution. Bookings: To secure a place on your chosen dates please call Jeni Howland on 020 7851 4890 or e-mail jeni@scriptfactory.co.uk. In association with the Film Distributors' Association. For a fifth year, The Script Factory is delighted to be collaborating with the FDA to provide FREE industry-standard training, exclusively for those currently working in distribution, in the art and business of reading scripts. As a distributor, are you as confident in debating a good or bad script as you are a good or bad film? This programme offers a structured approach to reading and assessing feature projects, which aims to channel your instinctive response to a script into a thorough analysis of what works, what doesn’t, and why. Prior to the course, participants will be required to read a screenplay which will serve as a working example throughout the course. A full training pack accompanies the programme, and it's bolstered by a very fine lunch. For more information and to book your place at the course, please visit www. scriptfactory.co.uk.
The 8th School Of Sound International Symposium Date: 15-18 April 2009 Venue: Southbank Centre, London Bursaries: Skillset bursaries applicable for qualifying UK professionals and a limited number of full-time students. The School of Sound (SOS) presents a stimulating and provocative series of master classes by practitioners, artists and academics on the creative use of sound with image. Directors, sound designers, composers, editors and theorists working at the highest levels of film, the arts and media show us the soundtrack from unexpected perspectives. They reveal the methods, theories and creative thinking that lie behind the most effective uses of sound and music. If you work in film, television, commercials, radio
or multimedia - this event will convince you of the extraordinary potential of the soundtrack.
About Films – Producer’s Initiative
For information about the programme, fees and registering, please visit www. schoolofsound.co.uk, e-mail sos@ schoolofsound.co.uk, or call 020 7724 6616.
About films is seeking creative excellence within the UK film industry.
The Format Academy for Entertainment Television Entertainment Master Class The Entertainment Master Class is the Format Academy for the entertainment television industry. In this unique training programme, a select circle of talent will learn the craft and business of formatting from industry leaders in entertainment television - from idea to screen and beyond.
The company will invest a total of £100,000, which will be split between a feature film and a documentary that is uniquely innovative and will enthral a worldwide audience. In addition to financing the projects, About Films will guide the producers through the mind field of deliverables and help to create a marketing pack for the festival circuit. About Films will select 20 of the best and most innovative projects from the online submission, and invite the successful producers to pitch their projects to a panel of industry professionals in Jan 2009. For rules and regulations, please visit www.aboutfilms.com/initiative.html.
For more information, course description and application guidelines please visit www.entertainment-masterclass.tv.
The deadline for submitting your application is on Sunday 31 May 2009.
Deadline for applications is Monday 2 March 2009.
Online scriptwritingcourse on Cineuropa.or
Online Risk Awareness training course 1st Option Safety Services launches Risk Awareness (RAW) Safety Training in a unique, one-hour online course for anyone involved in the making of TV and radio programmes. The use of interactive technology has allowed 1st Option to create a cost-effective course, which can be accessed and used at the learner’s convenience. Tracked and recorded through an online management system, the course enables employers to meet their statutory health and safety obligations. Based upon Industry Training Standards and developed alongside broadcast professionals to ensure relevance and accessibility, RAW Safety Training is contemporary, fun and visually stimulating providing an enjoyable and worthwhile learning experience. RAW Safety Training can be purchased at a competitive rate - £30 per delegate or an annual licence for £1000 per Company. A 15% discount will be given for purchases before Tuesday 31 March 2009. For further information, visit www.1stoption.biz, or for a free trial of the course, contact Sarah Fuller or Michelle McMullen on 0845 500 8484.
Cineuropa.org, the European cinema portal, proposes an online scriptwriting course in English, French, Italian and Spanish. The training formula is based on a direct and personalised contact between the participants and the teacher. Participants will therefore be able to read the lessons and communicate privately with the teacher at any moment. Following the first trial lesson, which is available, free of charge, on the website, the course is structured in eight lessons over 14 weeks. These lessons aim to offer participants the essential theoretical and practical notions in scriptwriting, highlighting at the same time the differences between cinema scriptwriting and other creative forms. The follow up with the tutor and the practical aspects provided by the exercises are at the core of the project. There are no deadlines and candidates can apply anytime during the year. For further information, please visit http://cineuropa.org/onlinescreenplay. aspx?lang=en=1574
call for entries
CALL for ENTRIES Silverdocs 2009 (15-22 June)
premiere films. The films should be suitable for children or young people (up to 15 years old).
Silverdocs is an eight-day internationally recognised film festival that celebrates independent thinking and generates global media attention. The festival supports the diverse voices and free expression of independent storytellers and fosters the power of documentary to enhance our understanding of the world.
Registrations are open and you can find the regulations and entry form on the website www.pleinlabobine.com.
For information about how to enter your film, please visit http://silverdocs.com. The deadlines for entries are: Regular - Friday 13 February 2008 Late - Friday 6 March 2008
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 (17-28 June) The submissions process for the 63rd Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is now open. You can submit online through the EIFF website, or download a form and post, or submit through withoutabox. The festival aims to stand internationally as a festival of discovery, a celebration of cinema, a centre of debate, and a catalyst for new films. EIFF is committed to screening high quality new film and video work in all genres from around the world. Please note all submitted films should be no more than 12 months old by June 2009. Late deadline for entries is Monday 16 February 2009. For pricing details, to read the rules and regulations and FAQs, please visit the website www.edfilmfest.org.uk. To contact a member of the EIFF Programming Team, please e-mail programme@edfilmfest.org.uk or call the office on 0131 228 4051.
Plein la Bobine, Sancy Film Festival for Young People (11-17 June) The 7th edition of the Plein la Bobine, Sancy Film Festival for Young People will take place in La Bourboule and Le MontDore, in the heart of Auvergne (centre of France). The Sancy Film Festival is a festival aimed at making children and youngsters discover quality films and meet film professionals.
Deadline for entries is Friday 20 February 2009.
Munich International Short Film Festival 2009 ( 18-24 June) Munich International is excited to announce the call for entries for next year's short film festival, which takes place directly prior to the big Munich Filmfest. The festival will showcase the world's best contemporary short films each night at the traditionsteeped Gloria Filmpalast in the heart of the Bavarian capitol. Submissions are open to non-German language films of all genres from any nation of the world. Films must not have been shown in Bavaria at a festival, in a theatre or on television before, and must not exceed a length of 15 minutes. All nonEnglish films must have English subtitles. The festival only screens 35mm prints. Deadline for entries is Saturday 28 February 2009. For more information and to check the complete submission requirements, please visit www.muc-intl.de.
DANCE:FILM 2009 (21-30 May) DANCE:FILM is back after its hugely successful debut outing in 2007. The full programme will be launched early April 2009. In the meantime, DANCE:FILM would like to announce a call for submissions in the following four categories: - Dance for Camera - Dance with Camera - Is it Dance? - New Works
To cut a long story short Film Street, the award-winning children’s filmmaking website and educational software house Kudlian Software, have got together to launch a filmmaking competition for children, Animate IT '09: To cut a long story short. This year they have teamed up with CBBC’s Ed Petrie to invite children under 12, primary schools and after school groups from across the UK, to make an animated trailer to promote their favourite book! Deadline for entries is Friday 3 April 2009. For further information about the competition, please visit www.filmstreet. co.uk.
The 11th Rushes Soho Shorts Festival (23-30 July)
The entry form for this year’s Rushes Soho Shorts Festival can now be downloaded at www.sohoshorts.com. Celebrating the previous year’s best director in each of the six competition categories Short Film, Animation, Documentary, Music Video, Newcomer and Broadcast Design, the festival has built a phenomenal following and maintains a significant bridge between the independent and commercial film making communities. It’s free to enter, just send in your film on DVD along with an entry form to: Rushes Soho Shorts, 66 Old Compton Street, London, W1D 4UH, UK. Films can be submitted up until Thursday 23 April 2009 with the shortlisted films being announced in early June and the full programme available from 1 July. The festival will culminate, as is tradition, with the Rushes Awards hosted by Terry Christian on Thursday 30 July 2009. For more information, please visit www.sohoshorts.com.
Golden Gate Awards Competition
For more information and to download the submission form, please see the DANCE:FILM website www.dancefilmscotland.com.
Documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental, youth-produced and television works are eligible for 15 Golden Gate Awards and cash prizes totalling $80,000.
Deadline for short film entries is Tuesday 3 March 2009.
For more information, please visit www. sffs.org or contact gga@sffs.org.
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Investment Awards AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Project Name – Screenplay Film Festival (4-8 September 2008) Company – Shetland Arts Development Agency Amount – £4,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 2 September 2008 Website – www.shetlandarts.org Shetland Arts is a young agency that runs the film and theatre programme at Garrison Theatre, and the exhibitions at the Bonhoga Gallery. The organisation promotes a year-round programme of dance, drama, literature, visual art, craft, music and film. Screenplay 2008 was Shetland Arts’ second film festival, which aimed to entertain and inform audiences about film and to raise the profile of film locally. This year, presenter and critic Mark Kermode and film writer Christopher Frayling curated the festival programme. Project Name – Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival (1-19 October 2008) Company – The Mental Health Foundation Amount – £10,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 9 September 2008 Website – http://mentalhealthfestival. dreamhosters.com The Mental Health Foundation received support to develop the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival 2008. The festival is a unique cultural event combining creative excellence with public purpose, celebrating and exploring concepts of mental health and addressing stigma, with film as the central source of information and debate. Project Name – The Magic Lantern Company – The Magic Lantern Amount – £8,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 23 September 2008 Website – www.themagiclantern.org Glasgow-based organisation The Magic Lantern received funding to grow and develop audiences for short film across Scotland. The Magic Lantern events showcase innovative short films by emerging and established talent, combined with Q&A sessions with filmmakers, writers, and programmers. Project Name – Middle Eastern Film Festival 2009 (February 2009) Company – Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality & Peace Amount – £6000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 30 September 2008 Website – www.mesp.org.uk. www.meiff. com Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality & Peace received funding for their Middle Eastern Film Festival, which will take place at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse Cinema. The aim of the Middle Eastern Film Festival is to address the under-representation of Middle Eastern cinema, and in particular Iranian cinema, in Scotland. The festival will be part of both the 2009 Middle East Festival and the Iran Festival Scotland, and will feature screenings, Q&As, masterclasses and introductions. Project Name – Document 6 (15-19 October 2008) Company – Document Amount – £5000 National Lottery Funding
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Between September 2008 and January 2009 Scottish Screen has made the following investment awards:
Meeting Date – 7 October 2008 Website – www.variant.randomstate.org/ Doc6/doc6.html Document is Scotland’s first ever independent, international film festival dedicated to screening documentaries that reflect on a wide range of international human rights concerns. The festival brings films from around the world to inform, challenge and inspire a local audience. Document received support to develop Document 6, the sixth annual festival, which in 2008 delivered an international programme of films and events, addressing a range of Human Rights issues. Project Name – The Second Cromarty Film Festival (5-7 December 2008) Company – Cromarty Film Society Amount – £4,775 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 11 November 2008 Website – www.cromartyfilmfestival.org Cromarty Film Society received funding for the second Cromarty Film Festival 2008. The festival was held in venues around Cromarty and Resolis, screening a wide range of films, some selected by special guests including Kirsty Wark, Karen Matheson, Janice Forsyth, David Mackenzie, Michael Caton-Jones, Donald Shaw, Robert Livingston and Gus Wylie. The festival also hosted a children’s programme, Gaelic elements, documentaries and lectures. Project Name – Kingussie Food On Film Festival: Winter Festival (6-7 February 2009) Company – Auld Alliance Gourmet Academy Amount – £2000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 17 December 2008 Website – www.kfff.co.uk Kingussie Food On Film Festival will present two events this year, the Winter Festival in February and the Summer Festival in July 2009. Auld Alliance Gourmet Academy received support for the first of the two, the Winter Festival. This festival will present a diverse selection of shorts, features and documentaries, supported by events, Q&As, introductions and local food markets. New to this year’s festival is a Youth Award for short food films made by local schoolchildren. Project Name – Glasgow Music & Film Festival (20-22 February 2009) Company – The Arches Amount – £7000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 6 January 2009 Website – www.thearches.co.uk Celebrated Glasgow-based arts venue The Arches was awarded funding for their Glasgow Music and Film Festival 2009, which will take place under the banner of Glasgow Film Festival during the weekend of 20-22 February. The festival will present a programme of cutting edge and innovative live performances, film screenings and participatory events.
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT Project Name – Kingsway Company – Sixteen Films Ltd Amount – £20,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 23 September 2008 Website – www.sixteenfilms.co.uk Sixteen Films was awarded funding for Content Development of new feature film project Kingsway. Based on a true story, Kingsway is the tale of two ordinary,
completely remarkable women, who whilst living in a run-down Glasgow housing estate, pull together to foster a new community spirit. Working on the new drama is award-winning Scottish writer Rona Munro, producer Camilla Bray (Summer) and director Jim Loach (Shameless, Casualty). Project Name – Justified Sinner Company – Flying Scotsman Films Ltd Amount – £15,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 23 September 2008 Website – N/A Glasgow-based production company Flying Scotsman Films received support to develop Justified Sinner. The feature-length project is a screen adaptation of Scottish poet and novelist James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of A Justified Sinner, one of the major Scottish novels of its time, exploring key themes of Scottish culture and identity. Set in early 18th century Edinburgh, Hogg’s 1824 masterpiece of religious fanaticism, Calvinist predetermination, satanic visitation and violent fratricide carries a horrifying, but familiar, echo to our modern ears. Project Name – Die Laughing Company – Delirious Productions Amount – £9,500 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 11 November 2008 Website – N/A Delirious Productions was awarded support to develop their first feature Die Laughing, a coming-of-age story with a difference. Scottish writer Billy MacKinnon and director Gillies Mackinnon will both be working on this production, which tells the story of two misfits – a grandfather and his grandson. Project Name – Venus As A Boy Company – Picture Palace North Ltd Amount – £5,175 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 6 January 2009 Website – www.picturepalace.com Picture Palace North received funding to back progress with their new feature film Venus As A Boy. A screen adaptation of Scottish author Luke Sutherland’s acclaimed novel, the film involves Glasgow-based director Morag McKinnon (Home, Donkeys) and producer Alex Usborne (The Acid House).
EXPRESS FILM FUND Project Name – Man for a Day Company – Media Co-op Amount – £26,969 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 9 September 2008 Website – www.mediaco-op.net Glasgow-based non-profit organisation Media Co-op was offered funding for featurelength documentary Man for a Day. The second feature documentary from German director Katarina Peters, Man for a Day is a wry, humorous look at gender through the eyes of eight ordinary women as their worlds collide with Diane Torr, Scottish Drag King extraordinaire, in her Berlin Gender Lab.
MARKET DEVELOPMENT Project Name – It’s Hot In Scotland at Sheffield Doc/Fest (5-9 November 2008) Company – Highlands & Islands Enterprise Amount – £8,160 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 28 October 2008
Website – www.hie.co.uk Highlands & Islands Enterprise was awarded investment to host a special Scottish showcase at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2008. The Hot In Scotland event featured panel discussions and screenings.
MARKETS & FESTIVALS Project Name – New York Independent Film & Video Festival (September 2008) attendance Company/Individual – Uisdean Murray Amount – £552.75 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 9 September 2008 Website – www.wherejemimalives.com, www.nyfilmvideo.com Scottish filmmaker Uisdean Murray received funding to attend the New York International Film & Video Festival 2008 with his short film Sessions of the Mind, which was in competition at the festival. Sessions of the Mind is the third film from the awardwinning Jemima Trilogy. Project Name – Attendance at Cartoon Forum Company/Individual – Axis Animation Ltd Amount – £1,500 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 9 September 2008 Website – www.axisanimation.com, www.cartoon-media.be Glasgow-based animation studio Axis Animation was offered financial assistance for travel, accommodation and registration fees to enable the company to travel to the Cartoon Forum in Germany. At the forum, Axis presented a concept for a 3D animated children’s series for television broadcast. The intention was to secure European development and production funding to enter into the next stage of development. Project Name – Sheffield Doc/Fest (5-9 November 2008) attendance Company – ConnectFilm Ltd Amount – £712 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 28 October 2008 Website – https://sheffdocfest.com, www. connectfilm.co.uk Edinburgh-based production company ConnectFilm received support to attend Sheffield Doc/Fest 2008 to promote featurelength documentary project The First Movie from Scottish filmmaker and writer Mark Cousins, as well as other documentary projects to commissioning editors, investors and co-producers. Project Name – Sheffield Doc/Fest (5-9 November 2008) Meetmarket attendance Company – Media Co-Op Amount – £1,465 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 28 October 2008 Website – https://sheffdocfest.com, www. mediaco-op.net Glasgow-based non-profit organisation Media Co-op was awarded funding to attend Sheffield Doc/Fest 2008 for the premiere screening of the company’s full-length documentary Red Oil, a story of conflict and intrigue over who gets the profits from the biggest oil reserves on the planet. The company also pitched its new documentary project The Boy From Georgia at the festival’s Meetmarket and promoted its latest co-production Man For A Day. Project Name – Sheffield Doc/Fest (5-9 November 2008) Meetmarket attendance Company – Scottish Documentary Institute Amount – £1,500
National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 28 October 2008 Website – https://sheffdocfest.com, www. docscene.org Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) received funding to attend Sheffield Doc/Fest 2008 and represent the work from Scottish documentary filmmakers and the Institute at a Scottish themed night. Project Name – International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam attendance (20-30 November 2008) Company – Scottish Documentary Institute Amount – £993 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date - 11 November 2008 Website – www.idfa.nl, www.docscene.org Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) received funding to attend the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the biggest documentary festival and market in the world. SDI will be present at the festival to represent Scottish documentary films and participate in the Forum. Project Name – Encounters Film Festival attendance (18-23 November 2008) Company – Digicult Ltd Amount – £1331.25 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date - 11 November 2008 Website – www.encounters-festival.org.uk, www.digicult.co.uk Digicult Ltd received funding to attend Encounters Short Film Festival 2008 in Bristol in order to promote Scottish Digital Shorts, Digital Nation, 4mations Digital Shorts, and make strategic contacts with the industry. Project Name – Sundance Film Festival attendance (15-25 January 2009) Company – Scottish Documentary Institute Amount – £1500 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 6 January 2009 Website – www.docscene.org, http:// festival.sundance.org/2009 Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) was awarded Markets & Festivals funding to enable staff members Finlay Pretsell (Production & Distribution Manager) and Sonja Henrici (Head of Development) to attend one of the largest independent film festival in the world - Sundance - which takes place 15-25 January 2009 in Park City, Utah. With two short films in competition – Ma Bar and Steel Homes - Scottish Documentary Institute will represent and promote Scottish documentary and filmmaking talent in the US through screenings, Q&As and meetings with sales agents, buyers, distributors and funders. Project Name – Sundance Film Festival attendance (15-25 January 2009) Company – Imagine Pictures Ltd Amount – £1416 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 6 January 2009 Website – N/A Edinburgh-based Imagine Pictures received a Markets & Festival investment to support director Adrian McDowall’s attendance at Sundance Film Festival 15-25 January 2009 in Park City, Utah. As the co-director and co-producer of the BAFTA Scotland awardwinning short Ma Bar, which has been selected to screen in competition at the festival, Adrian McDowall (The Toon Fair, Me and Ma Gal, Standing Start) will represent his film at the screenings. He will also meet with potential financiers and co-producers for future feature projects and promote Imagine Picture’s slate of films available for
distribution and development.
TALENT DEVELOPMENT FUND Project Name – Digicult Company – Brocken Spectre Ltd Amount – £75,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 1 September 2008 Website –www.digicult.co.uk Glasgow-based production company Brocken Spectre and Edge City Films received support to run UK Film Council Digital Shorts under the banner of Scottish Digital Shorts and Digicult. With three strands of development, training and commission on offer, the Digicult route now offers the most comprehensive set of opportunities for short form talent in Scotland. Project Name – Bridging the Gap 6: Future Company – Scottish Documentary Institute Amount – £75,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 1 September 2008 Website – www.docscene.org Edinburgh-based Scottish Documentary Institute has been given long-standing support from Scottish Screen for Bridging the Gap, the only short documentary scheme for cinema in the UK. It is an open competition for seven filmmakers to produce a 10-minute film in a creative and experimental environment. The filmmakers are trained to explore the creative use of digital technology, pushing the boundaries of short documentaries for cinema. This year, the sixth edition of Bridging the Gap has the theme Future. Project Name – Brand New Company – Diversity Films Amount – £75,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 6 October 2008 Website – www.diversityfilms.org.uk Glasgow-based Diversity Films is working in communities to nurture, train and develop a new generation of filmmakers. The organisation received funding to develop Brand New, a new, innovative training and mentoring programme aimed at discovering and unleashing talent in excluded communities.
THE SINGLES Project Name – Zig Zag Love Company – Machine Productions Ltd Amount – £160,000 National Lottery Funding Meeting Date – 1 September 2008 Website – N/A Machine Productions was awarded funding to produce Zig Zag Love. Starring Scots actor Robert Carlyle, Anthony Martin, Cara Readle and Joe McFadden, the production is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Gillies McKinnon. A story of first love and last chances, Zig Zag Love is a bittersweet adventure story written by Scottish writer Mary Morris, focusing on the blossoming relationship between teenage cancer patient Peter and Ziggy, a girl with cerebral palsy.
These highlighted projects were awarded investment from Scottish Screen through National Lottery funds and are just some of Scottish Screen’s recent investments. For full details of all Scottish Screen Investment Awards, please visit www.scottishscreen.com/investmentawards.
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festival news
Glasgow Film Festival The fifth edition of the Glasgow Film Festival is packed with UK premieres, star guests and special events. The festival will open on February 12 with the UK premiere of Armando Iannucci's scathing political satire In The Loop starring Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini. The festival closes on February 22 with the UK premiere of the romantic comedy Last Chance Harvey co-starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. In between there are high profile titles like Gran Torino, Flash Of Genius and Marley & Me, a tribute to Audrey Hepburn, a focus on contemporary Mexican cinema, a spotlight on short filmmaking, the new Glasgow Youth Film Festival, the best of world cinema, a bumper crop of new Scottish productions including Richard Jobson's New Town Killers, Jim Hickey's The Dungeon Moor Killings, One Day Removals, Murray Grigor's documentary Infinite Space and a whirl of parties and networking events. It is never easy to select your viewing choices so roughcuts asked the GFF Co-Directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter to each choice five titles that they would personally recommend as their highlights of the 2009 festival.
Allison's Choices Tokyo!
Friday 20 February (13.00) & Saturday 21 February (18.30) A Chorus Line is one of the great razzle dazzle Broadway musicals. Every Little Step goes behind the scenes of the last major revival and returns to the original production showing how the stories of impossible dreams, broken hopes, personal sacrifices and bleeding feet inspired one of the world's favourite musicals. I defy anyone watching this not to star tapping their toes.
Drama/Mex
Versailles
Monday 16 February (18.15) Gerardo Naranjo is emerging as one of the names to watch in Mexican cinema. Drama/Mex is a really stylish, confidently handled tale set on an Acapulco night so sultry you can almost feel the sweat and the desperation. It successfully weaves together separate stories with plaudits for Diana Garcia as a woman torn between a new love and a very persistent ex-boyfriend.
Childless
Thursday 19 February (20.45) & Friday 20 February (12.30) Childless was one of the happy discoveries of GFF 2009 for me. It's an impressive first feature from writer/ director Charlie Levi that came to the festival as a submission. It has a great cast that includes Barbara Hershey, Joe Mantegna and Diane Venora and tells of how four adults respond to the death and funeral of a girl who was regarded as a typical teenager. Levi is coming from America to introduce the film.
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Every Little Step
Sunday 15 February (15.30) & Monday 16 February (16.00) The GFF had a huge success with Paris Je T'Aime in 2007. Last year we screened Chacun Son Cinema. There's just something very appealing about a project that allows a group of directors to test their ingenuity within the parameters of a set subject. The subject here is Tokyo and the directors as Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho who made The Host. You really have to see Carax's surreal reworking of Godzilla!
Friday 20 February (20.45) & Saturday 21 February (15.30) Every film buff was saddened by the tragic death of Guillaume Depardieu last year and it seemed fitting the GFF should give audiences a chance to see one of his last films and one of his best performances. Depardieu plays a non-conformist who has shunned his family and conventional life until he is lumbered with the responsibility for a young boy and must decided where his true priorities lie. A really touching French film.
festival news
www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk Glasgow Film Festival is supported by Scottish Screen through its support of the GFT, a cultural cinema hub. This year, Scottish Screen is also sponsoring the Great Scots! strand. Glasgow Music & Film Festival, another of this year’s strands, ran by The Arches, is supported by the National Lottery through Scottish Screen’s Audience Development Fund.
Allan's Choices Laila's Birthday
Il Divo
Funny Face
Everlasting Moments
Friday 13 February (16.00) & Saturday 14 February (20.45) Life in Palestine might inspire bitter anger or heartrending tragedy but director Rashid Masharawi makes a brave move with a film of gentle humour and warm humanity. He captures all the frustrations and discomfort of life in an occupied territory but does it with the lightest of touches as we follow an esteemed judge working as a taxi driver on a day he has promised to return home with a cake for his daughter's birthday.
Saturday 14 February (14.00) If you only manage to see one film in the Audrey Hepburn season then this is the one. Funny Face is simply one of the most sophisticated, romantic and elegant of musicals with a once-in-a-lifetime pairing of Hepburn and Fred Astaire, gorgeous colour, Paris locations and a wonderful Gershwin soundtrack. Make this your Valentine's Day treat.
Thursday 19 February (20.15) & Friday 20 February (16.15) The Consequences Of Love established Italian director Paolo Sorrentino as one of the great new names in European cinema. Il Divo is even more impressive; a dazzling journey through Italian politics that focuses on the inscrutable Giulio Andreotti who led seven governments. Tony Servillo gives a stunning performance as Andreotti, the music is amazing and the film is unmissable.
Sunday 22 February (16.15) Jan Troell is a past Oscar nominee for films like The Emigrants and The New Land. Everlasting Moments is a fantastic return to form inspired by the true story of his wife's grandmother. Trapped in a marriage to a loutish wastrel, Maria Heiskanen finds an unexpected escape from her life when she begins to take photographs and finds a whole new perspective on the world.
The Divine Lady
Sunday 15 February (16.30) The GFF has been working hard to fuel interest in the work of Glasgow-born director and Hollywood pioneer Frank Lloyd who was the first Scot to win an Oscar. Last year we sold out his 1922 version of Oliver Twist. This year we have imported a rare print of the film that won him the Best Director Oscar recounting the notorious love affair between Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton. Frank's grandchildren are coming from California to introduce the film.
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magic lantern - glasgow youth festival
The Magic Lantern have teamed up with the Glasgow Film Festival again this year to curate the Shorts Film Festival (13–15 February.) roughcuts had tea, cake and some short film talk with the programmers Rosie Crerar and Penny Bartlett.
Love You More
The Magic Lantern (or Rosie and Penny) have been tireless champions of the short film since their launch in 2006, when they presented a screening of short films from the Edinburgh International Film Festival at Glasgow’s CCA. Since that first screening, their audiences and programming zest have grown. Rosie Crerar, co-director of The Magic Lantern and junior producer at Brocken Spectre, talks about how it all started. “The initial ethos of that first short film event was to provide people in Glasgow with the opportunity to see new short films from all over the world. We began by showing only films made in the previous two years, but we then started to discover some really interesting work in the archives and wanted to showcase that as well. So we began to alter the nature of our programmes to include archive shorts, and artists’ film and video grouped together in thematic programmes, and by doing so, present a platform for the innovative nature of the short film form.” The Magic Lantern hold regular short film events in Glasgow’s CCA and Edinburgh’s Stills Gallery, as well as programmes at venues across Scotland. Most recently they toured the country with short film production initiative, Digicult, to promote three new short film commissioning rounds.
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September Within these audiences, they have built up an excellent reputation for delivering high quality creatively programmed shorts packages. It is always the challenge, to make these packages as attractive to audiences as possible, according to Rosie. “When people go and see a feature film, there is a hook, a director, writer or actor to attract the audience to the film; you don’t generally get that for a short film. We try to bring selections of short films together in a way that is enticing to audiences and allows them to consider the contrasts between the films, almost as much as the films themselves.” As well as providing screenings to those who want to watch short films, The Magic Lantern also provides invaluable opportunities for short filmmakers to have their films screened. Aside from programming GFF’s short film strand for the second year, they have taken their short programmes to audiences in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Dundee and Dumfries, and have worked with Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, The Drouth magazine and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Control Master
Opportunities to further grow their audiences and entice new short film fans are in development. Another place known for queues, The Sub Club, has come on board to enhance the late night shorts screenings at GFF, and host what is sure to be an extra special closing night celebration, featuring David Lynch’s recently released shorts at its legendary night, Optimo. The Magic Lantern are also reclaiming Glasgow as a Cinema City for GFF 2009. A selection of their short film programme at the festival will be projected on to shop fronts of five of Glasgow’s 110 former cinemas, featuring materials from the Scottish Screen Archive.
Ma Bar
The aim is to create programmes that are diverse yet coherent. They presented a taste of their bold approach with their XXXmas Special in December 2008; an exploration of sex on screen featuring contemporary celebrated filmmakers including Larry Clark, alongside seminal works such as Jean Genet’s Un Chant d’Amour and Carolee Schneemann’s Fuses. This passion for short film has not gone unnoticed, as The Magic Lantern’s current partnership with Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) demonstrates.
Anyone fresh from other international celebrations of short film, like Clermont Ferrand, may well be tending to bruised elbows from wading through crowds of film lovers baying for a seat in cavernous cinemas. The appetite for short film there is huge. So is this appetite something that The Magic Lantern are seeking to create for Scottish audiences? According to Penny, who also works as the Officer for Education at Glasgow Film Theatre, “The Magic Lantern screenings attract a really wide range of people: a lot of students - arts and film students - as well as people who work in the film industry. We also get a lot of visual artists. We find that different thematic focuses and partnerships with various collaborators often tend to attract different types of crowds as well.”
The main Glasgow Short Film Festival kicks off on February 13 with a retrospective of shorts by acclaimed American filmmaker Miranda July (Me, You and Everyone We Know), followed by a selection of the best new work from the current international festival circuit (including the Scottish premiere of the Cannes-nominated short film from Sam Taylor Wood, Love You More, Scottish BAFTA winner Ma Bar and Marian Crisan Palme d’Or-winning Megatron). Also adding to the mix are guest programmes from New Media Scotland, Oberhausen Film Festival, LUX and the Scottish premiere of 2007/8’s Scottish digital short Shortcuts commissions from GMAC. To see the full programme of shorts at Glasgow Film Festival 2009 please go to www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk/shorts.
The Magic Lantern has been awarded Scottish Screen National Lottery funds for Audience Development activities.
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Steven Lewis Simpson
news
Armando Iannucci
Bill Paterson
Dougray Scott
Great Scots at Glasgow Film Festival 2009 New Town Killers, the Scottish Screen funded feature film starring Dougray Scott and Alistair McKenzie, will screen in Scotland for the first time as part of Glasgow Film Festival and Scottish Screen's Great Scots strand. The film tells the story of a dark cat and mouse game between two wealthy businessmen (Scott and McKenzie) and a desperate teenager, sleeping rough in Edinburgh. New Town Killers, directed by Richard Jobson (The Purifiers, 16 Years of Alcohol), makes an exciting addition to the Great Scots strand, a special homage to great Scottish filmmakers throughout the ages. Great Scots showcases the best new work from promising emerging talent and also salutes special Scots who have left an indelible mark on world cinema. The strand presents films, discussions and events to showcase these exciting Scottish talents. Highlights include the opening gala, In the Loop, directed by Glasgow-born Armando Iannucci, along with The Divine Lady from Scotland's first Oscar winner Frank Lloyd. The strand also hosts a feast of feature film premieres from new Scottish talent; Now we are Five is a celebration of five years' production from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, featuring nationally acclaimed short films.
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Great Scots honours the award-winning career of well-known Scottish star Bill Paterson, as he reflects on a life on film and celebrates the 25th anniversary of Comfort and Joy. Remembering Mary Gordon, is a tribute and discussion centred on this prolific Scottish character actress. Allan Hunter, co-director of the Glasgow Film Festival talks about her work with respected journalist and relative, Alison Kerr. Amongst the non fiction offerings, BAFTA Scotland presents An Iolaire, produced by BBC Alba, a documentary on one of the worst maritime disasters in British waters where over two hundred troops from Lewis and Harris were lost on their return home on leave from WW1. Murray Grigor's Infinite Space: The Architecture of John Lautner, screens as a new feature length documentary on the work of the brilliant architect. In addition to the Great Scots strand, Glasgow Film Festival celebrates Scottish film with screenings of Rez Bomb, directed by Steven Lewis Simpson and produced by Aberdeen-based Roaring Fire Films, a love story and thriller about a Lakota girl and a white boy who get embroiled in trouble with a brutal loan shark. Glasgow-based Magic Lantern Shorts programme offers surprises as well as cool and contemporary short films from all
over the world. Scottish offerings include a screening of Ma Bar by Finlay Pretsell and Adrian McDowall, fresh from Sundance Film Festival, and a programme from New Media Scotland whose focus on identity, communication, technology and love in modern times will provide unique, and bitesized, perspectives. Glasgow Film Festival's complete programme was released on 21 January at Glasgow Film Theatre and can be found on Glasgow Film Festival's website www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk.
Scottish Screen Locations
news
Uncovers New ‘road’ Location
In 1985 the A77 road, which stretches from Glasgow to Stranraer was modernised and upgraded. After the upgrade, a dramatic coastal three-quarter mile stretch of this road between Girvan and Ballantrae at Bennane Head was left in the hands of a local farmer. This road, which rises upwards with craggy cliffs on the right and has views of Kintyre and Ailsa Craig to the left, has now become available for filmmakers to use. The white lines are slightly overgrown but the film-friendly landowner is more than prepared to clear up any stretch of the road to reveal the white lines again. It also has cats-eyes and crash barriers and most importantly it also has a large lay-by at the top of the rise, which is perfectly positioned for parking trucks. Any location manager/scout or producer wishing to enquire about this location should contact francis.lopez@scottishscreenlocations.com or call 0141 3021 735.
Photos by Francis Lopez
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distribution
CREDIT CRUNCH
FILMMAKING by David Boaretto, executive producer, The Inheritance
The Inheritance is a Scottish road movie directed by Charles-Henri Belleville and written by Tim Barrow. It was made on £5,000 and filmed in 11 days. The shoot took place in February 2007 during Charles-Henri’s annual work holidays and the film went on to win the Raindance Award at the 2007 British Independent Film Awards, was nominated for Best UK Feature at the Raindance Film Festival and was nominated for Best First Time Director and First Time Producer at the 2008 BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards. After successful festival screenings, the film received a limited cinema release across the
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UK. As suspected, theatrical rentals were not sufficient to make any significant financial impact, and we were now faced with having to reimburse our investors. Like most filmmakers we first considered whether to go down the conventional DVD distribution route. The Inheritance being a 62-minute film, we knew that no distributor would commit to any P&A money or give the film a significant push. We were also conscious that we had a well-referenced
website that had been online for 15 months. We therefore decided to self-distribute the film. Charles-Henri had succeeded in making a film, which, despite the budget, was accessible to a range of audiences. During festivals we had identified two core audiences: Scottish filmgoers and young filmmakers. Scottish filmgoers were touched by the cultural relevance and immediacy of the film, its subject matter, its locations and its harp and Gaelic music. Young filmmakers respected the success the film had gathered on so little budget and drew comparisons to similar projects such as Christopher Nolan’s Following – another 69-minute feature shot on £5,000. The first decision we made was to package the film with an hour-long documentary detailing how we created the film. In it we
explain how we allocated £3,000 to shoot the film, £1,500 to post-production and £500 to press and festivals. Ultimately the documentary shows how a group of first time filmmakers went from raising £5,000 to wining a British Independent Film Award 10 months later in front of celebrities such as Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Ray Winstone. To produce the DVD we used the skills we had learnt during the production of the film. We asked a designer friend to take care of the DVD cover and website and our friends in Morocco, who took care of the initial The Inheritance website, amended it to allow for DVD sales. DVD authoring was done on our domestic computer. We cash-flowed the cost of producing the first 1,000 DVDs by putting the website online 10 days before replicating the units and asking friends to buy the film. With a cast and crew of 11, everyone had to contribute to the push. The strategy was to launch the DVD two weeks before Christmas and to cut out the middlemen. Net margins amounted to 80% of the DVD’s price and many friends and family made it their exclusive Christmas present. Some bought 30 units at a time. We ended up reimbursing the film’s investors after 3 weeks – still 20 days ahead of our official launch date set for January 19. During this time more then 4,000 people visited the website. Selling through the website allowed us to also gather precious information on customers for the future. For example, 20% of DVD orders were made abroad: mainly
France but also the US, Canada, Ireland, Australia and Italy, and two thirds of buyers were women. We contacted publications, who had written about the film during its festival life and early January; we decided to go beyond our internet campaign and see if we could get distributed in stores ahead of our launch date. We decided to first target Edinburgh as the film has strong ties with the city. It was partly shot there and it’s where Charles-Henri and Tim are from. We visited DVD stores such as FOPP and independent cinemas. We realised then that most store managers can independently decide whether or not to take on a new film.
At the time of writing, the film is still to officially launch and is currently sold in over 50 stores. We will now try to meet with buyers in bigger retailers such as Borders and HMV, to try to get the film to an even wider audience. The Inheritance DVD is available at www.theinheritancethemovie.com and in all good DVD stores!
Very quickly the film was selling in cinemas such as Edinburgh Filmhouse and FOPP stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow. We then decided to print distribution notes and posters, and started contacting stores across the UK. Soon the film was selling in Manchester, Bristol, London and Cambridge. In 3 days, the DVD was carried by an additional 25 selling points including FOPP stores outside Scotland, Foyles, Blackwells and MDC. We then contacted independent cinemas across the country and got orders from theatres such as the BFI, the Curzon Soho and ICA. Finally various art galleries agreed to sell and advertise the film. We also received promotional help from Scottish Screen who had supported the film from the start, Skillset, Shooting People and some of the festivals we had played in such as Raindance. By then we had reviews starting to come out.
Apart from offering production support, Scottish Screen offers help and information on getting your film out there and reaching an audience. Scottish Screen has commissioned a comprehensive guide to the ins-and-outs of distributing a short film. You've Got it Made: Short Film Distribution Guide is available to download from the Scottish Screen website.
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Half Moon cast with writer Eoin Colfer
Half Moon cast
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production
“Can you write 800 words on your Half Moon experiences?” The Half Moon Experience: it sounds like a ride at Disney World, and in many ways it was. Prep was like the queue: accompanied by waves of nausea as I worked my head around the seemingly insurmountable challenges ahead. The shoot was like the actual ride: gritting my teeth and hanging on as it progressed at a terrifying speed, surrounded by over-excited, screaming kids. And now I’m in post, I can look back on the ride feeling exhilarated, proud to have risen to the myriad of challenges and desperate for another go. Having spent the previous two and a half years directing very serious, dark, 18 certificate films, I jumped at the chance to return to a fun, light-hearted project. In accepting the job to direct Half Moon Investigations, I saw three main challenges to overcome: 1. The schedule. I’ve become obsessed by schedules. When I began directing short films I naively assumed that as I progressed on to bigger, higher budget projects, I’d be given more time to bring the scripts to life. Instead, my daily page counts have raised six fold, to the point where each half hour episode of Half Moon was shot in less time than I had to direct my first short, which was barely six minutes long. It’s a reality of the screen industry today that dramas are increasingly ambitious, but that budgets aren’t growing accordingly. This is something that directors and HoDs have to accept and embrace as a challenge. On Half Moon, we were shooting an average of eight pages a day, working with kids on limited hours, and I was desperate to keep some visual ambition to the show. I worked closely with my fantastic
AD department, led by Patrick Conroy, to figure out how to make the most of our time. We completed the call sheet every day, often also shooting a standby scene or two – at our peak we shot 11 and 3/8 pages in a single day. 2. The kids. Such a cliché, but so true. When you work with adults you expect a certain level of professionalism; with children you can make no such assumption. We had kids ranging from 11 to 17-years-old, from all over the UK, most of whom had never been in front of a camera before. They all had different backgrounds, approaches and needs and I quickly realised I had to tailor the way I direct to suit each of them individually. The kids were getting thrown into an adult world for the first time in their lives, often away from home and their families, shooting intensively, spending every spare minute of the day being tutored, then going home in the evening to (hopefully) learn all their pages for the following day. It was tough on them and they needed a lot of support. At various times I found myself adopting the role of mate, teacher and surrogate father figure, as well as director. We felt it was vital that the kids enjoyed the experience, so we kept the set light-hearted and jovial at all times, and although they could be hard work, the kids' enthusiasm was infectious. Much has been made of Rory Elrick, the fantastic actor who plays Half Moon, but he was just one of many talented, young, local actors who are worth keeping an eye out for in the future, including Robert Carr, Natasha Watson, Marcus Nash, Kathleen Kidd and Robyn Milne.
3. Dialogue. This challenge was specific to my directorial style. As a scriptwriter, I only use dialogue as a last resort. My short films were all driven by visuals, using images to tell the story wherever possible. In a number of my shorts, much of my commercial work, and the 13 episodes of Uncle Max I directed earlier in the year, there is no dialogue at all. It’s almost become a calling card of mine. But Half Moon Investigations is very much a dialogue-driven show. On an average day I could have been shooting 10 dialogue scenes. This effectively meant learning a new way of directing, opening up big challenges for me in terms of staging and shooting, to keep it fresh and visually interesting. I had tremendous support in this area from my camera department, led by Peter Morgan and Ossie McLean, who were great at throwing solutions my way and finding ways to turn some of my more fanciful ideas into reality. 2008 has been a fascinating year for me; I’ve worked continuously for 12 months shooting nearly six hours of comedy and drama, effectively trebling the amount of screen time I’ve shot so far in my career. It’s been a steep, but enjoyable, learning curve. Early on during the shoot, I also learnt that my wife’s expecting our first child. I’m sure directing Half Moon has provided me with invaluable experience for impending fatherhood, and with the series complete, my kids won’t have to wait until they’re 18 to see what their dad does for a living. Half Moon Investigations is showing on BBC One on Mondays at 4.30pm. Simon’s episodes begin on February 23. Senseless, Simon’s first feature film, is nominated for Best Feature Length Drama at this year’s Celtic Media Festival.
Director Simon Hynd on set
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innovation
4iP Channel 4's Innovation for the Public Fund (4iP) has been open for business since mid-October 2008, with nearly 700 ideas being worked up or submitted for a slice of the £50m on offer over the next three years. And Scotland’s forging ahead with new commissions every week.
From February 2009 a full team of Digital Commissioners across the UK will be seeking those web, mobile and gaming ideas that can change the lives of people in Britain. We're looking for new ways to seek and create content, APIs (Application Programme Interfaces) that allow people to use information in new and provocative ways, and fresh platforms that help people discover the hidden gems in their communities or on the web, keep an eye on money and power, or have their voices heard. In Scotland, we've already opened talks with several Scottish startups as we look to bolster or expand their business in partnership with Scottish Enterprise's existing Seed Fund and Co-investment Fund, with announcements on our new media investments due later this year. A slate of projects, new companies and fresh code for 2009 has been forming, with several Scottish commissions already in place and many more in the wings. We'll see a year that expands on that theme of discoverability, finding the line where Google search doesn't cut it, where human intrigue is left wanting by what's currently on offer. Central Station, recently announced as one of our first commissions, is one such project. A toolset, a site full of content, a social network, a place for artists to share their work and meet others who share their passion, a place to learn the business of making it in the artworld, Central Station brings together the hidden
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By Ewan McIntosh, 4iP Digital Commissioning Manager Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North East
gems of the artworld, both those that exist online already and those which have been locked up in the corridors of art schools and studios around the world. Participants are encouraged to share, comment on and remix artwork for the chance to be recognised - and to win money-can't-buy prizes on the way. Other ideas in the pipeline include a partnership with Learning and Teaching Scotland, the national education agency which houses Scotland’s Centre for Gaming and Learning, the Consolarium. Using the technological capacity and appeal of iTouch and iPhone, combined with the upsurge in graphic novels to encourage reading in tweens and teens, we’re rethinking reading - and you don't even need a torch to read it under the bedcovers.
As Digital Commissioner in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East, I've been pursuing other mobile gaming ideas in Scotland's gaming capital, Dundee and, later this year, I hope to see a steady stream of mobile gaming and mobile apps hitting the 4iP slate. Meanwhile, more traditional television independents have formed the minority of commissions and proposals thus far, though many in 2009 will be seeking to expand their work in standalone online and mobile as the potential for revenues online continues to grow despite the downturn elsewhere. But 4iP’s not about profit first and foremost; it’s about those great ideas that can change the lives of people in Britain. As the Government maps out the route towards a
innovation
P fully Digital Britain, the importance of the internet in all our lives will increase. Creative ideas will be in higher demand than ever. 4iP will be a major part of that metamorphoses as we move from a television in every home to a broadband connection in every home. It’s been an exciting opening period for the fund against this backdrop, helping to stimulate some new companies and beginning to tempt Scottish talent back from the reaches of the M25. Our quick pitching site (submit.4iP.org.uk) has been key to this, and we’ve managed to turn around most of the proposals from the submissions site in no more than 28 days, many of them faster than that. After the initial swarm of ideas, we’re now seeing the time from proposal to commission taking as little as three weeks. Now that we’ve spotted some strong themes for 2009 from our initial open quest for ideas, we will in addition be announcing more frequent calls to action around specific themes, starting with one in February and March in partnership with Festivals Edinburgh. Anyone who’s been knows that there is quite a challenge ahead to try to make the world’s
biggest arts festival feel a little bit smaller – more discoverable, helping realworld and virtual visitors and locals alike to find the theatre, music, comedy and art that they didn’t know they’d love. Indies and individuals here in Scotland have much to gain from frequent dips into our online community, 38minutes.co.uk, which offers an inside track on Commissioners’ thinking, offers a chance to meet others working in different parts of the creative industries and, importantly, features news of these calls to action and how to best pitch your ideas. As we move into 2009, Scotland’s contribution to one of the most exciting opportunities in new media of late has the chance to be a significant one. How significant it is, though, is very much down to the continued contribution of Scotland’s talents, passions and ideas. More about 4iP The fund is a collaboration between Channel 4 and a network of partners across the UK. Channel 4 has committed up to £20 million to the 4iP fund on a pilot basis in the three years after launch.
It will also offer help in kind, including cross-promotion, sales and administrative support. Channel 4’s commitment has attracted provisional equivalent funding commitments from partner agencies to at least £50 million. In Scotland, we're working in partnership with Scottish Screen and Scottish Enterprise to engage with all those who have the potential to do things first, inspire change and make some trouble, from the kitchen table entrepreneur to the established new media independent. www.4iP.org.uk www.38minutes.co.uk
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Adrian McDowall and Finlay Pretsell
ADRIAN McDOWALL AND FINL
SUND Ma Bar
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festival report First issue was the luggage… Got to Salt Lake City to find it amiss, but we were full of anticipation nonetheless, and were handed our jumbo-sized t-shirts from Delta Airlines as way of compensation. Bonus. Salt Lake City and its surrounding areas were covered in snow, navigated by the locals in their enormous gas guzzling cars. The flipside of this is the huge awareness of recycling and sustainability as promoted by Sundance. We were given branded lime-green refillable bottles on arrival, and these became the motif of all attendees. Park City itself is buried in the mountains, 7,000-ft up. The reputation of Sundance is so expansive, you imagine it’s an enormous enterprise, but Main Street itself – which is at the heart of all the action – could fit into a corner of Sauchiehall or Princes Street. It’s a buzzing, action-packed strip – a legacy of its days as a drunken and debauched mining town. Another preconception of Sundance is that it’s a bit of a swagbag celeb-fest. This is pretty on the mark. We were told over and over that this 25th anniversary was quiet, but there were still parties a-go-go, and lots of well-known faces in town. There was Paris Hilton (obviously!), but more notably, we saw Susan Sarandon, Woody Harrelson, Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan and porn superstar Ron Jeremy – all promoting their latest films. The festival was launched by Mary and Max, an accomplished stop-frame clay animation feature from Australian director, Adam Elliot. It was a dark story with a heart of gold. Our film, Ma Bar, which was selected for competition from over 5600 submissions, is a 12-minute portrait of 73-year-old World Champion Powerlifter, Bill McFadyen from Stranraer. It first screened on the second day of the festival at the Holiday Village Theatre
AY PRETSELL AT
before the feature documentary Thriller in Manila directed by fellow Brit John Dower. Thriller in Manila chronicles the three fights between the legend Muhammad Ali and Smokin Joe Frazier, a perfect double bill – if you pardon the pun. It wasn’t until we stood up to introduce our film to the sea of expectant faces that we realised, “Shit, we’re really screening at SUNDANCE!” I have to admit, I actually froze under the spotlight for a second or two, but thankfully Finlay filled in the gaps with a few Eh’s and Ah’s. The screenings were sold out at every venue, even the midnight screening. I guess this is the benefit of showing before a feature film, the one negative being that we weren’t given the opportunity to hold a Q&A, but were asked to take any questions in the lobby afterwards. Despite this, the audiences gave us a positive and warm reception wherever we went and seemed to love the film, even though they may have found Bill’s broad Scottish accent a tad difficult to understand. We quickly realised that Sundance isn’t all about watching films, well at least for the filmmakers in competition, as we were encouraged to attend all the networking brunches, lunches, parties and photocalls on our schedule, of which there are at least a dozen every day. The focus of Sundance seems to be all about connecting people. At every networking event we would find writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, designers, composers, financers and actors brushing shoulders with one another and exchanging business cards. It’s a healthy cross-pollination that will, without a doubt, be responsible for some interesting collaborations in years to come. One of the highlights of these events was the directors' brunch at the Sundance resort, home to the Sundance institute and labs. It was hosted by Robert Redford himself, the eternally youthful looking film star and
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director, who founded the indie festival in 1985, as a way to promote new and undiscovered talent. His closing speech was an inspiring one, advising us all, as artists, to ignore the “bullshit” that surrounds the festival, and instead concentrate on making our next film. Working out a daily schedule is essential to make the most of the Sundance experience. Tickets are very hard to come by, even for the filmmakers. They’ve got this thing called wait lists. Even with tickets, you won’t be guaranteed your seat, as we found out for Mexican film Sin Nombre. It ensures full houses for all screenings. Great for the filmmakers involved, but a real pisser for us. Promoting your film is a difficult business, especially when you can’t afford a publicist, which seems to be the norm here. So we had to fall back on our full-on Scottish charm offensive and Finlay’s kilt. This seemed to do the trick as, by the end of the second day, chants of “MA BAR!”, with faux Scottish accents could be heard reverberating around Main Street by fellow filmmakers and festival staff alike. On 20 January there were two “AWESOME” celebrations that can’t go unmentioned: my birthday…and the small matter of the inauguration of the new President Barrack Obama. This brought the people of Park City out in their droves with the celebrations continuing well in to the night, encouraging to find in a mostly Republican state. There is definitely an air of optimism for the future of the country, which was mirrored by our own feelings of new opportunities that the festival has brought us. Since arriving in Sundance, Ma Bar has been accepted for over half a dozen other international film festivals. In addition to this we have started to spread the word about our next project, the feature film mockumentary, Courier of Death – The Making of The Remake. Sundance encompasses that sunny American sensibility, and really embraces new talent. Ma Bar’s been a fantastic calling card, due in no small part to our collaborators: editor Mark Jenkins, cinematographers Blair Scott and Filip Syczynski, composer Matt Aldworth and sound recordists Anders Jedenfors and Dylan Drummond. We also owe huge thanks to Scottish Screen, Edinburgh College of Art, British Council and the Scottish Documentary Institute for their financial support. Lastly, there’d be no Ma Bar without Bill McFadyen. He’s one of a kind, and it’s only a pity he couldn’t be here in Sundance with the rest of the team.
Adrian McDowall and Finlay Pretsell attended Sundance Film Festival with support from Scottish Screen National Lottery through the Markets and Festivals fund. For more information about investment opportunities at Scottish Screen, please see www.scottishscreen.com.investment.
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Don't Look Now
Remembrance Day Memorial at the Glasgow Cenotaph, George Square 1927
Filming in San Sebastian
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his year, through an exciting project called Cinespace, I had the opportunity to see some of the technology that brings our film heritage to life.
Film has always given us the opportunity to travel to different worlds, and time travel is a recurring theme in the media, so it seems like a natural progression that film itself should be used to transport us back in time. This possibility is being explored through the Cinespace project, an international collaboration between partners in three European cities: Glasgow, Venice, and San Sebastian. Glasgow is represented by Scottish Screen, with invaluable support from the NLS Scottish Screen Archive, and The Lighthouse. Cinespace aims to take cinema – footage from the national archive and feature films – back to the location where it was captured, so that it can be experienced in situ, and a city’s moving image legacy can be incorporated into its heritage. Cinespace is an interactive viewing device that is used to access location-specific content and will allow users to upload and share video, images and information. Operating like a hi-tech View-Master with a touch
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screen to navigate, the device can superimpose still and moving images, onto the real landmarks. That is to say, city scenes from the 1910s can be superimposed onto Glasgow’s City Chambers or, in Venice, where I met up with the rest of the Cinespace project team in September, a film classic like Don’t Look Now can be brought to life as one wanders around the streets. This project brings together a variety of technologies, and cultural resources, to create an innovative new way to experience cities, and offer access to existing moving image. The aim is to create a prototype that will be of interest to different groups. In Glasgow, the research is geared towards citizens, allowing them to learn more about their city by accessing archive footage of it. In Venice, the setting for many great movies, the content is designed for ‘set-jetters’ – film fans that want to visit the locations of their favourite films. With the Cinespace device, they could call up a scene from Death in Venice or Casino Royale and watch as if
technology
Using Cinespace in Venice
Using Cinespace in Venice
it were playing out in front of them. In San Sebastián, location scouts are experimenting with the device, which will allow them to see how locations appear at different times of day, or periods in history, by referencing historical footage taken there. The device uses GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to connect the user with local Points of Interest, such as buildings or monuments. When a citizen or tourist is close to a Point of Interest, the device will alert them to this fact and allow them to select media content relating to this location. In order to create the ‘time machine’ experience, it then makes use of markerless tracking to overlay, exactly, the film footage onto its original site. In addition, Cinespace employs inertial tracking to find the current position of the device, and an electronic 3D compass to discover its orientation. In order for users to identify sites that will be of most interest to them, new metadata is being developed. The Cinespace device also incorporates a camera and
microphone allowing users to capture new footage and share it with friends, or make it available to users in the future. In contrast to taking users back in time, this also allows them to create a digital time capsule of their own. If successful, this device could offer access to archive footage of Glasgow to thousands of citizens and visitors to the city. This exciting innovation offers potentially unlimited benefits in bringing film to new audiences, in new places. Until recently, moving image could only be watched on a static screen, in a cinema or in the home. Recent developments have made portable and personalised viewing possible but the marriage of mobile screens, and location technology will let Cinespace offer media content customised to the location, allowing a user to experience the space in a fourth dimension – time. The partners involved in Cinespace demonstrate its broad scope and ambition. Fomento de San Sebastián is the economic development
agency for the city, and project manager for Cinespace. The Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics in Darmstadt, is a prestigious centre for research in IT and computer science, and other technological applications. The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture and Design, aims to develop links between art, design and architecture. VICOMTech is San Sebastian’s centre for Visual Interaction and Communication Technologies, and is creating the semantic ontology for the project. Scottish Screen’s role is to source appropriate footage, with help from the NLS archive, and ensure that the city of Glasgow is equipped with the technology to allow citizens to access the content. The City of Venice, incorporating the Venice Film Commission, aims to celebrate the area’s rich cinema heritage and encourage tourists to experience it for themselves. Engineering and prototyping company Trivisio is responsible for producing the hardware for the Cinespace device. TRACASA, in Pamplona, is expert in the management of geospatial
information, which is central to Cinespace’s operation. VENIS is responsible for the wireless and streaming technology in Venice, allowing the content to be viewed successfully on the device. This fusion of technology and heritage, combined with design and rich media content promises an exciting and unique way to understand and experience our cities, through technology and moving image. Detailed information and project updates can be found online at www.cinespace.eu. Watch the promotional video on http://uk.youtube.com/manskj.
Cinespace is supported by Scottish Screen, NLS Scottish Screen Archive and The Lighthouse
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The 2009 NETS trainees have now been selected and started the programme in January. We have eight NETS One trainees for one year and two NETS Advance for 12 weeks. In this issue of roughcuts, we are introducing the NETS One trainees. We are now starting to contact companies and productions, who would be willing to have trainees attached. Please contact Kay Sheridan on 0141 302 1768 if you would like more information or are interested in any of our NETS One trainees for your production. Gillian Brown Factual Research Gill has a degree from the University of St Andrews in English Language and Literature. Since her graduation she has worked as an assistant producer and station producer at Talk107 radio station in Edinburgh. In November 2007 she left Scotland to spend 9 months working and traveling in Western Australia. Most recently Gillian worked has as a researcher with Hand Pict Productions on an observational
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documentary for BBC Scotland on mental health in young people in Scotland. Gillian now wants to develop her skills and experience as a researcher for factual production. Rachel Clachrie Animation Production Rachel studied Film and Media at Stirling University. Prior to joining NETS she has been working for animation company Super Umami as their Production Assistant, where she worked on various projects including KNTV with Tern TV for Channel 4. During her time there she gained knowledge of the animation world and now wants to expand into different animation formats. Prior to this she has experience in live action production in short films and television series such as BBC’s Flog it! Stuart Dale Factual Co-ordination Stuart studied Drama, Cultural Studies and Creative Writing at Manchester Met University. He went on to become a music
researcher for Signal Radio in Manchester and an Artist Co-ordinator at Glastonbury Festival. After returning to Glasgow, Stuart has worked as a runner on The World According to Burns for BBC, and Children in Need. He is now keen to specialise in production co-ordination/research on documentaries and light entertainment. Lee Melrose Make-up Lee graduated from Clydebank College with a HND in Make-Up Artistry. She has recently worked as a make-up trainee on BBC's River City and 2am TV's upcoming drama PA's. Â Work experience also includes the film New Town Killers on location in Edinburgh and the 2008 Glasgow Film Festival trailer. Lee is aiming to broaden her experience across film and TV in make-up over the next year. Steven Moore Drama Assistant Co-ordinator Steven studied Psychology and Management at university. When he
Photo of the new NETS trainees, along with Garry and Natasha who were invited to attend the induction session. L-R: Andy Nutt Rachel Clachrie Nicola Parker Lee Melrose Steven Moore Natasha Huq Gillian Brown Garry Fraser Stuart Dale Ella Williams
finished his degree he made the move into film and television. Last year he attended the NETS Hit The Ground Running Course and on completion was taken on as production runner on Taggart, where he worked for 6 months. The job provided him with vital experience working on a large production and confirmed that it was drama production that he wanted to work on and broaden his knowledge in. Andy Nutt Camera Andy is originally from Northern Ireland, but has lived, studied and worked in Glasgow since 2001. Andy has a Masters degree in Digital Media Design from Glasgow Caledonian University as well as a degree in Computing. For the last year he has been working for Hammerhead TV Facilities as a Broadcast Equipment Technician. Recently he worked as Camera Assistant on the Scottish leg of the BBC Documentary series Rivers produced by Modern TV. He hopes to build on his experience.
Nicola Parker Locations Nicola has an HND in Audio Visual Technology from Stevenson College Edinburgh. She has been working for the Scottish Government’s TV and Video production unit as a Broadcast and Production Team officer. Her work included dealing with the pre-production shooting schedules, TV studio/ location camera operation and post production off-line editing. Nicola has also worked as Location Manager for several short films including Flyer, which won a BAFTA New Talent Award. She now hopes to develop her experience and knowledge working in Locations.
worked in the art department on Scottish film and television productions. These have included a short film, The Pitts directed by the up-and-coming Jamie Stone, a dramatised documentary for Glass Machine Productions entitled Patrick McGill: Child of the Dead End and, most recently, a feature for Mandragora Productions, Dark Nature.
New Entrants Programme NETS One and NETS Advance is funded by: Scottish Screen, The Skillset Film Skills Fund which is supported by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council and the film industry through the Skills Investment Fund and the Skillset TV Freelance Fund.
Ella Williams Art Department Ella has a degree in fine art, specialising in painting. During study for this she also contributed regularly to student films. Since graduating, she has travelled in Europe and Australasia, worked as a painter/decorator, explored her own painting projects, and
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training Andrew MacDonald
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training
SCREEN ACADEMY scotland By Professor Robin MacPherson, Director 2009 promises to be another vintage year for Screen Academy Scotland, getting off to a stellar start in January with a visit from Trainspotting and 28 Days Later producer, Andrew MacDonald, who spoke to a packed house of Screen Academy students, local industry practitioners and members of the public.
higher education in Scotland to ‘join up the dots’ – to offer a progression route from informal learning through further education courses and undergraduate programmes in media practice to specialist postgraduate courses in areas like screenwriting, producing, directing, animation, multimedia journalism or interactivity. And it reflects a growing commitment to offering high level continuing professional development opportunities like The Soundtrack, (delivered in partnership with the renowned School of Sound), our distance learning Screenwriting Online programme, European development programmes like ENGAGE and Interdoc, and new-technology initiatives like DigiDIY!
In conversation with producer and MA Screen Project Development Programme Leader Oscar Van Heek, Andrew reflected on his career since 1995 debut feature Shallow Grave, the surprise hit that marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge. Covering the diverse challenges of making The Beach with Leonardo Di Caprio in Thailand and turning London into a people-free wasteland for 28 Days Later, Andrew emphasised that, regardless of the size of the budget or prominence of the star, marrying great material to a clear understanding of the film’s potential audience lies at the heart of any successful movie and successful producer. For the writers in the audience he offered the encouragement that from the smallest indie to the biggest studio, good scripts are always in extremely short supply. For the producers in the room he cautioned that they have to make sure that the scripts they want to produce are not just good, but good enough to get an audience in a crowded marketplace.
We continue to hothouse the best big screen talent from writers to editors, but as media convergence is now a reality and not rhetoric, connecting up our multimedia journalists with our producers, our animators with our web designers and our entrepreneurs with our technologists is becoming a major imperative. The future of work in the moving image industry is increasingly a multi-skilled, portfolio career where some people will still carve out a high profile, specialist skill in say digital cinematography or screenwriting but many more will work across different media, researching, writing, selling, shooting, editing and presenting online, on mobile, on the go. In a ‘both/and’ rather than an ‘either/ or’ world, we want the Academy to be the first choice for screen and media practice education and training, embracing the diversity of the moving image landscape, the fast changing technologies of production and distribution and the perennial core skills of great stories, striking images, sensuous sounds and important ideas. Two of our recent screenwriting graduates have been commissioned by major indies to write online dramas while two of our directing graduates (Timo Langer and Robert Glassford) won the 4Talent Directing Prize for their CGI-rich film The Big Forever.
Andrew’s visit in January was part of our programme of keynote masterclasses at the Academy, and sponsored sessions at other events like the Glasgow Film Festival and Scottish Students on Screen, which are open to a wider audience than just our students and alumni. It’s all part of our commitment to working with the industry and with the rest of further and
prestigious world federation of film and television schools at its biennial congress in Beijing where four of our graduates presented their films before going onto screen them at the Kolkata Film Festival. In January, Celtic Film Festival winner Damian Woods was selected to take part in a masterclass with Emir Kusturica, Jim Jarmusch and Wong Kar Wai at the Kustendorf Film Festival. In February three of our students will be taking part in the Berlinale Talent Campus, and in March another three, director Catriona Craig, writer Frances O’Neil and producer Susan Wright, will see their film The Problem With Pets compete at the 4th Women in Film and Television Festival in Vancouver, following its winning an audience prize at the Beijing Film Festival. Later this year we will be launching new degree programmes in broadcast and interactive media and a range of new short courses for those already in the industry but looking to upskill so keep a close eye on e-roughcuts or sign up to the Academy ebulletin for the latest news. www.screenacademyscotland.ac.uk
And we aim to be the best not just in Scotland but internationally. Last November we gained full membership of CILECT, the
Screen Academy Scotland is supported by Scottish Screen.
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production
dieppe
EXCHANGE Penny Bartlett, Officer for Learning GFT
Last November, I was delighted to have the opportunity to bid farewell to rainy Glasgow for a few days to take part in the fourth annual Glasgow Film Theatre/Dieppe Scène Nationale (DSN) education exchange. This exchange was set up as a joint initiative between the two organisations in 2003, and involves bringing Scottish filmmakers to Dieppe and French filmmakers to Glasgow to visit local schools and talk with pupils. The exchange functions effectively as both a language learning exercise and an enjoyable way for pupils to enhance their understanding and appreciation of moving image, the film industry, and what working in film might involve. The exchange takes place during the Too Much! Festival of British Culture, supported by the British Council, which comprises theatre, music, dance and film, and is curated by the team at DSN. Past Scotland-based directors who have taken part include Chris Waitt (A Complete History of My Sexual Failures), Scottish BAFTA winner Martin Smith (Accidents, Tracks), Doug Aubrey (Autonomi Films) and Zak Hanif (Cornershop, Homecoming.) Most recently French director Laurent Sénéchal travelled to Glasgow with his short Nyaman’ gouacou, and this year I was accompanied by filmmaker Joern Utkilen. Originally from Norway, Joern has been working as a director in Scotland for more than 10 years, and in that time has made numerous highly inventive low budget short films. He has just wrapped a Cinema Extreme project
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and is also studying for a Masters at Screen Academy Scotland. Joern’s films are imbued with a unique comic sensibility, and the film, which we used for this project, No Coke, is no exception to this. Pupils and teachers alike warmed to this amusingly frustrating tale of a face-off between a youth hostel worker and a disgruntled customer which turns ugly when the customer’s money is swallowed by the hostel vending machine. Various schools had approached the film in different ways – dreaming up alternative endings, using the film as a springboard to develop questions about Joern’s career and approach to his work, and at one school, even staging a re-enactment of a scene in the film! Asking Joern to pose for a photograph next to the school vending machine was also a recurring gag. The pupils were all entertained to discover that the film was based on a real life experience of Joern’s, which happened to have taken place on his last trip to France, and were pleased that he had been willing to return despite his potentially traumatising memories! No Coke was also screened at the DSN preceding a screening of the beloved Ealing comedy classic Kind Hearts and Coronets as part of a British comic double bill. This gave Joern the opportunity to present his film to an older audience and to answer some questions about the production. During the trip we also recorded an audio
diary for BBC Scotland’s Radio Café at the Movies, and at one school were greeted on arrival by a local television crew, who interviewed Joern, Grégory Le Perff of DSN, and some of the school pupils. The pupils talked enthusiastically with the interviewer about the exchange and the enjoyment they derived from meeting a real film director and putting their English language skills to practical and creative use. Students also noted that the film differed from the English language films they were accustomed to Hollywood blockbusters and action movies – with varying degrees of approval! Joern and I visited a total of five schools and eight classes over two days. The following week director Zak Hanif travelled to Dieppe for the second time to meet with older pupils and discuss his new film Homecoming, which was made through the GMAC Shortcuts initiative. The film follows a British Asian family who are surprised by an unexpected visit during celebrations for the holy day of Eid, and provided French pupils with an insight into British Asian culture and issues of racial conflict and identity in contemporary Britain, as well as a chance to practise their language skills and learn from Zak about his craft. Both directors said they were impressed by the wide range of thoughtful questions asked about their backgrounds and influences but also more practical elements of their filmmaking.
Joern and Penny
Joern and pupils
GFT is committed to developing innovative ways of encouraging young people to develop their knowledge and understanding of film. Work with schools is a core part of GFT’s education activities and the forthcoming Glasgow Youth Film Festival (8-21 February 2008), programmed by GFT Learning, offers opportunities for young people to explore film in exciting and diverse ways.
Joern, GrĂŠgory and teachers
GFT Learning is always keen to develop new partnerships and to hear fresh ideas about how to enhance the cinema experience for audiences of all ages. To find out more about the Glasgow Youth Film Festival and the range of activities GFT Learning offer throughout the year, please contact Penny Bartlett on info@ gft.org.uk or phone 0141 352 8604. For specific enquiries about partnerships and collaborations, contact Emily Munro on education@gft.org.uk.
GFT is supported by Scottish Screen as a Cultural Cinema Hub.
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DEADLINE – Entries to Edinburgh International Film Festival
FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html)
FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) EVENTS – Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin (www.berlinale-talentcampus.de) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Dundee, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com)
FESTIVALS – Goteborg International Film Festival (www.filmfestival.org/filmfestival/) FESTIVALS – Rotterdam International Film Festival (www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com) FESTIVALS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (www.clermont-filmfest.com/) MARKETS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market (www.clermont-filmfest.com/00_templates/page.php?m=66) DEADLINE – Applications to MEDIA i2i Audiovisual Fund (www.mediadesk.co.uk/funding) FESTIVALS – Goteborg International Film Festival (www.filmfestival.org/filmfestival/) FESTIVALS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (www.clermont-filmfest.com/) MARKETS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market (www.clermont-filmfest.com/00_templates/page.php?m=66) EVENTS – Organising Accessible Screenings, ICO Training, London (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/training. html) EVENTS – Funding the Business, Aberdeen, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) FESTIVALS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (www.clermont-filmfest.com/) MARKETS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market (www.clermont-filmfest.com/00_templates/page.php?m=66) FESTIVALS– Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (www.clermont-filmfest.com/) MARKETS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market (www.clermont-filmfest.com/00_templates/page.php?m=66) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Perth & Edinburgh, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) FESTIVALS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (www.clermont-filmfest.com/) MARKETS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market (www.clermont-filmfest.com/00_templates/page.php?m=66) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) FESTIVALS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (www.clermont-filmfest.com/) MARKETS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market (www.clermont-filmfest.com/00_templates/page.php?m=66) FESTIVALS – Kingussie Food on Film Festival, Kingussie (www.kfff.co.uk) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) EVENTS – Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin (www.berlinale-talentcampus.de) FESTIVALS – Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (www.clermont-filmfest.com/) FESTIVALS – Kingussie Food on Film Festival, Kingussie (www.kfff.co.uk) EVENTS – BAFTA Film Awards, London (www.bafta.org/awards/film/) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – Berlinale Co-Production Market (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) EVENTS – Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin (www.berlinale-talentcampus.de) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – Berlinale Co-Production Market (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) EVENTS – Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin (www.berlinale-talentcampus.de) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Livingston, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) FESTIVALS – Registration open for Celtic Media Festival, Cearnarfon (www.celticfilm.co.uk/register) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – Berlinale Co-Production Market (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) EVENTS – Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin (www.berlinale-talentcampus.de) DEADLINE – Applications to Markets and Festivals Fund for Celtic media Festival (www.scottishscreen.com/investment) FESTIVALS – Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) MARKETS – European Film Market, Berlin ((www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html) EVENTS – Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin (www.berlinale-talentcampus.de) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Edinburgh & Arbroth, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com)
FEBRUARY
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FESTIVALS – Dumfries Film Festival (www.web-link.co.uk/rbc/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/)
MARKETS – MIPTV/Millia (www.miptv.com/) DEADLINE – Entries to Animate IT Schools Animation Competition (www.filmstreet.co.uk) EVENTS – AFCI Locations (www.afci.org/) EVENTS – AFCI Locations (http://www.afci.org/) DEADLINE – Applications to Edinburgh TV Festival’s The Network (www.mgeitf.co.uk/home/thenetwork. aspx) DEADLINE – MEDIA Call, Development – Single Projects (www.mediadesk.co.uk/funding/_2,8,113/) DEADLINE – MEDIA Call, Development – Slate Funding (www.mediadesk.co.uk/funding/_2,8,113/) DEADLINE – MEDIA Call, Development – Interactive Projects (www.mediadesk.co.uk/funding/_2,8,113/) DEADLINE – Submissions to Karlovy Vary Film Festival (www.kviff.com/en/) EVENTS – AFCI Locations (www.afci.org/) EVENTS – ICO Screening Days, BFI Southbank (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/screening_days. html) DEADLINE – Entries to Short Film Corners, Cannes Film Festival (www.shortfilmcorner.com/) EVENTS – ICO Screening Days, BFI Southbank (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/screening_days. html) EVENTS – ICO Screening Days, BFI Southbank (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/screening_days. html) DEADLINE – Entries to Rushes Soho Shorts Festival, London (www.sohoshorts.com/) DEADLINE – Applications to Markets and Festival Fund for Annecy Animation Festival (www.scottishscreen.com/investment) DEADLINE – Application to MEDIA Audiofestivals (www.mediadesk.co.uk/funding/_2,8,113/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/)
DEADLINE – Applications to Markets and Festivals Fund for Cannes Film Festival/Marche Du Film/Short film Corner (www.scottishscreen.com/investment) DEADLINE – Applications to for funding MEDIA: Selective Scheme (www.mediadesk.co.uk/funding/_2,8,113/) MARKETS – MIPTV/Millia (www.miptv.com/) MARKETS – MIPTV/Millia (www.miptv.com/)
FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) MARKETS – Hong Kong Film Art (http://www.hkfilmart.com/filmart/) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) MARKETS – Hong Kong Film Art (www.hkfilmart.com/filmart/) EVENTS FESTIVALS – Celtic Media Festival, Caenarfron (www.celticfilm.co.uk/) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) MARKETS – Hong Kong Film Art (www.hkfilmart.com/filmart/) EVENTS – Marketing Your Film Events, London (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/training.html) FESTIVALS – Celtic Media Festival, Caenarfron (www.celticfilm.co.uk/) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (http://www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) MARKETS – Hong Kong Film Art (www.hkfilmart.com/filmart/) EVENTS – Marketing Your Film Events, London (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/training.html) TRAINING – Multi-Platform Awareness Workshop, BBC White City, London (www.bbctraining.com/ coursesubsidies.asp) FESTIVALS – Celtic Media Festival, Caenarfron (www.celticfilm.co.uk/) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) EVENTS – Marketing Your Film Events, London (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/training.html) MARKETS – MIPDoc, Cannes (www.mipdoc.com/) MARKETS – MIPDoc, Cannes (www.mipdoc.com/) MARKETS – MIPTV/Millia (www.miptv.com/) MARKETS – MIPTV/Millia (www.miptv.com/)
MARCH cont
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EVENTS – The Media Regulation Executive Briefing, London (www.themediasummit.com) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Edinburgh, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu) EVENTS – The Media Summit, London (www.themediasummit.com) EVENTS – Start Up Networking Event, PERTH, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu) DEADLINE – Application to MEDIA Television Broadcasting Fund (www.mediadesk.co.uk/funding/) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu) DEADLIEN – Submission to Munich Short Film Festival 2009 EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu)
FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Kirkcaldy & Perth, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) MARKETS – FICCI Frames, Mumbai (www.ficci-frames.com/) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Edinburgh & Dundee, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) MARKETS – FICCI Frames, Mumbai (www.ficci-frames.com/) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) EVENTS – Start Up Awareness Seminar, Cupar, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) MARKETS – FICCI Frames, Mumbai (www.ficci-frames.com/) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu) FESTIVALS – Glasgow Film Festival, GFT (www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu) EVENTS - Sustainable Development for Cinemas and Film Festivals, ICO Training, Newcastle (www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/training.html) EVENTS – Funding the Business, Aberdeen, Business Gateway (www.bgateway.com) EVENTS – Anima 2009, Brussels (www.anima2009.eu)
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EVENTS – Winning Through Innovation, Galashields, Scottish Enterprise (www.scottish-enterprise.com) TRAINING – Multi-Platform Awareness Workshop, BBC Bristol (www.bbctraining.com/coursesubsidies.asp) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) DEADLINE – Late entries to Silverdocs, Washington DC (silverdocs.com/) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) TRAINING – Budget and Schedule for Feature Film, NPA (www.npa.org.uk/) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) TRAINING – Budget and Schedule for Feature Film, NPA (www.npa.org.uk/) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) EVENTS – Scottish Students on Screen, CCA Glasgow (www.baftascotland.co.uk/awards/scottish-studentson-screen) EVENTS – BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards, Glasgow (www.baftascotland.co.uk/awards/the-bafta-scotland-new-talent-awards-2009) FESTIVALS – Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, BFI Southbank (www.birds-eye-view.co.uk) DEADLINE – Entries to National Lottery Awards, First Round (www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/) EVENTS – First Light Movie Awards, London (www.firstlightmovies.com/awards/) DEADLINE – Applications to Markets and Festivals Fund for Hot Docs (www.scottishscreen.com/investment) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) TRAINING – Producing a Short Film, NPA (www.npa.org.uk/) FESTIVALS – Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, China (www.spanglefish.com/ballerinaballroom/) TRAINING – Producing a Short Film, NPA (www.npa.org.uk/)
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please Contact us If you wish to add your event email: info@scottishscreen.com
Calendar
FESTIVALS – Dumfries Film Festival (www.web-link.co.uk/rbc/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Dumfries Film Festival (www.web-link.co.uk/rbc/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Dumfries Film Festival (www.web-link.co.uk/rbc/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Hot Docs, Toronto (www.hotdocs.ca/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) DEADLINE – Applications to Markets and Festivals for Cheltenham Screenwriters Festival (www.scottishscreen.com/investment) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) DEADLINE – Applications to Markets and Festivals Fund for Karlovy Vary Film Festival (www.scottishscreen.com/investment) FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) MARKETS – Marche du Film, Cannes (www.marchedufilm.com/) FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival, France (www.festival-cannes.com/) FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/) FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/ FESTIVALS – Dance on Film 2009, Dancebase and Filmhouse Edinburgh (www.dancefilmscotland.com/
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LOCATION OF THE MONTH:
Greenock Municipal Buildings Greenock’s magnificent Municipal Buildings are one of the focal points of Greenock town centre, having housed the area’s local government offices for more than 130 years, as well as being one of Inverclyde’s many historical and architectural treasures. Currently the headquarters of the modern Inverclyde Council, the Municipal Buildings house council meetings, committee meetings and civic receptions as well as providing a working environment for hundreds of council officers.
ornately decorated with classical details outside and lavishly decorated inside. The total cost was not to exceed £80,000. Building works had to be phased. The foundation stone was laid on 6 August 1881 by Provost Dugald Campbell in the first phase of the development to the east of the Town Hall. This phase include the Police Station, which opened onto Dalrymple Street and the Saloon, which provided a banqueting area next to the Town Hall. Above these, the Court Room, associated offices and cells were built.
When the burgh councillors of Greenock needed new Municipal Buildings in the 1870s, they decided to hold an architectural competition. From 80 entries received the design by Glasgow-based architects, Hugh and David Barclay, was chosen. Their plans were for a four-storey ashlar building,
Scenes for Rebus have been filmed in various locations in the Town Hall and in the District Court in recent years, together with scenes in and around Clyde Square and the carriageway at the main entrance to the Town Hall. The BBC has also used the District Court for a River City storyline.
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The Victoria Tower The dome-capped Victoria Tower standing 245 feel high was part of the second building phase, which included the main façade of the Municipal Buildings facing onto Hamilton Street that is now Clyde Square. The pillars forming a colonnade along the front of the building are of Peterhead granite and the spaces occupied by ground floor offices today were originally shops. The Grand Corridor This appropriately named part of the Municipal Buildings gives access to the Provost’s Room, the Council Chambers, the Magistrates’ Room and Councillors' offices. Nowadays it is also used for civic receptions. Points of note include the carved panels in the doors, which, like the ceiling, demonstrate the skills of Victoria craftsmen. On the door to the Magistrates’ Room, the
locations
scales of justice, a scroll and sword are depicted, while on the Member’s Office and Lounge, the scroll is combined with a quill pen. Oak leaves, presumably associated with the green oak tree from which the name Greenock may have been derived, a sailing ship and fish, adorn the door leading to the Committee Room. The design of the mosaic floor tiles incorporates a ship and the town motto, “God Speed Greenock”, a message that is reflected in the coat of arms above the doorway from the main staircase. The paintings hanging in the Grand Corridor and throughout the Municipal Buildings are from the collections in the McLean Museum. While the pictures on display are changed periodically, it is customary to include works by local artists or subjects relating to Inverclyde. A variety of items including models made by trainees, trowels used for laying foundation stones and ceramic figurines presented to the Council are in the display cabinet. The ship’s bell dated 1616 which hangs below an oak table is believed to have been salvaged from a locally built tea clipper which sank in the Clyde.
Council Chambers In 1994 dry rot was discovered in the roof space above the Council Chambers. Although the ceiling did not need to be removed, it had to be carefully protected while restoration took place. Few people noticed the ceiling of the Chambers, partly because layers of grime had darkened the nine painted panels, and partly because of the 1960s light fittings, which did little to highlight the grandeur of the room.
the walls of the Magistrates’ Room, which links to the Inverclyde District Court. The window in the Court acts as a reminder that Greenock was an administrative centre within the County of Renfrewshire and the names of many of the county towns are depicted on the glass.
With assistance from Historic Scotland’s conservation experts, the panels have been meticulously restored and new lights installed that are in keeping with the style of the Chambers.
Rosemary Grace Rosemary.Grace@inverclyde.gov.uk T: 01475 715 5555
Provost’s Room The Provost has a suite of rooms comprising a large reception room and a working office. The reception room was modernised in 1969 and the white marble fireplace and furnishings date from that time. The Magistrates Room and Inverclyde District Court Photographs of the former Provosts of Greenock and Inverclyde are displayed on
The Court has changed very little since it was built and, as a result, it would make an ideal set for period dramas.