Sefton Short Film Festival

By Hana Leaper

After last year’s successful pilot festival attracted more than forty high quality short films, which were viewed by over five hundred punters over two days, Sefton Short Film Festival is set to return to the Plaza Cinema on Crosby Road North this October 11th & 12th 2006.

This year’s two day event will feature short films from a multitude of genres, made by a diverse array of filmmakers - last year’s entries included the CGI ‘Free Inside’, ‘The Quest’ made in mixed media with the help of visually and hearing impaired children from three Sefton schools, Quiggins documentary Culture Shock, black comedies like Mr Christmas, and surreal treats such as PC Theodore Pitts: Pigeon Police. It will include a glamorous welcome event where film enthusiasts can network and mingle and get excited about cinema together, an afternoon of children’s films on the 12th, and - although apparently they’re notoriously camera-shy - the organisers hope that some of the filmmakers will pluck up the courage to give interviews about their work which will be shown between films.

The only criteria are that entries must be under thirty minutes duration and have some link to Sefton – whether (like 2005’s Bar-to-Bar) it was filmed locally, or (as with the crazily monikered ‘There’s a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me in the Head with an Umbrella’) the scenes are unfamiliar, but the actor’s faces are of local pedigree.

The organisers all have professional backgrounds in the visual arts – Ann Monks is a writer who has worked on TV dramas as well as radio scripts, Suzie Walker works for Sefton Arts Department and runs the theatre group Gambolling Arena, and Tim Branston runs theatre company ‘The Light Factory’. This experience - and their love of film - helps guide their choices when sifting through entries, and they also hope to use this expertise to develop filmmaking workshops for people over nineteen years old, which will be fully funded and advertised in local press later this year.

Encouraged by the success of other independent cinema events - like the Manchester based Kino club, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year - the festival’s aim is to provide a platform for local work to be exhibited and to give viewers the chance to catch new filmmakers who’re just starting out. The purpose of keeping entries short is that this is the best way for new filmmakers to begin developing scripting skills, as longer works tend to lose their way.

You needn’t to go all the way to Cannes to plant your feet on the red carpet at a premiere and see all kinds of weird and wacky, sublime and ridiculous cinematic adventures. The future of film will be showing at Crosby Plaza Cinema this October 11th & 12th.

For more information visit: www.plazacinema.org.uk