Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Driving Inspiration celebration

Really looking forward to tomorrow's Driving Inspiration celebration in Aylesbury.
I've been working on a really partnership over the last few months with extraordinary company Sign Dance Theatre International and Buckingham Primary School on Buckinghamshire's main Cultural Olympiad project. Working with five schools, Driving Inspiration partners disabled artists with paralympians, to share their inspiring success stories.

It all began last year with paralympian James Morgan sharing his inspiring story with pupils at Buckingham Primary School. (Somehow I seem to have been too in awe I forgot to take a picture of that one). I then told the pupils about my battle with dyslexia... something I never thought that ever give me the chance to work with such a remarkable company as Sign Dance Collective on a multi media piece combining theatre and animation. The results of all of this are celebrated tomorrow in a live performance. Fingers crossed the technical rehearsals go well tomorrow when we finally see the animation, made by year 6 pupils, come together fully with the dance in its final form.  The permance is being filmed to create a cinematic experience we can share beyond the live performance. 

Working with five schools, Driving Inspiration partners disabled artists with paralympians, to share their inspiring success. Driving Inspiration is a project led by Creative Bucks a partnership between the District and County councils of Buckinghamshire. This project has been funded by Art Council England, and the South East's Legacy Trust project, Accentuate, to encourage young people to explore the inspiration behind the achievements of Paralympics Athletes.

We did it! Goole Straight 8 films in London premiere!

Great news from Straight8 that we have got 2 films in the London Screenings!! Woo hoo!!

Roll out the red carpet!!

And the films are . . .
Going Up - Director Harvey Griffin

Man From the Moon - Director Hannah Turner

Comisserations to the Remember to Smile team - we will be screening your film in Goole (more details on that soon)  The London Screenings will take place on 25 +26 July at the Rushes Soho Shorts film festival at ICA, The Mall, London! Hannah and Harvey will be attending to represent each film.


Straight 8, has become one of Rushes Soho Shorts’ most popular events, puts filmmakers into the unique position of seeing their own rushes at exactly the same time as the audience.


The brief is to shoot a film on one three-minute cartridge of super 8mm cine film. No editing is allowed, and the cartridge containing the film must be handed over exposed but undeveloped, along with a separate original soundtrack. Because there is no creative brief the resulting selection of films is always wildly diverse and the quality of the best films is astounding.


Straight8 Festival organiser Will Cummock said


‘Straight 8 is a tough challenge for any filmmaker, so it's fantastic to see young people taking it on so successfully. 2011 has been one of our most competitive years to date so the standard of selected films is particularly high.’

More info on the other films on the Straight8 website http://www.straight8.net/
Have a sneaky peak at the ICA http://www.ica.org.uk/
Goole Straight8 was made possible by a grant from Screen Yorkshire and UK film Council through the Regional Investment Fund for England. Jay Arnold, Head of Cultural Sector Development at Screen Yorkshire says '

Screen Yorkshire is delighted to congratulate Hannah and Harvey on their success and very proud to have been able to support Goole Straight8. To get through to this stage in an international filmmaking competition is a fantastic achievement and testament to the team at Junction who work incredibly hard to ensure that young people in Goole have access to such life shaping opportunities.'
Nicola Dixon Youth and Community Arts Co-ordinator at Junction said ‘We are immensely proud of what these young people have achieved; they really put so much hard work into the planning and creativity in these films.  I’m so pleased that they have been chosen to premiere in London, a great opportunity for 2 teenagers from Goole to showcase the fantastic talents the youth of Goole has to offer.’ 


Speaking personally, I’m so pleased for the young people, this is a hard film competition – there is no young people’s category, no special favours because they are young people – their films have been chosen on merit alone.  Well done to all involved’ !!

Friday, July 01, 2011

Premiere buzz

Tickets are selling well for tomorrow. Close Up Film have written a great news story about tomorrow's premiere. Molly and Jayden, stars of Bricknell Primary Schools "I wish I went to Ecuador" will be on BBC Radio Humberside tomorrow morning before traveling to the premiere at the National Media Museum in Bradford. It all started 3 months ago when we took a group to see "This is Cinerama", which the film plays alongside tomorrow. You can see a cool making of film made by the school here.