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As we’ve grown up in an industry family I suppose it was an inevitability that we’d eventually get the bug for filmmaking. We made our first short film at the ages of 3 and 5 (taking our toys and making them come to life!... well before Toy Story!) and haven’t stopped since. Throughout our school years we continued to produce short films with our friends, including our 20min period drama, The Price of Freedom, which focused on one soldier’s story during the First World War and utilizes the stunning poetry written by the Great War Poets to weave a story. We even worked closely with some school friends to write an original score for the film which was eventually recorded live with the school’s orchestra. Before leaving school we were commissioned to produce the school’s new promotional video.

  Over the past decade we’ve tried our hardest to take our passion and turn it into a career. We’ve endeavored to secure our place in this competitive industry and currently work as freelance camera operators and editors. Having been trained by numerous experienced professionals, we’ve learned to respect and understand the industry and its structure. Since leaving school we’ve produced a multitude of projects including: 10 music videos for companies such as Polydor records and artists like Xfactor’s Jamie Afro, a series of documentaries profiling celebrities such as US hip-hop group the ‘Black Eyed Peas’, which sold over 25,000 copies in its first week of DVD release and most notably directed and produced a one hour documentary special commemorating the 40th anniversary of APOLLO 17, NASA’s final manned mission to the moon. The documentary has been represented at the world's leading TV acquisition market in Cannes and has subsequently been acquired by several foreign territories including UK’s factual programming giant, Discovery Channel and PBS in America. We’ve travelled to Ethiopia to produce a promotional video for the local charity LUCIA and this year our footage was also selected for the Scott Free - BBC co-production “Britain in a Day”.   In 2009 we decided it was time to set about writing, producing and directing our first feature film; a sci-fi thriller intended for theatrical release. This high concept, commercially appealing film is targeted at both the sci-fi and thriller genre fanbases, giving it the greatest chance of commercial success with the broadest demographic appeal. So far, off the strength of the script, we’ve gained the attachment of a multitude of highly respected industry professionals and several world class companies who will be involved with the production of Encounter. We’re currently in the process of raising the budget for the film through independent investment with high net worth individuals and film partnerships. It’s a long process and we’re learning a lot; but we believe that filmmaking isn’t just about being creative, a large element to the film industry is exactly that, an industry and therefore we’ve spent a lot of time researching and understanding the markets, audience expectations, box office figures and production structures to give this project the best possible chance of success.   Most of all we’re crazy about films. We love movies and we love making them. For a long time we’ve dreamed of becoming feature film directors and hopefully in the coming months that will become a reality. Encounter has been 3 years in the making and we’re still in development, but we know that one day all the hard work, time, patience and effort will be worth it; when we’re standing on that set seeing it all come together. It’s incredibly exciting.   Our plan is to begin writing the screenplay for our next feature, the story for which is already in development, during the post production stages of Encounter; this way we’ll be able to repeat the fundraising formula off the back of Encounter and continue to make features. Our ultimate goal is to make mainstream, commercial movies for the cinema. We want to make movies that audiences love to go and see, the movies that we fell in love with when we were younger and the movies that have inspired us to do crazy things at a young age!"

This weekend is Worcestershire’s first ever Film Festival, being held at The Hive in Worcester.  We’ve been digging around to discover Worcestershire’s hidden film artists and today we would like to introduce director Simon Tate. Simon was born and raised in Canada and was on track to being a professional football player, until he was struck down with a knee injury effectively ending his career.  So, Simon turned to his next passion which was writing. He teamed with a college friend who was into film and created a production company.  Simon muses "we had no idea what we were doing, but I knew from that point on that I wanted to tell stories through film." Simon soon found himself working for the likes of Discovery Channel, Nickelodeon and CNN. Fast forward on, and Simon found himself in Worcester, creating his first feature film called The Point Of Regret.

This weekend is Worcestershire’s first ever Film Festival, being held at The Hive in Worcester.  We’ve been digging around to discover Worcestershire’s hidden film artists and today we would like to introduce animator Emily Currie.

Based in Hanley Swan, Emily studied Art and Graphical Drawing and realised she wanted to become an animator after doing some small scale projects at home for fun.  She went to Herefordshire College of Arts and used equipment there to experiment in different techniques.  Following this, she went to the University of Glamorgan to study Stop Motion Animation full time and has now returned to Worcestershire and made In Dreams for a friends band Symphonika.  In Dreams was made in Emily’s parents house, taking over a spare room and turning it into an animation studio, blocking out the windows and removing everything but a table and computer.  The idea was band’s vision of a man of Victorian times.  It took 8 months to complete!

Article from Digital Arts about the making of the King Adora documentary that we are proud to be showing at Worcestershire Film Festival.  We will be holding a Q&A session with Ben after the film.

OK this is it.. The BIG FINALE of..

  The 1st (drum roll and trumpet fanfare) .. ever..

    Worcestershire

Film Festival 2012

  When: 2nd to the 4th November 2012

Where: @ The Hive in Worcester City, Worcestershire, UK

  We’ve got absolutely loads going on all weekend and it’s all completely FREE to attend!

  Friday 2nd November: 18.00 to 21.20

Friday night is the opening gala including short films from local filmmakers, showcasing with Simon Tate (The point of Regret) plus a panel Q+A session.

    Saturday 3rd November:

Morning 11.00 to 17.00 and then 18.00 to 21.00

Throughout Saturday we’re showing some of our competition entry films and shorts that will be competing for a much-coveted award at the end of the Festival. This will be interspersed with a presentation on the Festival’s Cinema Heritage Project at 12.30.  Throughout the day we have workshops on graphics, cinematography and a talk from Tony Chance, Hollywood storyboard artist from films such as Mission Impossible, Road To Perdition and American Beauty

   Afternoon:

 The second day will finish with a showing of local filmmaker Ben Lewis's Who Do You Love? The King Adora Story about the local rock band and their rise and fall. 

  Sunday 4th: 11.00 to 17.00 and then 18.00 to 21.30

More competition film entries followed by the moment everyone’s been waiting for, the award for the best film.  Workshops on script writing, funding and even a talk from GemsTV!

Then, to wrap it all up, Jan Ryan from UKARTS International will be undertaking a Q+A on The Harder They Come, made just after Jamaican independence, 50 years ago. 

    Simon Munn one of the festival organisers calmed down for 30 seconds to say:

  “ We are absolutely bursting with excitement about the finale. So many people have put so much hard work and effort into making the festival a success and the festival organisers would like to send a big thank you to everyone who has helped out, made a film or turned up at an event.”

  On the awards he had this to say:

  “There are so many talented film makers in this county of ours and we can’t wait to show you all of the brilliant films they’ve made”

    Remember all the festival events are free to attend and everyone is welcome.

    Worcestershire Film Festival is thankful from the support of the Film Course from University of Worcester, Worcestershire County Council and the Avalanche Group.

I’ve had a weekend busier than Andy Murray’s frown coach. It all started on Saturday (as weekend’s usually do) with a Worcestershire Film Festival event in Redditch. That day started with an hour and a bit of driving with a slightly deaf eccentric, a Polish girl in a great hat and a wee man with a cinema fixation and ended with the greasiest kebab in existence. In fact, it was so greasy that I had to have a shower when I got home. In between those events I chaired some Question and Answer sessions with some filmmakers and saw their short films. It was a long but very enjoyable day. The stand out film for me was Eventide. The thing is, not only is it a great film but the director, Brian Harley, is a really nice bloke as well… the bastard. Talented and nice… the utter utter bastard.

In advance of the ultra exciting finale to the counties very first film festival, we got a bit over excited, we couldn’t’ wait for November and so we’ve decided to bring the Film Festival to YOU.

We’re still having the finale of the festival in November but in the meantime we will be running road shows in different parts of the county starting in Redditch.

Redditch Film Roadshow

When: 7th July 2012, 3pm

Where: Palace Theatre, Redditch, Worcestershire

Do You Remember: 

• The Gaumont on Church Road or maybe the ABC on Unicorn Hill? 

• The Palace as the Palace Super Cinema?  

Maybe you or someone you know worked in these places.  We would like to invite people who have memories of the old cinemas in the Redditch area and incorporate them into our cinema heritage project by recording them talk and taking photos of any clippings or items.

Over the next few months we will let you know of other forthcoming events.

Don’t forget  - November 2nd to the 4th is the Festival Finale incorporating the WOSCAR award ceremony for the best local films. 

We are pleased, no hold that thought . . . we are ridiculously excited to announce the dates for the Finale of the Worcestershire Film Festival 2012. 

When: 2ND to the 4TH November 2012

Where: Hive and Worcester Arts Workshop

What We Have Got Going On: Back to back screenings of local films, workshops on filmmaking, tours and much more.

How Much: Its Free!

By the Way: Whilst we’ve had lots of entries, there is still time to enter the film making competition, just go to http://www.worcestershirefilmfestival.co.uk/submissions

The festival will draw together our cinema heritage project funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and our exhibition that brought in over 5,000 visitors at the Worcester City Art Gallery and finish with a the presentation of the ‘WOSCARs’ to the winners of the best film.

We are featured in the first ever Amaze Magazine, a new publication for creatives!