Author Archives: Niall Urquhart

Kino Shorts 27 – Films Wanted Now!

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KINO SHORTS is back for the Autumn season starting Wed 10th October at the Black Lion for their monthly North West Showcase and Networking event.

Their nights promote the work of emerging filmmakers and take place in the cinema lounge at the Black Lion – a really cool place and creative hub for Manchester creatives. They are looking for films from Manchester and the North West, however, they will also consider films from around the UK as long as the filmmaker is able to attend the event or do a skype interview on the night. Films should be no longer than 20 mins and made within the last 12 months (ish); all categories and genres are elligible including, drama, documentary, animation, experimental, horror, music videos, DSR, mobile phone, lomogrophy films. Films for this night must be submitted by the end of September.

Kino is the longest running short film nights in Manchester and the North West, they’ve been running these nights for over fifteeen years in an assorment of venues, and their latest venue the Black Lion is centrally located and walkable from the centre of Manchester.

Venue: The Black Lion, 65 Chapel Street, Salford M3 5BZ
The venue is just 12 minutes walk from Piccadilly Gardens, 5 minutes from Victoria train station or just 2 minutes walk down Blackfriars Street, off Deansgate (across from the bottom of Market Street/St Mary’s Gate).

Doors 7.30 for 7.45pm start.

Urban Screen Presents Sparkle

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Urban Screen, BUFF & PlayVybz – Invite you to an Exclusive Advance Screening of Whitney Houston’s “SPARKLE” + Q&A at London’s Genesis Cinema. When Whitney Houston took up the role of Emma in “SPARKLE” the world was in high expectation of this star’s revival. This is why it is so poignant that she died before it was finished, and why this film is a tribute to her great talent and her legacy.
Urban Screen are bringing you an exclusive opportunity to watch “SPARKLE” before it goes on national release, at Genesis Cinema, Mile End Road, E1 on Thursday October 4 at 8.15pm.
The film will be followed by an industry Q&A. “SPARKLE” is set in the 1960s and tells the story of 3 sisters who form a girl group. They become local sensations with major label interest, but with fame comes challenges as the close knit family begins to fall apart.
The film includes stellar perfomances by Whitney Houston, Jordin Sparks (winner of US Idol) &
Cee Lo Green.
Tickets can be booked on 020 7780 2000.
Genesis Cinema is at 93-95 Mile End Road, Whitechapel, London E1 4UJ.

Learn Avid Media Composer Through Imaginox

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Imaginox are very pleased to announce this brand new course on using AVID Media Composer.

Instructor Steve Holdsworth takes you step by step through a complete workflow – all the way from logging rushes and setting up your project through to advanced audio and video manipulation as well as basic and intermediate editing techniques.

Menu settings, titling, effects and correctly exporting your project to industry-standard specifications are all packed into this incredible course. Plus, much, much more…

Steve has taught at the National Film and Television School for 15 years providing technical editing training to students. He is a certified AVID support provider and sits on AVID’s Training Advisory Board.

Split into 11 comprehensive tutorials (available individually for just £3.00 each), every purchase includes free ‘downloadable’ test footage to experiment with – so that you can work directly alongside Steve as he takes you through the course with AVID’s 30-day trial version, accessed off Imaginox’s website.

PLUS – this course will be available to you online for an entire year, with free additional course upgrades throughout that time.

Whether you are a complete beginner or have worked on AVID or any other software in the past, these tutorials offer incredible value for money and are an essential guide to the software, leaving you ready to tackle any editing project.

All the details are here http://www.imaginox.co.uk/

Promote Your Film At WatchReadReview

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WatchReadReview love promoting independent films and getting the word out there, get some interest pumping around your project. Too much time and credit is given to Hollywood productions and often they are not worthy of such praise. Independent films is where the true stories are and their aim is getting people to hear about, talk about and watch your story.
Unfortunately they are unable to do this for free but they do offer the low price of £8.99 GBP paid via PayPal.
For your money they will write an article on your film project, promoting the film. They will discuss the film itself, who is involved and some background information on the cast and crew in order to make my readers really feel like they know where this film has come from. They will provide links to the film’s website, your personal website (if you have one) and anywhere else you feel would be beneficial to you. They will also use only pre-approved trailers and pictures which you have selected.
They will then email you a copy of the article for you to have a look at and ask for changes in any areas you feel were not accurate before you pay.
Upon payment They will publish the article on the website and promote it through their social media connections e.g. Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon etc. Your article will remain on their website for people to read at their leisure.
They only ask for payment as this takes rather a large amount of time and without funding they are unable to devote that time due to work.
If you’re still interested then they would love to hear back from you! So email them on: watchreadreview@hotmail.co.uk

Kino 43 Coming Soon

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Kino 43 is coming up on Friday 14th September from 7.30 with another collection of great shorts. There are no themes and no pre-selection of the films they show. They ask only that films be under 6 minutes, on dvd, and include the Kino London logo (just for the screening). They also stipulate that the filmmaker should be there on the night, of course,… to stand up and say “Hi, I made this!” If you’d like to screen at Kino #39 drop Laura a line at screen@kinolondon.com. She’ll need your name, the title and duration of your film and some contact details. The Kino logos are available to download here http://www.kinolondon.com/about/want-to-screen/. The details for the night are Friday 14th September at the HORSE HOSPITAL, Colonnade, Bloomsbury
London WC1N 1JD Nearest tube: Russell Square (Piccadilly Line)

Doors at 7:30pm, films start 8:15pm
£4 entry, £3 with flyer (home-printed flyers accepted!)
Free Popcorn
The facebook invite is here https://www.facebook.com/events/483687848311052/

Kino Film Club Presents A Ralph Bakshi Triple Bill

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Kinofilm Festival resurects the Kino Film Club Manchester for an Autumn season of Cult Movies. Going back to their roots as the original pop up cinema in Manchester back in the days of 1993 – 2000, they’ll be presenting an Autumn season at various venues in Manchester and Salford. They are kicking of with a fantastic Ralph Bakshi triple bill: HEAVY TRAFFIC/FRITZ THE CAT/COONSKIN on Wed 19th September as part of the national BEYOND SCALA Festival. Taking place at The Black Lion | 65 Chapel Street, Salford, Greater Manchester | M3 5HW This is the facebook invite https://www.facebook.com/events/133221773488115/133224603487832/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity These are the films FRITZ THE CAT @ 6.00pm
The infamous Ralph Bakshi feature that made his reputation was the first animated film to to receive an “X” rating.Fritz is a college-age feline wandering the hippie-era streets of New York in search of political, sexual & chemical experiences.

HEAVY TRAFFIC @ 7.30pm
Ralph Bakshi’s follow-up to Fritz the Cat is a mixture of live action and animation. It’s a downbeat look at the urban life of a young New Yorker.

COONSKIN (aka Streetfight) @ 9.00pm
Animator Ralph Bakshi conjures up a violent universe populated by hustlers and punks, sad-eyed prostitutes and sullen gangsters. Coonskin looks at the bleak life and rude energy of the American inner city. An angry, violent portrayal of Harlem street life and the black condition of the 70s. Live action & animation starring Barry White, Scatman Crothers and Philip Michael Thomas. Uncut version.

London Feminist Film Festivals – Submission Deadline Soon

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The London Feminist Film Festival is being held 29 November to 2 December 2012 at the Hackney Picture House. The festival aims to counterbalance the mainstream film industry’s narrow representation of women and its neglect of feminist issues by showing a season of feminist feature films, documentaries, and shorts made by women directors from around the world.

The London Feminist Film Festival will be a celebration of feminist film making and will showcase up and coming women directors as well as screening rarely-seen feminist classics. The films will be feminist in their representation of women and /or their handling of feminist issues.

The deadline is 31 August 2012 and these are the guidelines

• Women directors from any country may enter.
• Films should deal with feminist issues and/or be feminist in their representation of women.
• Films can be of any length or genre, and from any year.
• Non-English language films must be presented in English-subtitled versions.

All the details can be found here http://londonfeministfilmfestival.com/

£100k Games for Film competition launched

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Games For Film
A major competition to use computer games to promote films has launched created by the University of Abertay Dundee, D-Media and IC tomorrow in association with Lionsgate UK and the BFI (British Film Institute).

Four £25,000 prizes are available in the Games for Film contest. Two prizes are for games which innovatively promote the upcoming theatrical release of two exciting new British feature films the BFI is offering early access to, Spike Island and Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers, both of which were co-financed through the BFI Film Fund and are currently in post-production.

The two Lionsgate UK prizes will prototype how games can be used for a film’s cinematic or home entertainment release. The titles available for development for the Lionsgate prizes could include Dirty Dancing, Great Expectations, The Expendables 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D and many more films.

Abertay University’s Prototype Fund is funding the prizes and working with the Technology Strategy Board’s IC tomorrow programme and the D-Media Network to deliver the Games for Film contest.

Games for Film invites applications from UK-based games developers interested in developing new ways of using games to promote films and build an audience.

The first prize for a BFI-supported film will go to the best entry for promoting Spike Island, which is the second feature film from director Mat Whitecross (Mat’s first feature was Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, 2010). The film follows 72 hours in the lives of five young lads from Manchester who travel to Spike Island to see their idols, The Stone Roses, play their legendary 1990 gig.

The second prize for a BFI-supported film is for the best entry promoting the theatrical feature documentary Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers. Produced by Academy Award-nominated Mike Lerner and Sundance–winning director Havana Marking, the film entertainingly reveals the fascinating underworld of diamond stealing, smuggling and fencing, using innovative and striking rotoscope animation to disguise the thieves’ true identities.

Applications will be judged on whether their idea could be used by other content providers, its market potential, readiness for consumer trial by early 2013, and the potential of the applicant to be developed as a successful content partner for the film industry.

Full information on all four prizes is available at https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/games-for-films-contest/overview

The deadline for submissions is 20 September 2012.

Enter The Pitch – £25,000 Budget!

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Do you have what it takes to come up with a fresh and stunning short film concept, and then pitch your idea in two minutes to a panel of film industry judges? The Pitch film competition is a unique opportunity for one winner to make a short film with professional production support worth in excess of £25,000. Finalists will pitch live to top industry professionals such as screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine, animator Nick Park, editor of Empire magazine Nev Pierce and BBC producer Anna Cox. Once you’ve made your winning film, you will fly to Hollywood to meet top professionals who’ll watch your film and give hints and tips on taking your skills to the next level. Project Director Luke Walton says: ‘We want people from all over the world to enter The Pitch. It doesn’t matter if you’ve just turned 18 or 65 – all you need is imagination and drive.’ To enter The Pitch, simply upload a two minute video pitch, for a short film idea, to www.enterthepitch.com You have until midday on 12 October 2012 to pitch your film.

Scala Beyond – Now Happening Near You!

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Scala Beyond

Scala Beyond is a six week season with over 110 screenings in London! From allnighters to outdoor screenings and festivals to rescores plus free panels on Starting a Film Club or a Pop-Up Cinema, there’s loads going on, so check out the full programme at www.scalabeyond.com –

Following 2011′s Scala Forever film season in London, the team behind it are back with Scala Beyond, a six week season celebrating all forms of cinema exhibition across the UK, from film clubs to film festivals, picture palaces to pop-up venues and even venturing into homes and schools. Scala Beyond shines a spotlight on the people and organisations who keep independent exhibition in the UK alive and thriving. Operating like a fringe festival, Scala Beyond is open to event submissions and proposals from any exhibitor, individual or group from across the country. Anyone can take part, any film can be included – just make it an event, come up with a Declaration about yourselves and the passion behind your screening and submit it via www.scalabeyond.com by clicking on the Submit an Event button.