Film Festival Day 3!

Yesterday was the final day of 2014’s St Albans Film Festival and it was as full of amazing events as the previous three days! 

It kicked off with a parachute display by the RAF Falcons, which was one of our free events and judging from the amount of people there one of the most popular all weekend! The weather was so good it was almost like we special ordered it. 

The second event I made it to that day was the screening of the documentary shorts. I quite enjoy the occasional documentary so I was really looking forward to seeing what our filmmakers came up with and I wasn’t disappointed! The topics were completely varied and the some of the styles were unexpected for me, especially in the documentary category. 

I popped over to our ‘Playing With Shakespeare’ event next, which was for our young audience. The garden at the Museum of St Albans was the perfect venue for a rendering of Much Ado About Nothing and it was completely adorable to watch the kids dress their parents up as trees! It was a really lovely event to be able to be a part of and the kids all seemed to love it, even the shyer ones. 

Then I went to catch the screening of the music video finalists at the Maltings Art Theatre. I was expecting some crazier things from the music videos than the other shorts and I certainly wasn’t let down. The videos were all completely different from each other and I totally loved all of them! 

My final stop of the day was to catch the student short film competition. There were a few technical issues with the screening but I don’t think it stopped any of us enjoying the films themselves, which were really fantastic! They came in different languages, styles, genres and all of them were so professional. I wasn’t expecting the films to be low quality but I truly hadn’t anticipated that they’d be of such a high standard. I couldn’t have enjoyed them more! 

Then the whole festival wrapped up with an awards ceremony and closing party at Havana! 

So that’s it, the end of the festival! It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend but I’ve loved every second, especially being able to blog about it for you guys! Sadly, this is my last blog post but I hope you’ve enjoyed having me as the official festival blogger and that you’ve had as good a time at the festival as I have! 

Lauren 🙂 

Film Festival Day 2!

My second day at the festival was just as jam-packed as the first. The first stop of my day was ‘The King and the Mockingbird’ which has always been one of my favourite animated films so I was excited to see how popular it was with other children. The answer? Very. The Maltings Art Theatre was packed almost to capacity and everyone seemed to be enjoying it, even though the film was subtitled and some of the audience were quite young. I think the parents enjoyed it almost as much as the kids!

My next stop was the ‘Costume Characterisation’ event hosted by the Warner Bros. Studio Tour. Full disclosure, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan so the likelihood of me loving the event was high! When I arrived the room was packed with little ones who were all absolutely enthralled. The workshop started with a discussion about what judgments we make about based on their outfits, then they brought out a few costumes used in the actual Harry Potter films. Then the kids moved on to creating their own mood boards and the real selling point? The material they were using came from costumes used on the film set! From what I could tell all of the kids had a great time and I think their parents even learnt a few things!

I popped in on a screening of ‘Ponyo’ in the pool at Westminster Lodge. I only managed to catch it for a few minutes but all of the kiddies (and their parents) seemed to be enjoying the show and the fact that they got to watch it in the pool! I was slightly jealous I didn’t have a swimming costume with me so I could join in.

I made a quick dash then to catch a screening of ‘Crash Reel’ at The Pioneer Club. I’d heard the story behind the film before and so I was expecting it to be an emotional viewing but it really was spectacular!

My next stop was the Children’s Short Film Competition at the Verulamium Museum. I’m not sure what I was expecting from the event but I definitely didn’t get it. The films, especially those made by the younger children were amazing, some of them were very polished and professional and some were beautifully homemade. In fact my favourite film was light on technique but absolutely full to the brim with enthusiasm! And the film maker was only 6 years old to boot!

The last stop of my night was the screening of ‘Jaws’ also in the pool of Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre. The concept was amazing but I wasn’t sure about the practicalities, wouldn’t you get wrinkly in the pool for that long? But it actually turned out to be a really great night! There was even an inflatable shark in the pool!

Lauren 🙂

Film Festival Day 1!

So on my first full day of the festival yesterday , I was busy non-stop all day and it was really fun!

My first stop  was at the parent and toddler sing-a-long screening of Mamma Mia. When I checked in it was a lot quieter than I expected for a room full of toddlers but everyone seemed to be having the BEST time. All of the parents looked relaxed and happy to be able enjoy the film without worrying about the kids making noise. I even spied a couple of the toddlers dancing along, which as you can imagine was completely adorable.

My next event was the screening of the French film ‘Ricky’ for which St Albans Town Hall was transformed into a very Parisian cinema set up. I only got to see the first half of ‘Ricky’ since I had to rush to another event but the concept was really intriguing – a baby who grows fully functioning wings.

The reason I had to miss the last half of ‘Ricky’ was to catch the first part of Lars Von Triers ‘Nymphomanic’. I was looking forward to this film from the second I knew it was being screened at the festival and I can honestly say I wasn’t disappointed! As an added bonus, due to some technical issues we were treated to an impromptu intro by Miranda Kane star of another of our feature films ‘Confessions of a Sex Worker’. Let me just say, Miranda was hilarious! Her intro was perfect for the film and I think made sure everyone felt slightly more comfortable for the upcoming film. On to the film, it was strangely emotional at times which I for one really wasn’t expecting, at point I might have been a bit misty eyed..

I then popped over to ‘St Albans Connection’ which was a series of short films either made by St Alban’s filmmakers or having a link to the local area. It was great to see recognisable places in some of the films or even recognise names and faces of those involved. It was the perfect event for a St Albans native or even someone just hoping to learn more about the area.

My day didn’t stop there and I then went to view the Over 18’s short film competition. The films were varied to say the least, there were dramas, comedies and even a parody to boot. There wasn’t a single film that I didn’t enjoy and from what I noted the rest of the audience felt similarly.

Finally on to my two evening events, the first was the ‘Women in Film and the Bechdel Test Panel’. The representation of women in film or any medium really is a subject close to my heart and a key theme of this years Film Festival so it was great to see such a strong turn out. The inclusion of audience discussion meant that there was a lively debate for the entire event and it was really great to hear the opinions of film industry insiders on the representation of women.

The last event I attended was the ‘Birds, Books and Gin’ event where we were given a really in depth look at Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ and to hear some of the reasoning behind his decision making process. There were also cupcakes and free gin cocktails, which were very popular (I only had one, I promise!)

Let me know what events you’ve attended/are planning to attend and how you found them!

Lauren 🙂

The Birds!

Yesterday we kicked off the opening event of the Film Festival, with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ at the spectacular St Albans Cathedral. Not only was the abbey all dressed up in purple and black but we also had a few feathered friends who swooped above the heads of the audience prior to the screening. Hedwig suffered from a little bit of stage fright when it was time for her big moment but during the pre show she was definitely a fan favourite!

We also had amazing crow puppets created by Whole Hog Theatre. They added the perfect amount of gorgeous but slightly creepy to the atmosphere of the evening.

We also had two fantastic choirs to kick off the event Big Sing initially and then The Correno Singers who definitely got everyone in the spirit of the evening.

And then finally we started ‘The Birds’ which is scary enough on it’s own but add to that the haunting backdrop of the abbey and all the decor it made for quite an exciting viewing.

All in all, the night went fantastically everyone had a great time. We couldn’t have found a better way to start what is going to be a really exciting festival weekend!

We have plenty of events on throughout the rest of the weekend, if your still looking for events to attend have a look at our programme here!

Hope to see you around the festival! Let me know what your planning to see.

Lauren 🙂

Introducing the St Albans Film Festival 2014 Character

Last year’s film festival became instantly recognisable on posters, t-shirts and online, thanks to its purple branding and Droog character, which represented the festivals’ underlying theme; Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick lived and filmed most of his work in the area and the late film director/ screenwriter’s wife, Christiane Kubrick became the festivals first Patron after opening the 2013 debut festival, with inspiring words of support.

Christiane Kubrick, opening the festival

Each year, the festival will celebrate a new theme but keep the distinct purple branding.

As announced on our previous blog post, this year’s film festival theme is Birds, the feathered kind in – homage to Alfred Hitchcock – and also women, in film and film-making and we can now reveal the character for this year.

Expect: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds to be screened; a ‘Birds themed cocktail bar’; appearance by St Albans Director Dan Smith, currently directing for Sir David Attenborough a 3D Animated film where Natural History Dinosaurs come to life, including the very first birds; a live demonstration of remote control heli-camera/drones that are used widely in blockbusters to capture amazing aerial shots; screenings of films featuring amazing women such as Judi Dench in the new Shakespeare film Muse of Fire, and lots lots more.

A CALL FOR ENTRIES…

May 1^st – 4^th 2014 is the date for the 2nd International St Albans Film Festival and entries have already started flying in from as far as Japan, Brazil, Australia & Iceland.

If you would like to take the leap and enter the next festival you could be in with the chance of winning part of the £3000 cash prize, a crafted trophy and respect from your clan!  Anyone can enter a short film of maximum 20 mins in length into one of 7 categories, listed below:

MAIN SHORT FILM – Any short narrative film that is a work of fiction eg: drama, comedy, romance, thriller. Last years’ winner was from France – Fabrice Braq’s film ‘Time to Split’ a relationship drama which cleverly used a split screen process.

DOCUMENTARY – Any short documentary film about any subject at all from big world issues to personal stories that matter to you. We even had a beautifully shot film in year one by director Michelle Becker which showed us how to bake a really tasty cake!

MUSIC VIDEO – Any music video from any artist, band or performer around the world. The Artists from the music videos that get accepted are asked whether they would like to perform live at the festival, a great way to build your audience and fan base!

ANIMATION – Any animation short, whether it’s suitable for children, adults or both. St Albans born and bred Arthur Melbourne-Cooper made the first ever animation over 100 years ago so this category is very significant for those who enter to be part of the City’s animation heritage.

OVER 18S – Any type of film whether it’s a work of fiction, documentary, animation or music video that deals with subjects suitable for an over 18 audience only. This could be for example horror, violence, adult language, erotica. Last year’s festival saw some really great entries – an interesting one that caught our attention was ‘Phone sex Grandma!’ by Jack Truman, USA.

STUDENT FILM – Any film by a student age 16+  Perhaps you are at film school and are carving your filmmaking career or maybe you are studying something else at school or college and just have a passion for film and filmmaking?

YOUNG STUDENT FILM – A film made by a child age 5 – 15, about any subject, it can be documentary, animation, drama.. whatever you like. Last year we had films entered from USA, Scotland and all across the UK in this category and a special children’s red carpet awards ceremony.

It costs £30 to enter a film, £20 for a student & £10 for a child. If you keep an eye on the Facebook & Twitter accounts @StAlbansFF there are often chances to win a free entry. Everyone whose film gets selected for screening will get a pass worth £40 to attend the festival events so it’s really worth entering.

The deadline for sending in your short film is 1^st February 2013 so get creating and see the website to find out details of how to enter and be a part of the next spectacular St Albans International Film Festival as it takes over the City once again.  www.stalbansfilmfestival.com

Film Festival Takes Off!

Film Festival Director, Leoni Kibbey, shares with us her thoughts on the Film Festival last year and what she has in store for 2014.

In early March this year the fledgling St Albans International Film Festival soared onto the calendar of St Albans. Visitors in their thousands flocked from as far as the USA to attend the inaugural event. Greeted by over a hundred smiling volunteers (made up of enthusiastic St Albans city folk & students from University of Hertfordshire) film fans were guided to one of the twenty-two venues across the city, where they could immerse themselves in a multitude of events. These included; feature film premieres, ‘in competition’ short films selected from around four hundred entries (..and sent in from thirty countries around the world!) or to take part in fantastic creative workshops.

Alongside the programme of films and educational workshops was a plethora of culture and entertainment; the Clocktower became an immersive cinema experience, the Culture Cart’s very own Tom- a  posh gentleman on a bike, had people lino printing film themed artwork; local poet Anthony Adler helped our festival go-er explore the inner mind of a film character; live music was performed by a selection of the bands from our music video competition, guests sampled the special ‘Mothers Milk’ concoction served by a seven foot tall Droog at our Clockwork Orange themed ‘Milk Bar’ and there was even a film pub quiz that lasted a marathon 5 hours!

The glamorous closing ceremony hosted by DJ Martin Collins of Magic FM awarded over £3000 worth of prizes and the sponsors; University of Hertfordshire, Blanco, XLN Business Services & Top Talent Acting agency gave out awards to the commendable winners.

It was an astonishing sight to see screenings packed full, working relationships and friendships being forged and most of all to see the community come together to create the solid foundations for a successful annual cultural event. We had spread our wings and successfully flown.

St Albans Film Festival is important for many reasons. Not only does it celebrate local filmmaking talent, but it promotes tourism and boosts local trade. It also educates and inspires the next generation of filmmakers as well.

The festival recently won the St Albans Mayors Pride ‘Cultural Innovation Award,’ which is a huge boost to moral as we gear up for festival number two.

May 1st – 4th 2014 is the date for the Second International St Albans Film Festival and we are delighted to announce that the theme for next year’s festival is BIRDS:  by birds we mean women in film as well as the feathered kind! We will be announcing the programme over the coming months.

If you would like to take the leap and enter the festival, then the deadline for sending in your short film (max 20mins– but the shorter the better) is February 2013. Anyone can enter a short film into the competition and we welcome films of any genre and about any subject. Our categories this year include: Short Films, Music Videos, Animations, Student Films and there is a special category for films made by budding film makers aged between 5 – 15! As we all know, the months fly by, so get creating!

For more information on the upcoming festival or to find out details of how to enter and be a part of our next festival head to http://www.stalbansfilmfestival.com

St Albans Film Festival 2013 wins Cultural Innovation Award

24th October was an exciting day for St Albans Film Festival. We attended the St Albans City and District Mayor’s Pride Awards 2013, having been nominated for the Cultural Innovation Award, and being whittled down to one of three finalists, alongside: St Albans Girls School – STAGs in Colours and St Albans International Organ Festival.

It was a fantastic evening, with nine different awards being presented in total. The Cultural Innovation Award was the second award to be called and each finalist’s nomination video was played on a large screen onstage to introduce each nomination and why it had been put forward for its category.

St Albans Film Festival had received two nominations, from Imogen de la Bere and Sophie Banks. The video message played was Sophie Banks’ nomination and Festival Director Leoni Kibbey’s reaction to the news.

All finalists were invited to the stage before the golden envelope was opened and the winner announced: we got it!

Sincere congratulations to all those nominated for this category, and our two fellow shortlisted finalists. Thank you also to St Albans Mayor; Councillor Annie Brewster JP, and the judges of the St Albans City and District Mayor’s Pride Awards.

Congratulations Leoni, on your award-winning festival! We’re looking forward to next year’s events!

Nomination details in the programme

Animation Workshop – The Showreel

Well, it’s a week on from the animation workshop and its well and truly the end of the summer holidays (and from the looks of it, the end of gorgeous summer weather – but it was good while it lasted, wasn’t it?).

This weekend we caught up with Richard Shaw who ran last week’s animation workshops; he’s been busy compiling all the work of the summer film workshop to bring us a completed show reel.

Richard said of the week, which concluded with a short half an hour screening in The Maltings Arts Theatre; “it was different from what I normally do – given the amount of time we had to work on things. Usually, I only get to work with the kids for half an hour or an hour at a time!”

“Also, the number of children I was working with was a change for me: there were almost 20 kids there. It was a challenge to keep everyone entertained, but it was good fun,” he said.

If it was a challenge, it certainly didn’t show, as the only glitch in the showcase of work came in the form of a technical hiccup – the work itself, produced by children in groups of two to five members, amounted to fifteen videos.

Richard said: “I think the work was well received by the parents and families that came to watch [at the Maltings].”

“I didn’t do any plasticine animation last week [festival director Leoni Kibbey managed this are of work], but I felt very in control with what I did; some of it was my Pixilation stuff that I’ve practised before using lots of props – just fun little things from the pound shop that we could easily replace.”

“One of the things we did try out for the first time was the film about the apple. Given the amount of time we had, I could work closely with a group and we came up with this film all about an apple that comes to life – I had them chasing it up and down the room, we used green screen, there was even an interview with apple at the end: it was a lot of fun!”

Mr Shaw says he will definitely be keeping in touch with the St Albans Film Festival, and hopes he may be able to get involved with next year’s film fest. “I’m hoping to submit something for it, actually” he says. We wonder if it will feature our favourite live apple?

Check out some of the other animations here.

Animation Bootcamp – 27th August

Following the success of the St Albans Film Festival film bootcamp at the start of the month, the second week of summer holiday events kicks off on Tuesday 27th August, after the back holiday weekend.

This four-day animation workshop gives attendees a chance to make their own short films, try their hand at stop motion production and even animate themselves.

During this week, animator Richard Shaw will be teaching the animation course for 8 – 16 year olds.

Richard recently worked with children at a music festival, delivering a short Pixilation workshop – see some of the fun stuff they got up to here:

We are looking forward to sharing stories and short films from the animation week soon.

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Film Maker Bootcamp – 29th July

In just over a week (from the 29^th July) the first of the St Albans Film Festival summer workshops will begin with the 5-day Film Maker Bootcamp. This workshop focuses on making a mini movie in the space of just one week, with films covering genres including Superheroes, Sci-fi Comedy, Western, Drama and even Zombie movies. The week will conclude with a family and friends premiere screening.

This is the second event of the Post-‘St Albans Film Festival 2013’ calendar, following a rare screening of Colour Me Kubrick in May, which included a brilliant ‘meet the screen writer’ Q&A session. Colour Me Kubrick was not released in the UK as it received no funding from the British Film Institute, and so the DVD for the screening was sent from Czech Republic, making the event all the more exclusive.

Writer Tony Frewin, spent a long time answering the questions of the audience at the Maltings Arts Theatre (St Albans) and claimed the film had ‘written itself’ as it was based on the true story of confidence artist Alan Conway. The aptly named Conway, who impersonated film maker Stanley Kubrick for several years, was played by film legend John Malkovich – who Tony says was his first choice for the part, as he has the range needed to play such a role. Tony says his claim was supported by Malkovich’s work ethic: he was always on time and had the confidence to creatively add his own spin to the role; introducing the many accents his character uses and even cheekily adding a line about himself [John Malkovich] in.

Writer Tony Ferwin

These kinds of events are a great way to hear behind-the-scene seldom told facts and anecdotes. Tony Frewin, who also worked with Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, recalls Mr Kubrick’s reaction to Alan Conway; saying he jokingly called him an ‘ingrate’ for only watching a bit of one of his films (and not liking it!) and claimed he would get him back by impersonating him in return.

Iris Zaki, director of My Kosher Shifts

To show a continued commitment to the St Albans Film Festival competition entrants, the Colour Me Kubrick screening opened with a viewing of the short film; My Kosher Shifts by director Iris Zaki.

We look forward to more events like this over the coming year in the lead up to St Albans Film Festival 2014, and wish all those attending the Film Maker bootcamp this month the best of luck with your debut films!