The 2013 Isle of Man Film Festival ‘wrapped’ on Sunday night and was a great success! This year we had brand new Fringe events across the Island, sold out screenings, exclusive film previews and even a pop up cinema.
The five day festival incorporated several new elements, starting with the “brand” ; the image of the festival was set early on with the distinctive IOMFF design created by artist Bruno Cavellec, featuring the Manx triskellion and a loughtan sheep.
Following last year’s 3 day inaugural event held solely at the Broadway Cinema, a festival ‘Fringe’ was introduced for 2013, taking the fest to Peel, Port St Mary and Ramsey and to some of the Island’s boutique cinemas, such as Bath and Bottle Speakeasy Cinema and Patchwork Cafe’s Cinema Supper Club.
Also new for this year was the decision to hold an event at the Centenary Centre, in association with Films in Peel, with a successful opening night featuring Manx born filmmakers Andy Blackburn and Daniel Lumb (Sundance London 2012 Winner).
Other events included: a special screening of Isle of Man Film’s “Disappearance of Alice Creed” with Writer/Director J Blakeson; 3 simultaneous “Future Shorts” film events held across the Island at independent cinemas; a free family screening of Island made film ‘Five Children & It’; a 2 day PokerStars sponsored Guerilla Filmmakers’ Workshop; and a fascinating closing night panel event featuring three of the industry’s leading authorities in independent film.
But arguably the most popular event of the festival was the ‘HomeGrown MiniMovies’ Night, which previewed new MannIN Shorts films ‘Closet’, ‘Barry Brown’ and Manx language film ‘Solace’ and screened the winners from this year’s open Short Film Competition.
CATEGORY WINNERS this year were:
‘Parkour’ by Will Sutton: ‘Music Moves’
‘Wandering Rocks’ by Edward Crompton & John Craine: ‘Island Life’
‘Safe House’ by Kyle Withington: Best Fiction
‘Paper Journey’ by Rory Dorling: Best Non-Fiction
‘Zombies Like Us’ by Juan Moore: Commendation for Animation
– with Rory Dorling winning the overall ‘Best of the Fest’ award, entitling him to a cash prize of £500 and a tour of Pinewood Studios courtesy of Isle of Man Film and Pinewood Pictures.
The MannIN Shorts “Most Promising Young Filmmaker” Award was given to 16 year old Georgia Quilliam for her outstanding achievements and progress in filmmaking. Having joined the training scheme just over a year ago with little prior experience, Georgia has since worked professionally in the camera team of feature “Our Robot OverLords” with Gillian Anderson and Ben Kingsley and is now preparing for the role of Director of Photography on a MannIN Shorts project.
Judges David Nicholas Wilkinson, Danny Lacey and Mike Reaney from Isle of Man Film were extremely impressed with each of the three MannIN Shorts films but finally chose ‘Solace’ for the final award of the night, commenting that it was a unique story and a fantastic achievement in many areas, from design to costume to the fact that it was shot in a language never used in film before.
Festival Director Dave Armstrong said “It was an amazing week and surpassed our expectations. This is in part due to the support of the Manx public, but also our sponsors – the Arts Council, Manx Educational Foundation, SMP, Skandia, the Strand Shopping Centre and Heritage Homes – without whom we couldn’t have run the events at all.”
Christy DeHaven, Festival Programmer added “It has been a thoroughly enjoyable five days with a great mix of events. It was a lot of hard work and many hours were put in over several months to make it happen, but we are grateful this year for the help of five enthusiastic, supportive and passionate people – Zoe Guilford, Emily Cook, Rosie Grahame, Angela Campbell and Shawn Sturnick – along with a small but perfectly formed army of ‘Shorty’ volunteers. It made it much easier than last year, when it was just Dave and myself running everything. It certainly went a lot smoother and I lost a lot less hair!”
The team are already planning next year’s festival, with ideas for several exciting ‘interim’ events. Keep an eye on our website for updates.
QUOTES from our Isle of Man Film Festival 2013 Special Guests:
Chris Jones
“The creative community on the Isle of Man has a fiercely pounding heart that beats at its bravest at the Isle of Man Film Festival.”
Andy Blackburn
“It’s amazing to have the opportunity to reflect that the Festival is now the crux of the film making society in the Isle of Man. It inspires everyone; it gives a platform to win awards that help make further films. I wish it happened when I was kid.”
Danny Lacey
“Isle of Man Film Festival, one to watch out for in the future. It’s going to be one of the big Film Festivals in the world.”
David Wilkinson
“The Isle of Man is an extremely small Island, however it has made a big impact in the world of film by making 100 plus films in 18 years. Throughout the film world everyone knows of the Isle of Man and respects that the crowning glory of this fantastic achievement would be to have a World Class Film Festival. This is extremely achievable but only with proper funding.
I look forward to coming back next year in what will be a very special year for the Isle of Man and the perfect year in which to launch a first rate International Film Festival.”
