SPEECH!
Firstly, thanks to our incredible team of volunteers for grafting to pull together such incredible events…remember the Goonies Outdoor silent disco screening in the Douglas Head Amphitheatre? How about the Q&A screenings with Sir John Hurt, Amma Asante, Katharina Kubrick and others? Maybe you were one of the film fanatics who attended our All Island Future Shorts screenings in the beginning…or got your hands dirty with our filmmaking workshops? Perhaps you were lucky enough to win a highly sought after spoon at our hilarious and super competitive Movie quizzes…or were one of the lucky ones that met the legendary artist Roger Dean at our Q&A in the original Noa Bakehouse? And how about that Silent Cinema night with Mark Kermode and the Dodge Brothers in the Gaiety Theatre? Ahhhh the memories!
We like to think IOMFF was like a box of chocolates – you never knew what you were going to get, but boy was it always satisfying.
Created for the creatives
Of course, at the core of the Festival, we celebrated independent filmmaking – from homegrown movies made right here on the Isle of Man to productions from right across the world.
We welcomed filmmakers from the UK to Germany to Australia. Many flew here to take part in our annual competition and some even threw themselves into our various adventure day events (remember the coasteering?) Others took their film ideas to our PitchFest event for a chance to win real hard cash for their projects.
Many thanks to the many hundreds who entered, who supported and who were quick to give us wonderful reviews.
We also helped encourage filmmakers of the future, with summer schools and other educational initiatives through our MannIN Shorts training scheme – and then held Q&A screenings years later with some of those who had learned their craft with us in the early days and went on to become award winning filmmakers themselves. #ProudParents
We were educated, entertained, enthralled and satisfyingly exhausted. But more than anything, we made some wonderful friends throughout the process.
Marking the occasion
We are indebted to our enthusiastic (and incredibly patient!) Patron Mark Kermode. He not only gave up his time and expertise to support and encourage our many filmmakers and attendees, but he also led some incredible Q&A sessions with our Special Guest Actors and Directors.
He even rocked out his double bass on a number of occasions, to join his Dodge Brothers band mates and also to guest with local group Lava at our special Music From the Movies night. To Infinity and Beyond, Mark!
There are so many others we are grateful to, from the staff and students of UCMIOM to projectionist Kris Fargher at our original Festival Home in the Broadway Cinema.
Numerous sponsors from all walks of life financed our crazy ideas and made them possible (too many to mention without the risk of accidentally omitting someone, so thank you to you all)
The amazing photographers and videographers who stepped in over the years to capture the magic – Steve Babb, The Studio Colby, Lina at TA Design, Nick Coole, Dario Leonetti to name a few.
But of course, all of our events would have been utterly pointless if it wasn’t for YOU, our wonderful audience. Thank you.
We’ll be compiling a Wrap Film to released on these pages shortly, so we’d love to hear what your favourite memories have been of IOMFF. Please do post them, along with any pictures you may have, on our Facebook page.
Until then: “We laughed until we had to cry, we loved right down to our last goodbye, we were the best.”
Your IOMFF Crew