THE jury for this year’s Bolton Film Festival (BFF)has a tough job on its hands as all 110 short films submitted for the competition have been described as outstanding.

This year’s categories are: International Short, UK Short, North West Short, Documentary, Comedy, Animation, Virtual Reality, Experimental, Community/Charity and three categories of student films.

Today, we speak to two of the judging panel and find out what BFF means to them.

HORWICH-born Chris Lunt, 47, is a writer who burst on to our screens in 2014 with the hit ITV drama Prey which garnered two BAFTA nominations and two Royal television Society awards nominations.

Since then, the former Rivington and Blackrod High School pupil has been mentored by writer/director/actors Simon Pegg and Ricky Gervais, written a second series of Prey and worked for virtually every major television production company.

“As a Bolton lad, I’m going to support Bolton Film Festival 100 per cent. It’s great that Bolton is getting national recognition,” says Chris. “But, beyond the fact that it’s a Bolton festival, it’s a really well-organised big festival. It is of high a quality as any film festival in the world.”

Chris has watched 16 films that have been entered into this year’s festival. Far from being a chore, it was a pleasure for Chris who would treat himself to a viewing after working on his own projects.

“It was a really difficult job to do because the quality of all the films is so high. Every one of them was really entertaining or had a really deep emotional heart to it. They were as good as anything that you would see at the movies.

“The quality of these short films is exceptional. It really is. There’s nothing amateurish about them. They’re world standard short movies.

“I watched the films as a fan of films as opposed to as a writer. I think it would be unfair of me to judge them from a writing perspective because as a scriptwriter myself I would be over critical.

“For me it’s about the entertainment value of the film, the emotional heart of the piece. Was I touched by it? Did I understand the message?”

Knowing how beneficial it has been for him, Chris is a strong advocate of BFF.

“What I’ve always enjoyed about film festivals is learning the names of the new people coming through – the directors and producers - because as a writer it benefits me to have an understanding of who’s coming up through the ranks.

“At last year’s Bolton Film Festival I ended up making contact with the writer of the Oscar winning film, The Silent Child, Rachel Shenton.

“She asked me about the process of writing for television, so we met up in the summer and shared ideas and the best way to develop them.

“I also met Julie Foy, one of the producers of the film. Because these people are local, and support Bolton Film Festival you can network with them. If you socialise with someone, if you know their work, if they’ve asked you for advice, you go to them with projects. You’re going to deal with people you know before you deal with complete strangers.

“I also met another director at last year’s and now we promote what we’re each doing. Its having that personal contact that is very valuable.”

Chris’ career is going from strength to strength. This year he wrote a ten-part series called Devils, for Sky. The thriller, set in the world of finance, stars Patrick Dempsey. Chris has also been working on two other projects, Down and Bound, which he says “are looking really good”.

His passion for BFF is heartfelt, as his message…

“If you’re a fan of film in general you’re going to thoroughly enjoy it, and if you’re a student of film you’re going to get something out of it. You will have the opportunity to network with these guys, and you will walk away with a few contacts and people you can follow up and have a conversation with.

“But, more than anything else, you are going to see some brilliant movies that you might not get an opportunity to see anywhere else.”

THE actor Gerard Kearns is best known for appearing in Shameless and Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric. But Gerard, who lives in Harwood, has also appeared in a number of short films which he believes have helped him develop as an actor.

“I think it’s a fantastic to be able to tell a story in a short amount of time. It’s a real challenge and a huge responsibility.”

This year is the first time Gerard, who is a BFF ambassador, will be sitting on the judging panel.

“I’ve been looking for truth, but that doesn’t always have to be shown in a realistic way,” he says about his viewings of the films entered for competition. “A good strong narrative is a story that doesn’t get lost and has real energy.

“Bolton Film Festival is essential,” he says. “It’s really important that people get behind it because it’s something that can only create good things.

“It’s not off limits to anybody, everyone’s welcome. You don’t know what it will create. There’ll be people who engage with a film and take something away from it.

“A teenager could go the festival, watch a couple of films, and think ‘I’m going to do that’. It becomes tangible, it becomes real. They’re seeing inspirational, creative people.”

He believes the films themselves can have a positive effect on an audience.

“The stories they tell might help somebody going through a difficult time, or it might inspire them to revisit education or repair a broken relationship. That’s the power of film.”

For aspiring or existing film industry workers too, Gerard thinks BFF is invaluable.

“The festival gives people an idea of what it’s like working to a budget and to a time limit.”

He added: “There’s also real potential here to get schools and students and young adults on board. It spreads creativity and it’s important that they see other people’s opinion of the world.”