BOLTON’S three-day film festival opens on Tuesday and is a magnet for local, national and international talent.

Today we speak to recent University of Bolton graduate, Nicolay Armando, who is hoping to be among the award-winners.We also hear from top music video maker and local lad, Ben Thornley, a juror at the festival.

WHERE did you get your idea from? It is a question that virtually all film-makers get asked at some point in their careers.

For Nicolay Armando, 24, the answer is: “My Saturday job at Curry’s electrical store in Preston.”

Nicolay is a recent graduate of the University of Bolton where he studied for an honours degree in media production. Originally from Lisbon, Portugal, Nicolay moved to the UK in 2013 because he felt it was the best place to train for a career in the film industry.

“Films appeal to the child in me,” he explains. “I’ve always loved stories and in Portugal I got involved in acting. This led to me getting involved in set design and cinematography. I realised I loved telling stories through picture and sound and that’s when I decided to become a film maker.”

During his studies, Nicolay approached Bolton Film Festival (BFF) founder Adrian Barber, who was happy to help and advise him.

“I showed him my first film – a small drama. He sat down with me and explained what was good about it and explained to me what I could do to improve it. He gave me a lot of very useful feedback.”

Initially, Nicolay embarked on On Target as part of a project for his degree course, but then he decided to enter it in this year’s BFF as well.

His film is a ten-minute documentary about the inspirational Kieran Wood, who Nicolay got to know when he sold him a television. Kieran, who served with the Duke of Lancaster’s regiment, had just returned from duty in Iraq when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2007 car crash, spending seven months in hospital before transferring to a rehabilitation centre.

Thanks to his determination, he rebuilt his life and has gone on to win bronze in the four-minute endurance rowing contest at the 2014 Invictus Games, gaining gold as part of the British team and coming fifth in a distance race.

Since taking up archery, he has represented his country at all three Invictus Games for wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans. He is currently training for this year’s Invictus Games in Sydney, where he plans to compete in both archery and rowing events.

Nicolay said: “When he came into the store we just started talking and that’s when we came up with the idea of me making a documentary about him.

“I thought it was a really good story about someone who has been really down and who had lost pretty much everything. He couldn’t walk, he couldn’t talk and he had to rebuild himself to become the success he is today.”

“It took me about two months to complete the film. It required a lot of research and then I spent time filming Kieran at home and training. The editing then took me around three weeks.”

One of Nicolay’s earlier short films was nominated for a Royal Television Society award, and he entered another film for the first BFF last year.

This year, he is hoping his entry will impress the judges enough to earn an award.

“I think Bolton Film Festival is incredible,” he says. “It’s not just about getting your film seen, it’s about learning the best way to tell a story.”

One of the BFF judges Nicolay is hoping to impress is Ben Thornley.

Ben, 35, who lives in Bromley Cross, is an award-winning music video director whose work has been viewed by tens of millions of people.

Ben’s entrée into the world of film was through his love of music.

“I was a roadie for bands and toured all over the world with them,” he says.

“We were in America and I woke up one morning to be told: ‘We’re going to Hollywood to make a video’.”

“I watched what they did and it seemed straightforward, so I pretty much much picked up a camera and started making music videos myself.”

It sounds deceptively easy, but it helped that Ben was such a talented and imaginative director. In the early-days he describes himself as a one-man band who worked for various agencies on a freelance basis. But for the last 16 years he has had his own production company, Sitcom Soldiers, which has a 6,000 sq ft studio here in Bolton.

The company works with artists and businesses across the globe and has introduced and established more artists through the medium of video than anyone else in the industry. Besides producing videos for the likes of Johnny Marr and Juliette Lewis, Ben’s business also makes commercials and documentaries.

He spends a lot of time in LA but he was determined to be a part of this year’s BFF.

“The festival is very helpful and important to me. It’s so good to have something like this locally.”

n Nicolay’s film will be one of eight student films you can see at The Light Cinema on Wednesday, October 3, between 6pm and 8pm. For full details about Bolton Film Festival visit www.boltonfilmfestival2018