THIS year’s Bolton Film Festival received over 1,200 entries and with the event now well and truly on the map when it comes to showcasing the world’s best short films, festival director Adrian Barber can look back on another successful few days.
“It has been fantastic,” said Adrian. “Across each of our five venues it has been a huge success to the point that a main problem was worrying about how we were going to seat people.
“It’s getting bigger each year and the feedback we’ve had had been really positive from both the industry and the film makers and the students and the public. Everyone is embracing the film festival and seeing it as something that is really good for the town.”
READ MORE: Gallery- curtain falls on Bolton Film Festival 2019
Adrian, who grew up in Ainsworth, before moving to Bolton as a teenager, began filming wedding videos in his spare time before moving into the world of community arts.
“There are brilliant things in Bolton and when something is done well people are attracted to the town,” he said. “Even though we had a mainstream cinema here we didn’t have anywhere for independent cinema and that’s what I wanted to bring to the town: an event that could happen once a year and people could look forward and one where they didn’t have to jump on the train to Manchester to find it.”
This year saw the festival grow their offering of talks and masterclasses with some of the hottest talent in the industry.
“The standard of films has always been good but what we are seeing now is more choice,” said Adrian.
“In year one we had 350 entries, last year we had 800 and this year we’ve had 1,200 and what that means is you have a lot of difficult choices to make. Some of the films have come from the biggest film festivals in the world but others are brand new and we night be the first people to discover them.”
With homegrown talent like Diane Morgan, Maxine Peake and Ruth Madeley all lending their support to the event there is plenty to inspire younger minds who may be making their first tentative steps in the film industry.
“What we are trying to get across is that the industry is not just about acting or cameras or editing,” said Adrian. “There is also design, animation, special effects, set design. There is nothing it doesn’t encompass - the same skills you see being used on building sites can be used on a film set but you’ll be getting three or four times the salary! What we can do is reach those groups and say to them that they can step through the door as long as they believe in themselves.”
As for the future, Adrian has no doubt that the quality and quantity of entries will grow as the festival continues to become a must-see for fans and film makers across the UK.
“We want to refine it, tweak it and look at what we can do better,” added Adrian. “It is growing with our audience and where we had 100 seats this year we might need 150 next year - it’s all about making sure we get everyone in!”
AND THE WINNER IS...
The winners of Bolton Film Festival 2019 are:
International:
The Law of the Deep
Best UK:
Daughter
Documentary:
Little Miss Sumo
Made Up North:
Nortenos
Comedy:
How It Feels To Be Hungover
Animation:
The Box
LGBT:
Becoming Cherrie
Sci-fi:
Unregistered
Quickie:
Kokosmos
Experimental:
Operation Jane Walk
Women in Film:
Treacle
Horror:
The Dead Ones
Dance:
The Circle
Music:
Rotem
Student Animation:
Concrete
Student MA:
Disconnected
Student BA:
Only Looking Forward
College:
The Cloud
Community:
Building the Pianodrome
Film For Change:
100 Women I Know
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