5 posts tagged “delta film award”
Microcon 28, Exeter, 1-2 February: Gosh, that was fun. Report to follow in Christina Lake's and Doug Bell's fanzine Head.
Timewarp Caption, Oxford, 9-10 August: Will definitely be around, but no word on any stage stuff as yet. [Edit: unable to attend]
3rd Birmingham International Comics Show, 4-5 October: Still no word on what I'll be doing this year, but I don't usually hear until nearer the event; most likely chairing a panel on the Saturday. [Edit: unable to attend]
19th Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, 17-19 October: Entries for the amateur film competition (Saturday morning) are a little thin on the ground, though the deadline's still three months away. Have also been asked to interview actress / presenter Emily Booth, whom I originally as a guest more than two years ago.
Novacon 38, Walsall, 14-16 November: I'm now helping Martin Tudor out on publications, but fully expect to have some involvement with the Friday programming and -- maybe -- any film programming over the weekend.
Well, we've whittled around fifty entries for this year's Delta Film Award down to a mere thirteen (which still adds up a formidable 155 minutes). The finalists (to be screened at the 18th Festival of Fantastic Films on 1 September) are:
AliciaCedric Bourgeois (Belgium, 8")ChainmailRichard Chance and John Chance (UK, 26.5")ContretempsJean Luc Baillet (France, 14")Delendra Est GenesisRafa Dengra (Spain, 20")FlyerHelmi Yusof (Singapore, 21")HalfwayKarl Holt (UK, 6")It Came From BeyondIan J Simpson (UK, 4")Missing ConnectionRoss Shepherd (UK, 5")The Morality GameJim Walker (UK, 11")No Fear of DeathMatthew Swain (UK, 10")Recently DeceasedChris McInroy (USA, 12")ShelterStephen Hedley and Nick Light (UK, 2.5")Son of the DawnRobert Mann (Eire, 15")
Edit: The competition was won by Jean-Luc Baillet's Contretemps, with Helmi Yusof's Flyer "highly commended". Special mentions were also made of Karl Holt's Halfway and Jim Walker's The Morality Game.
Well, the flood has begun. I've already received entries for this year's Delta Award from the UK, the USA, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Eire...
Less than three weeks until the 17th Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester, and I've got the shortlist for this year's Delta Film Award down to a near-manageable sixteen films. Probably the worst aspect has been rejecting really interesting material purely because it isn't truly genre, including one entry from a previous winner, but rules is rules. Whatever, it's going to be a bloody close decision.
The finalists are: Anamnesis (UK); The Call of Cthulhu (USA*); Confederate Zombie Massacre! (USA); Doodled (UK); Dragon (USA); Eddie Loves You (UK*); The Grab (UK); Guy's Guide to Zombies (UK); The Harmion Tale (UK); La Vida Es Un Sueno (Spain); Return of Pink Five, Vol.1 (USA*); Solipsism (UK); The Spell (Spain); Two Old Bachelors (UK); Vampire (UK); We Three (UK).
*[I'll also be personally screening these three as part of Novacon 36's film programme.]
The relatively easy availability of pro-standard video equipment has a led to an explosion in film-making, though sadly not a proportional increase in the amount of material actually worth watching. Running the Delta Film Award for Manchester's annual Festival of Fantastic Films has provided me with more examples than I care to contemplate of enthusiasts who urgently need convincing - at gunpoint, if necessary - that the ability to point a camera into the maw of tedium doesn't place them in quite the same ranks as Akira Kurosawa and Martin Scorcese. Or even William "One Shot" Beaudine, whose on-set nickname is a heavy hint at just how seriously he took his "profession".
One welcome exception is Marc Atkin, whose highly enjoyable pastiche 2001: A Lego Odyssey manages to be remain true to Stanley Kubrick's vision and still be extremely silly indeed. Enjoy.
