Norwich film-makers festival hailed a success

KATE SCOTTER
29 September 2009 17:10



A new festival which celebrated the talents of up and coming film makers has been hailed a success.

Organisers of the first annual Norwich Film Festival have vowed they will return next year after the inaugural event saw packed audiences and a high standard of entries.

The festival, which kicked off on September 18, came to a close on Friday with an awards evening held at the Norwich University College of the Arts.

Winners on the night included Eric Howell who won the top gong Best Film 2009 as well as Best Short Film for his entry Ana's Playground.

Kel Playford, 24, director of the festival, said: “We're really happy with how things went, it was incredibly busy for a first-time festival, the standard of entries was astounding, and we're looking forward to building on our success next year for a bigger better festival.”

Highlights of the week-long event included a big screening of classic 80s film Top Gun in the Castle Gardens, showings of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) nominated short films and the chance to see new Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly film, Creation, before it was released nationwide.

Budding film makers were also invited to enter their own masterpieces into the Film Festival Awards with £1,000 up for grabs for each of the five categories - student film, documentary, animated film, short film and feature film - and £5,000 on offer for the overall winner of Best Film 2009.

Rhiannon Evans took the Best Student Film award with Heartstrings, Alex Vero's Running To The Limits won the Best Documentary category and Jorge Morais Valle took the Best Animated Film title with O Pintor de Ceos (The Painter of the Skies).

Gillies MacKinnon won the Best Feature Film category with Zig Zag Love.

Festival organisers want to talk to companies to get involved with next year.

Any businesses interested in getting involved should email James Robinson at james@wrmarketing.eu

Are you organising a new event for Norwich? Call reporter Kate Scotter on 01603 772326 or email kate.scotter@archant.co.uk

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