Having just returned from Encounters Film Festival, I wanted to share some of the highlights with you. Firstly, I'd like to say what a fantastic festival it is, I saw so many great films and attended some great seminars.
My film The Girl with the World in Her Hair went down very well and played with some other lovely children's films, especially Tooth Fairy Affaird by Izabela Melamed from Bulgaria.
I was delighted that Michelle Arbon, who worked with me on Peekaboo won an award for her short film Above as Below in the Depict section, well done Michelle, a beautiful film.
I particularly enjoyed the masterclass with Carol Morely and Cairo Cannon and enjoyed seeing their new film Dreams of Life. They are such an inspiring pair and it was wonderful to hear them talk about their work and see excerpts of their previous films. I can't wait to see their new film Edge, in cinema's very soon.
I also loved Jez Benstock's The British Guide to Showing Off, which closed the festival on Sunday evening. A really fun film that made you want to dress up, go out and party!
Another highlight was the Bruce Robinson talk, which was sold out, but we were kindly given some free tickets from Carol Morely and Cairo Cannon, which was wonderful, because it was really inspiring and very funny. So glad we got to hear Bruce talk, what a great character he is.
I laughed so hard I almost cried watching Las Palmas, a short film by Johannes Nyholm, which won the Audience Award, unsuprisingly. You can see this on line, I'd really recommend it. I've never seen a jam packed cinema full of people laughing that hard in a long time.
I loved Long Distance Information by Douglas Hart, a fantastic short with a great pay off, and starring the wonderful Peter Mullen.
I watched so many great films it's hard to mention them all. But it was great to see so much talent out there.
I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone that worked so hard to put the festival together, they did an excellent job and made it a great experience for everyone that attended. I hope to be back there next year with Peekaboo.




