iFeatures Pushes Low-Budget Filmmaking Boundaries

Six diverse projects have been chosen for the full development phase of iFeatures, the South West Screen, BBC Films and Bristol City Council-backed microbudget filmmaking initiative.
The range of genres – from sci-fi to thriller to family comedy - reflects the talent and ambition of some of the most interesting new voices in British filmmaking today and provides a uniquely broad slate of work for a microbudget filmmaking scheme.
The six include Our Own Shadows, a psychological thriller from Conor McCormack (BIFA nominated for Christmas with Dad), Novikov-B, a sci-fi thriller written and directed by Justin Trefgarne, (Former Development Executive at Working Title & one of Screen International’s prestigious “Stars of Tomorrow”), and Eight Minutes Idle, a call-centre based comedy from Mark Simon Hewis (award-winning short The Life-Size Zoetrope). Eight Minutes Idle also marks the big-screen debuts of acclaimed Novelists Nicholas Blincoe and Matt Thorne, Co-Founders of the New Puritans movement.
Some of the hottest talents from British TV drama have also made it through to the second phase of the scheme. Bristol’s Lucy Catherine (Writer on the new series of BBC3’s Being Human), is writing The Dark Half, a gripping supernatural horror, to be directed by hot Music Video Director Al Siddons (Turn It Loose), and Carol Noble (Writer on CBBC’s Charlie & Lola and Spirit Warriors) - and Nick Pitt (Producer on Silent Witness) have developed The Bristol Job, a heist movie with a difference to be directed by Matt Golding (Winner of BBC New Filmmakers Award).
Finally, Flying Blind provides a thrilling twist on a love story, with the script being written by Caroline Harrington, whose recent radio adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novel, Beyond Black has been enjoying critical plaudits. The film has also attracted international talent in the form of Polish Director, Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, who is flying in from Warsaw to direct.
The six teams were chosen from a shortlist of twelve, who nurtured their projects through an intensive six weeks of creative and commercial development, supported by Skillset and NESTA, culminating in recent panel interviews. They will now embark on twelve further weeks of accelerated development before the final three films are greenlit in June.
Christopher Moll, iFeatures’ Executive Producer commented: "The sheer quality and breadth of ambition of our six teams is a real achievement for a microbudget scheme, and we’re particularly pleased that this is a slate that really does have something for every type of audience on it. It shows that with the right talent onboard, small budgets are no barrier to excellence! "
The scheme, which has broken new ground in its support for first-time directors and regional feature filmmaking, is already being lined up for a second expanded bow in 2011/12.
(BMcN/BMcC)