Screen Gems encourages filmmakers to ‘touch’

Sgrîn Cymru Wales is setting film makers in Wales the challenge of coming up with a script for a three-minute film to be screened internationally.
Screen Gems - Wales’s flagship short film scheme – which is now in its fifth year, is open to writer and director teams, producer/production companies, as well as giving trainee producers the chance to get involved in this year’s project ,which is based on the theme of ‘touch’.
Judith Higginbottom, Head of Production at Sgrîn said: “By asking film makers to work with a specific theme, we are encouraging them to consider the needs of the marketplace. It also allows them to demonstrate that they can create content to the highest creative standards, at the same time as retaining a real awareness of commercial need. Screen Gems gives participants greater confidence to be able to take this flexible approach to other markets.”
Head of Shorts/New Talent at Sgrîn, Gaynor Messer-Price added: “Many of the Screen Gems writer-directors have gone onto develop feature projects. Alongside the kudos of winning awards and bringing Welsh films to a wider audience, the influx of new professionals into the film industry in Wales ensures a vibrancy and energy in our productions.”
The deadline for applications is June 4 2004.
The completed films will have their premiere at the Cardiff Screen Festival and will be subsequently toured to Welsh cinemas, broadcast by ITV 1 Wales, as well as entered for UK and international film festivals and offered for international cinema, television and ancillary sales.
(KmcA)