SCREEN GEMS TO GET PREMIERE SCREENING

TEN miniature dramas will have their first screening on December 1, during the International Film Festival of Wales.
The films, which are three minutes long, were made for the Sgrin Screen Gems scheme, and were made within a three week period during the summer. They cover a wide variety of subjects, from a moving true-life story set during the Second World War to a tale of nine naked men causing havoc in a leafy suburb.
Pauline Larkkom, Sgrin’s Head of Production, said: “The films cover a real range of subject matter, style and approach, clearly demonstrating an abundance of film-making talent. We are particularly keen to nurture talent, and this is an ideal initiative to achieve that. The next step is to work on getting the films out into the world, to festivals, in front of features wherever possible and on the desks of key producers and agents who can offer new opportunities.”
The scheme also offered opportunities for trainees to work in a professional environment in the fields of producing, editing and camera work. Eight trainees were attached to the production. Pauline Williams of Gaucho produced all five 35mm films, Jane Dauncey and Anji Dyer of Tumble Hill Productions looked after the Digital Video work.
The Screen Gems scheme set out to challenge writers and directors to come up with an exciting three-minute script for a film suitable for cinema and broadcast. Ten scripts were selected out of the 183 entries, five were filmed on Digital Video and five on 35mm film. Three of the successful entrants are first time directors, and the others have worked in other fields, such as documentary or theatre.
The films were co-financed by the Arts Council of Wales, British Screen and Channel 4, with the support of post-production facility Barcud Derwen. They will also be screened before feature films during the festival, and are scheduled to be shown on Channel 4’s short-film slot, The Shooting Gallery. (CD)