Maniac Films Wins International Film Competition

Maniac Films have been announced as a brand winner in the Cisco 'digital cribs' film competition.
The competition, run by international filmmaker website filmaka.com and sponsored by California-based Cisco systems, was designed to produce short films showing the use of technology in the home - in someone's 'crib' in an entertaining way.
The film submission by Maniac Films showed Croyde resident Mike Cotton in and around his home near Baggy Point, talking about the impact of technology and how it enabled him to operate his business whilst on surf trips abroad - even being able to check on and count new lambs arriving using his webcam!
The film was chosen by Cisco from a range of films submitted from all over the world and will be used in Cisco marketing, shown on over 200 websites and at trade shows and exhibitions to showcase how technology is used in diverse ways.
Mark Brindle, Director of Croyde-based Maniac Films: "We had a very tight timescale for completing the film, due to Mike's surf trips, but got really lucky with the weather at the end of September.
"I'm really please to win this competition and not just for the $7500 USD prize money, although that's a real incentive! I am hoping that the exposure generated by Cisco and filmaka will help to raise our profile and perhaps lead on to some good things - it might also bring Mike some more visitors to his B&B and cafe too!"
Mike Cotton from Baggy Lodge said: "This is fantastic news! I might be famous! It's all in a day's work for me though... Braunton local musician Douglas E Powell, whose acoustic tracks form the music bed of the films said "Congratulations! It was the soundtrack that clinched it, right?"!"
Coming so soon after their award at the Institute of Videography convention for their Scottish surf documentary 'Half Life', Maniac Films are on a roll. Mark said: "It's a good time right now. We have a few short films selected at the Devon and Cornwall Open screenings at the Exeter Phoenix soon and Half-Life has been selected for the Newport International Film Festival (Newport, Wales) in December.
"We've just finished a music video for another one of Doug's new songs, filmed at the old Shapland factory in Barnstaple (also featuring Mike's daughter, Rosie) as a thank you for using his music and everything is bubbling along really well."
(KMcA)