The magnificent seventh London Short Film Festival drew to a close last night with an event called Filmmakers In Bands in which… ok, I’m going to talk up to you and just expect you to work out what happened. I’ve played this night before at previous LSFFs and it was a joy to do so again with my current musical squeeze, the Glue Ensemble (of whom there is more here http://www.myspace.com/theglueensemble). In order to keep life simple you tend to…

Ooh my head. Bloody Mary’s followed by Guinness is oddly similar to eating a steak with a peppery tomato salsa. Plus a great deal of alcohol. Never the less last night at the London Short Film Festival screening of the Vauxhall Branchage 48hr Challenge films at the Roxy Bar and Screen, I was in the mood for celebrating. Not because the film Chris and I made, “Truth In The Valley” was the ultimate winner of the generous £1,000 prize, because…

Well done again to Phil for a cracking programme of longs which I was proud to introduce down at the delicious little Shortwave Cinema in Bermondsey Square… So eloquent and voluble were the guests who turned up for the Q&A that sadly we ran out of time and I had to shelve my plan of reading out my electronic interview with director Ben Rivers, who made “I Know Where I’m Going” the last film we screened. There’s a strong stream…

Anyone with a creative interest in film will spend a large portion of their working life being turned down. This is tough because in a creative industry your cold economic judgements are always horribly personal. In turning down an actor’s performance, or rejecting a script, I am, at a fundamental level rejecting you. Oddly though people don’t tend to talk about rejection that much, at least not much beyond a plaintive moan or a sort of blitz spirit camaraderie. And…

Unless you are a complete stranger to this blog (in which case, hallo, have a seat, lovely of you to drop in), you will be well aware that last year my brother and I took part in the Vauxhall Branchage 48hr Filmmaking Challenge. The five films made in the competition have been available to watch online for the past month or so at Mishorts and you have until tomorrow to watch them and vote for them. This deadline is looming…

Not so long ago I wrote a short piece about how long a short should be. My friend and fellow surgeon Phil Ilson saw this and as a result asked if I’d care to help him out of a scheduling jam and present his forthcoming selection of long shorts at the London Short Film Festival. The event is at the Shortwave Cinema in Bermondsey this coming Sunday, 10th January, at 1.30pm. Philip has selected four short films which jeer in…