The Salford Film Festival returns for its fourth year with fantastic opportunities to watch, discuss, make and even star in great films.
From 24-28 November we will be honouring Salford’s cinematic talent past and present with a host of FREE screenings and events across a range of venues in the city, including Salford Arts Theatre, The Lowry and the Old Salford Cinema.
This year the festival pays tribute to Oscar-winning Salford actor, Sir Ben Kingsley with an eclectic selection of his films. To celebrate the birthday of Salford playwright Shelagh Delaney, which falls during festival week, we offer a rare opportunity to see one of her more elusive screenwriting credits, THE WHITE BUS, together with an equally rare documentary about the making of the film, on location in Salford. Local actor and current Eastenders star Stephen Lord presents his feature film directorial debut, ‘It’s Not the End of the World’ and Stella Grundy dazzles in her unique multi-media production, Nico Icon Play’, which explores the life of the singer after her years at Warhol’s Factory, when she lived right here in this city.
As ever, our focus will be regional but wide-ranging. There will be classic Kitchen Sink dramas and Ealing Comedies, Lancashire Passion Plays and Northern Noir, all grounded by some eye-opening archive footage of the city’s fast-changing landscape. There’ll be a range of local community short films made by and starring the people of Salford, plus a glance across the River Irwell with a programme exploring the output of Mancunian Films.
Festival Chairman, Mike Knowles, whose short film ‘Talking with Angels’ opened the first ever festival and went on to be nominated for a prestigious BAFTA, had this to say: “It’s great that the city has a festival like this, to give local budding film makers a chance to learn more about the industry and get a chance to show their talents to a wider audience.”
Programme Manager Steve Balshaw claimed: “This is our biggest, most ambitious festival yet. We’ve got recent Hollywood films, popular classics, difficult-to-see cult items, and a lot of sharp, hard-edged new work from the local community. It’s a volatile mix, but they’re always the best kind.”
The festival is yet another fantastic event which has been hosted in the city this year, following on from the Manchester International Festival, the BG World Cup triathlon, the Food and Drink Festival and Pride Games. It is part of the Salford City Council’s year long BIG Events 2007 campaign and has been promoted and funded by the Council.
Councillor John Merry, Leader of Salford City Council, said “This is such a great event for the people Salford, giving them the chance to experience new and classic productions. With BBC media city soon making Salford its new home, the council is committed to supporting media and the arts in Salford and this festival is the perfect way for local communities to engage with the industry and work to establishing a long lasting legacy of fantastic creative talent in the city. “
So there you have it. Celebrating the city's cinematic history and thriving contemporary talent, this is a festival for the people of Salford, by the people of Salford, starring the people of Salford.
But we’re a hospitable people. We don’t want to keep things all for ourselves, so we’ve invited the rest of the world along. There’s something for everyone to enjoy, from local community films to cutting-edge new shorts; from timeless screen classics to international feature premieres.
Oh, and it’s all FREE, so there's no excuse not to be there. Switch off your mobile, grab some popcorn and a hotdog, and prepare for 5 days of fantastic films…
For a downloadable version of this press release, click HERE.