03-12-08 / INTERVIEWS / 'SOFT' WINS BIFA / BUCHAREST

There are a couple of new magazine interviews online - one from Film & Festivals and the other from Little White Lies. The latter is from their October issue but I was only just informed about it, having been previously told it would be published in January.

Well, it's a funny old world. Having submitted Soft for consideration at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) last year, only to be ignored, this year it was invited and won Best Short Film. Needless to say, I couldn't take the nomination seriously so I was more than a little surprised to learn of the win while sitting in a dark little Bucharest bar. The last award in a great run, for sure. Alongside the Cinema16 release, it seems to have reignited a lot of press interest, although most of it focuses on the film being "about hoodies and happy slapping".

The Bucharest trip was to sit on the jury for Dakino Film Festival, where Soft won last year. Unfortunately I only saw the city by night, or more specifically its clubs and bars, having spent my days either sleeping or attempting to write in my hotel room. It was the first time I ever attended a festival where I still couldn't find my geographical bearings by the time I left. At the rather unique awards ceremony, the awards went to Laszlo Nemes' The Counterpart (Hungary), Samuel Tilman's Voix de Garage (Dead End) (Belgium) and Hadrian Marcu's Joi (Thursday) (Romania). The festival president is a celebrity chef and owns many restaurants so providing you weren't vegetarian the food was great, although I experienced a slightly different restaurant menu once the festival closed, with 'Brain Speciality', 'Breadcrumbed Brain' and 'Turkey Testicles'. Err, I'll take the trout please...

23-11-08 / 'SOFT' AVAILABLE TO BUY ON DEEVEEDEE

Soft is finally available to buy as part of the latest Cinema 16 DVD compilation ‘World Short Films'. It's a double-disc edition this time, featuring the usual eclectic blend of shorts by big players (such as Guillermo del Toro, Park Chan-Wook, Alfonso Cuaron, Jane Campion) alongside work by newcomers (such as me).

I've yet to receive my copy at the time of writing but if the three films I have seen are anything to go by then you should feel guilty that you haven't purchased it already, and if you have, then feel daft that you didn't buy multiple copies. Christmas is coming don't you know, and this would make a perfect gift for a friend in need of some savvy guidance from your good, cultured self. With five hours (five!!!) of films including directors' commentaries, your finger will be so on the pulse that you'll have to dip it into a bag of frozen peas to stop it vibrating, oh yes. Well what are you waiting for? Why are you reading this when you should be here buying these ridiculously affordable pleasurediscs? Oh and while you're there you might as well pick up the original Cinema 16 DVD ‘British Short Films' which includes my film Telling Lies.

15-11-08 / INTERFILM JURY, BERLIN

Another blast in Berlin at Interfilm Short Film Festival, except I caught another cold on the flight over. I only kicked the last one a week before and this one has now mutated into the flu. Brilliant. Either there are way too many germs dancing around these days or my immune system has packed its bags. Festival highlights for me were David Charon's Le Secret de Salamon (Salomon's Secret) (France), Jason Stutter's Careful with that Axe (New Zealand), Mads Matthiesen's Dennis (Denmark), Grimur Hakonarson's Wrestling (Iceland), Frederick Vin's Paul Rondin est... Paul Rondin (France), Bill Plympton's Hot Dog (USA) and Alan Becker's Animator Vs Animation (USA).

Photo: Christine Kisorsy

International Competition Jury members (left to right): French cinematographer Carlo Varini, Swiss actress Sabine Timoteo, Simon Ellis and Director of Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival Eileen Arandiga.

31-10-08 / UPPSALA SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, SWEDEN

After years of meeting the director of Uppsala Short Film Festival in Hamburg each year, and having missed the opportunity to attend last year, I finally made it over to present Soft in the Prix UIP programme, out of competition. The Q&A sessions were great and I learned that a social dilemma similar to the one in the film has recently occurred in Sweden, resulting in a father shooting the tormentor of his son. Sadly, this isn't the first time that international audiences have told me that these problems (all too common in the UK) are beginning to happen in their country.

On a happier note, I also managed to watch plenty of other films for a change. International competition highlights included Tobias Nölle's René (Switzerland), Sergi Perez's New Dress (Spain), and the idea behind Bevan Walsh's Love Does Grow on Trees (UK) was one of those gems that had me wondering why I had never thought of it myself; an ode to one of the less talked-about phenomena of the eighties – discarded porn mags in wooded areas.

The Norweigan programmes included some brilliant comedies, including Roar Uthag's The Martin Administration, Joachim Solum's extraordinary Depth Solitude, Hans Petter Moland's United We Stand, and Martin Lund's Home Game (included in a screening of my favourite shorts in Hull Short Film Festival earlier this year). The Romanian focus typically featured strong work but my favourite was still Cristian Nemescu's Marilena de la P7, which I first saw a year ago and enjoyed even more this time around. I had never seen Constantin Popescu's The Apartment before; a festival success in 2004/2005. Great.

16-10-08 / GHENT FILM FESTIVAL, BELGIUM

Flew to Brussels with a cold and landed with one blocked ear. By the time I arrived in the postcard city of Ghent an hour later it popped clear but then somehow blocked again during a screening, staying that way for two days when the snot finally started to unwrap itself from around my brain. I was expecting to be on a short film jury but it was in fact the international feature jury so I felt somewhat out of my depth, the other jury members being older, wiser, and generally more interested in cinema than myself. They were a great bunch though and despite us rarely agreeing on anything unanimously, debates never became arguments and it was a good experience. I couldn't believe my luck when I walked into my gargantuan hotel room. There would have been enough space to install a full-size snooker table, including all necessary elbow room and an accompanying audience. The bed was a monster; I have seen smaller bedrooms.

Having to introduce myself to a prince while trying not to accidentally spit a half-chewed chicken curry sandwich on him seems like a worthy tidbit, though perhaps not. The opening film (The Visitor) was a good start, albeit out of competition, and I wound up talking shite at two of the actors in their room until small o'clock before retiring to my BED and instantly falling asleep, full of too much free wine. Over the next few days I fleetingly met Woody Harrelson following a screening of his new film 'Trans-Siberian', watched Harold Lloyd's ‘Safety Last' on the big screen and turned into a child for 73 minutes, got scared by big ugly oysters and mussels but ate many fresh shrimps/sole/turbot/seawolf/partridge/veal and deer, slept many big sleeps in my big bed that was big enough for five big people, met a very funny and unassuming man who happened to be the writer of Ben E King's 'Stand by Me' and a bunch of Elvis hits, fought off sleep in the cinema during several screenings and finally lost the battle on one occasion, went to a fully bombastic John Williams concert, was shocked by Emmanuel Beart's lips, had my first Westmalle beer, kneeled down to photograph a small slug that was having her moment of fame slithering across the red carpet, smiling and everything, only for some bloke to walk right on top of her and carry her away on the sole of his crap shoe:

I like to think that when he got home that night, she dislodged herself from between the grooves in his sole and slid into his snoring mouth to have slug babies. Go here for more pictures of the trip.

04-10-08 / NOTHING OF MUCH CONSEQUENCE EXCEPT MY BELT

Well the good news is that my wrist is neither broken nor fractured. It's just buggered. For the time being anyway. I also woke with a cold today, the day that I have to record a commentary track for Soft, now certain to be a hideously nasal affair.

Last week, in Dublin airport, I forgot to remove my belt when walking through security-check's scanners. A security guard took it from me and I walked through again to prove I didn't have a samurai sword in my pocket, then, while I struggled to repack my other belongings on the conveyor belt, with one working hand, he somehow failed to return it to me and I ended up rushing off without it. It was the only belt I ever wore and it used to be my dad's. Even writing about it in past tense is killing me. It's older than I am and I'm devastated because lost property don't have it, even though many other belts were handed in that day. I can't even remember the security guard's face in order to picture it being slapped repeatedly by an enlarged version of my one working hand. I went to try and buy some kind of contemporary replacement today but it was predictably miserable. All those twatty 'jesuslovesblahblahblah' belts that fashion spackers wear have never failed to irritate me but today... oh, man.

This has nothing to do with work but it felt good to get it off my chest.

25-09-08 / JAPAN / RANT / ACCIDENT

Sometimes it can be very hard to leave a place behind at the end of a festival, which is exactly how I feel about having just returned from Sapporo in Japan once again. It's pointless even trying to describe how much I love this festival, or indeed Japanese culture as a whole. While so much is happening at the moment and I often need to be in two places at once, this was exactly what the doctor ordered. I met great people, had memorable times, and I'm thoroughly saddened that it's all over. So affecting was the experience that I have been considering a new format for this site in order to accommodate a more detailed blog/diary section, but that's something for the future, perhaps. A big old gallery of pictures can be seen here.

After a sleepless, hotel-less final stopover in Tokyo on the way home, I was stuck in an aisle seat on the twelve-hour return flight with little hope of rest, and my subsequent hyper-sensitivity made getting onto the London underground at Heathrow even more of a nightmare than it should have been. Fellow commuters were reading the free London papers with their interminable coverage of the same old yawnshit 'celebrities' entering/exiting parties. My piss started to boil. This soon gave way to an all-consuming sadness. It was as if I had been away from home for two years rather than two months (including Berlin). I was somehow surprised by the bilge that never fails to generate public interest, realising how desensitised I must have become when faced with it every day. I found some solace in fantasising that all the media attention these people get will eventually incite an enormous backlash, ending the epidemic once and for all. The problem is that I have been anticipating said backlash for the last six or seven years and it still hasn't happened. So, the hour-long journey to King's Cross took me through the whole spectrum of emotions, and then I received a call that compounded my fears about the upcoming american film I moaned about in my last entry. Welcome home.

I stuck around in London for a small screening of Dogging which involved most of the cast, some crew, investors, distributors and the like. It was the first time I had seen the graded picture at full resolution, 99% finished, combined with the sound (I'm never satisfied with the sound). As the screening was late afternoon, the subsequent drinking with people I hadn't seen together since we filmed almost two years ago got a little out of hand. I ended up drunken pavement wrestling with one of the actors and did something to my wrist which, after a day of increasing pain and creeping bruises, required a visit to accident and emergency the following evening. My arm is in a cast, and further x-rays will confirm if my wrist is broken, but I don't think so. The nurse told me that it's the scafoid bone, which, if not treated properly, can lead to arthritis in older age. Fantastic. The only thing that makes me happier than this news is trying to type this with one hand and having to correct typo errors every three words.

02-09-08 / BERLIN / DOGGING / BERLIN / DOGGING / BERLIN / DOGGING

Well, having just returned from six weeks finishing Dogging: A Love Story in sunny Berlin, I can safely say that it's nice to be doing something else with my time for a little while. Even if that 'something else' is paying outrageous telephone bills and attempting to mow overgrown lawns while they are still wet. There have been many little ups and downs throughout post-production and I can't think of anything more simultaneously boring and painful than bleating on about it here, suffice to say that, finally it's almost over. Just a couple of images to tweak in the title sequence, a wait for the 35mm print to be born, and the search for a vacancy in the nearest warm cave.

The huge delay (it should have been released a year ago) has meant that one particular idea I created for the film appears to have now been employed by an upcoming sex-comedy from the US called Sexdrive. I was furious when I found out and couldn't work for a day, staring out of the window like an incapacitated gibbon. Then I found out last week that our release has been pushed to early NEXT year, meaning that, according to the history books, Sexdrive will precede us by a year. Despite my hopes that said film is shit, I heard it was tipped to be "the new Superbad" and then I wanted to hurt people. Still, saying something is "the new...(anything)" is hopefully a good sign that it's bilge after all. Don't ask me if i'm happy with mine though. I haven't got a clue. Expect something commercial, perhaps.

But bollocks to all that. The producer says i'll end up in an early grave if I carry on this way (like I don't know that already) so let's talk about how much I love Berlin. Actually, no I can't do that either because it plummets me into a black realisation that i'm now home, trying to cope with the greyness of a rip-off world I abandoned just long enough for it to become a nightmare to return to. All of the shit I expected but somehow still couldn't avoid, like retarded fascist estate agents (another boring but painful story).

Soft scooped Best Cinematography the Kodak Short Film Awards, which is surely its final, cheeky bow.

07-07-08 / ARTFILM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, SLOVAKIA

I left my best pants in a cupboard in Slovakia. Shit. Located in the idyllic northern Slovak town of Trencianske Teplice, Artfilm International Film Festival is a ninety minute drive from Bratislava airport and the moment I got to my hotel I was urged to dump my bags in my room and join everyone for a medieval banquet at a beautiful big castle, including lots of food and drink. This was swiftly followed with games and performances by folk in medieval costume, and finally a night tour of the castle itself, complete with spectres jumping out of dark corners. A pretty unexpected first evening, and then I found the VIP bar with unlimited free quantities of any drink (every night). When I asked for a glass of champagne they said I could only have a bottle! Dangerous, but a great way to meet people, which can get confusing when there are four Janas, three Zuzanas, and as much Borovicka as you dare to drink. Soft screened well and I wished I could have stayed longer than the meagre four days I had. It was a lovely, relaxed time and I didn't even get to use the spa or swimming pool.

Coming home was the usual shit. Groups of gobby English lads (again with popped collars on their polo shirts) who invaded Bratislava for the cheap beer and couldn't keep themselves quiet on the plane, jeering at the flight attendants (one of them hollered "Oh yeah, buckle me up baby!" from the back while the seatbelt procedure was being demonstrated, I kid you not). It's always so toe-curlingly embarrassing. Do these people have no cringe bone?

Three festivals and a music video in four weeks isn't bad going. If you have a few minutes to kill while the kettle is boiling or your cornflakes are sinking, you can go here for an image gallery.

01-07-08 / MUSIC VIDEO / NEW MAGAZINE ARTICLE / MAX RICHTER

Finished cutting the music video for Swimming's new single Panthalassa. Hats off to everyone who turned up and trooped underground to Nottingham's cosy Baselab studio to jump about and play merry hell. My head wept like a loaded sponge and I was only filming.

Go here for an article in the impressive new 4Talent magazine. The scan is 1mb for legible text so how quickly it appears will depend on the speed of your connection. I popped into Borders bookstore on Oxford Street to see if Filmwaves magazine was selling like nobody's business but there were lots of them on the shelf. Hmm. Maybe they just, er, restocked after popular demand.

I finally got to see Max Richter perform live (the composer whose music I used for A Storm and Some Snow), double-billed with Johan Johansson, in a church. Very satisfying it was too. You would have to be missing a spine not to be stirred by the time it was all over. As both composers neatly dovetail classical with electronic elements, I wasn't quite sure which way the vibe would swing and wondered if everyone would be exteremely serious and wearing suits. Then they handed out fizzy sweets at the door and I noticed that Max was wearing jeans and trainers. Brilliant.

17-06-08 / PORTUGAL

Having just been to Festroia Film Festival in Portugal to present Soft in the Prix UIP section, I feel obliged to rant about flying for a bit. Carbon footprints aside, flying is shit. We all know how hideous cheap airlines can be, airlines such as Ryanair, the flying equivalent of catching the local bus that only costs one pence until you then have to cough up £24.99 tax and a further £24.99 tax tax. They never hesitate to proudly boast to their passengers if they land at their destination ahead of schedule but completely fail to even acknowledge, let alone offer an explanation, if they are late. And let's not mention the shrill commercials for energy drinks and scratchcards that bleat your ears off from the moment you set foot on the plane. I could write an essay on the wrongs of this stupid little company but it's well documented already and there's even a book devoted to it. So...

... this time I flew with BMI and, with my outbound flight being delayed by two hours, things didn't get off to a promising start. Then I had the serious misfortune of being seated directly in front of a gaggle of let's-all-get-pissed-as-fast-as-we-can blokes. You know the type, collar-popped polo shirts tucked into their jeans, shit trainers, identical haircuts, almost certainly bullied at school and making up for it ever since by seeing who can sink the most beer. The main problem is that these money-sucking airlines never refuse alcohol to anyone, no matter how shitfaced and annoying they might get.

So, after the whole plane got to hear about the menchildren's drinking itinerary for the evening, and a mildly bumpy landing in Lisbon saw snakebite being splashed down the back of my neck, I escaped the plane and was shot of them at last. Time to start to calming down and wondering why I still haven't moved to Germany. The festival driver then tells me that, as the flight was so delayed and it was late in the evening, I wasn't likely to find much to eat in our destination town of Setúbal unless I was prepared to eat McDonalds. I was starving, so against my better judgement I had one of their meal things. My body refused to digest it and after walking about with a brick in my stomach for a couple of hours I vowed never to eat a McDonalds again. How the hell people eat it on a regular basis I'll never know.

After these teething troubles things calmed down and the festival had a lovely, laid back vibe. Within no time I found a cold beer and a bean bag. The following day the sun was scorching and I went to the beach, ate actual food and met nice people. Over the whole weekend I only actually got to watch one film, a rather forgettable Polish feature, but I bumped into the actor Nickolas Grace, who played the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1984 television series Robin of Sherwood.

When the time came to fly back to the UK I was overjoyed to discover that my return flight was delayed by an hour and would land too late to catch a train back to Nottingham. Deep breaths. By this point I hated BMI so much that everything they did would infuriate me, like announcing before we took off that the plane had "two free toilets" as if such facilities were some kind of luxury extra that we should be paying a surcharge for, or by stating that their selection of drinks and snacks were available "at competitive prices". Now, I can't say that paying almost a pound for a can of coke the size of a baby's foot is value for money, but "competitive"? At 35,000 feet in the air, who are they competing with exactly?!? I guess they must mean Ryanair.

Go here for a teeny, tiny, almost pointless gallery of images from the trip.

12-06-08 / HAMBURG

Just returned from the annual trip to Hamburg International Short Film Festival, which was great, of course. This year I was crippled by hay fever for most of each day, which was something of a nightmare, but it was great to see familiar faces again. Dying Backwards screened in the Three Minute Quickie competition and Soft was screened on the side of a building to an audience of approximately one thousand people for the excellent Wall is a Screen event. I will post a picture as soon as I have one.

27-05-08 / FUR TV / SPRING CLEANING

I just witnessed what became of my second Fur TV episode since my departure. To say it that it was quite distressing would be putting things mildly.

I'm cleaning and organising my house in an effort to cleanse my soul. I've been doing it slowly for over a week now and it's working a treat. Throwing stuff out is fantastic catharsis and finding a home for things that have been laying around for over a year brings major satisfaction. I was just telling my bafta-bothering friend Dan Mulloy about a battle I had last night with a new shelf, feeling all victorious and triumphant, and he said that if I was having a battle with a shelf then the shelf has won already. Damn.

23-04-08 / HAHA

Well I never, look who made the cover of Filmwaves magazine...

Nothing else to report yet as i've either been doing completion on the feature or thinking about cleaning my house, putting shelves up everywhere, getting some exercise, or sleeping. So far I have only managed the latter. Oh and I just mowed my lawns, so that's a bit of exercise, isn't it.

20-04-08 / THINGS THAT ARE SHIT

Well it all went okay in Hull last night but some other things are shit. For starters, the top shit is having discovered that one of the first music tracks I included in Dogging, which has been in the film for over a year now, is also used in the upcoming feature film Donkey Punch. It isn't even a well known piece and this depresses me enormously.

The next shit down is that I had to walk away from Fur TV due to the proverbial “creative differences”, which has been a first for me. The show launches on MTV in a couple of weeks and I don't know if I have the will to watch my episodes. A damn shame. It should be huge and will make some people very rich.

The penultimate shit is the fresh reminder of my general irritation with 'something-someone' film titles. You know the type - Raising Cain, Raising Arizona, Raising Victor Vargas, Regarding Henry, Chasing Amy, Killing Zoe, Becoming Jane, Being John Malkovich (to name a few), and now we have Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I wouldn't like anyone to think that I lose sleep over such shameless formulae but REALLY...

02-04-08 / TWO NEW SHORTS COMPLETED / TALK AT GLIMMER FILM FESTIVAL

I have just completed two new experimental shorts. Dying Backwards has been in my head ever since I shot footage of a car that exploded in my street, six years ago. Subterranean Scene Filter is a montage of isolated Manhattan perspectives as seen through the steamy discharge that oozes from beneath the streets, shot last year on my visit to the Manhattan Short Film Festival.

Later this month I will be yapping about stuff at Hull Short Film Festival (of which I am now a patron, don't you know) and presenting a screening of some of my favourite short films. Billed as a BAFTA-sponsored masterclass, i'm very much looking forward to some proper fish and chips from the birthplace of every member of my family except me. I'll always remember as a kid thinking that the Humber Bridge looked all wrong when the cranes were removed from the top. It ruined all my drawings.

10-03-08 / 'SOFT' WINS L.A BAFTA

Soft is the winner of a rather curious BAFTA/LA award, which appears to be the Los Angeles arm of BAFTA, described in their own words as 'the bridge between the Hollywood and British production and entertainment business communities'.

07-03-08 / 'SOFT' WINS IN FLORIDA / CINEQUEST BLOG

Soft just won the Grand Prize at The Indie Shorts Competition in Fort Lauderdale : )

I also just found this review of the film from a blogger called 'JFromm' at Cinequest Film festival In San Jose (California), which is only a few days old:

"Director Simon Ellis' short film Soft was surely the favorite at the March 1st screening of shorts. The most powerful film of the bunch, Soft had audiences members yelling enthusiastic “woops” when the film's main antagonist finally got a cricket bat to the back of the skull. It was impressive to see the amount of profoundly intense and honest emotion Ellis was able to fit into the 14-minute character-driven short. The film's story concerns the relationship dynamics between a father and son, both tormented by a group of violent hoodlums. With a moving, complete little plot, effective storytelling and magnificent acting, Soft is the type of short that sticks with you"

I guess I owe JFromm a pint, and an apology for editing their review slightly (I didn't want to give the end away to those who haven't seen the film).

01-03-08 / BAFTA / ARTE INTERVIEW

This is a well-overdue entry since the BAFTAs were weeks ago now, but i haven't had access to my website while I have been working away from home on the MTV series. A massive thank you to all those people who have emailed me saying I was robbed at the BAFTAs. If i had a penny for each of you then there would be enough to buy a cheap bottle of wine or a pint of decent lager, at least. The whole experience was as alien as could be expected. During the day, while everyone was rushing around getting dressed up and styled for the evening, I arrived at the Dorchester Hotel to collect my goodie bag and bumped into Sylvester Stallone. I don't think anything in the evening out-weirded that moment.

Go here for an interview about Soft from the European Film Academy event in Gent last October.

27-01-08 / 'SOFT' WINS SUNDANCE! / BAFTA

Soft won the international jury prize at Sundance Film Festival in Utah. This is extremely big news and a great honour. I found out via a congratulatory SMS from the film's executive producer, then a load of emails from friends, although the festival haven't contacted me yet.

The BAFTA stuff gets weirder. After investing in a pair of shoes for the first time in my life since school, I just found out that, being nominated includes complimentary styling. I'll be suited and booted and chauffer-driven to the event as part of the deal...

18-01-08 / BAFTA NOMINATION / FLICKERFEST WIN / DOGGING / MADNESS

Soft is now a BAFTA nominated film and the ceremony is on February 10th (the evening before my first episode of the MTV series, grrrr). This means I will finally have to buy a pair of shoes and generally feel weird around lots of famous people. It also means free food though, which I will consume with wild abandon if work commitments are going to prevent me from enjoying the free alcohol. I can't say i'm upset that the Oscars might be cancelled due to the writer's strike, hehe.

Soft also won the Special Jury Prize at Flickerfest in Sydney, which is great because the film was rejected by both Melbourne and Sydney Festivals so I was beginning to think that Australia just didn't like it for some reason.

I am now days away from picture-lock on Dogging. This weekend was supposed to be Sundance weekend so I intend to make the most of my not being there by finishing the edit instead falling asleep every other hour.

Several major companies have been in touch about what my next project is and it's all rather perplexing. Sundance would have ended up being meeting after meeting and i'd have been wiped out after a few hours. Things are changing. Opportunities are increasing. As are the risks of making wrong decisions...

12-01-08 / 'SOFT' WINS IN LONDON / MTV

Soft won the teenage jury award at London Short Film Festival, which was well satisfying when the other films in competition were so strong. I've suddenly become really conscious of how to act when collecting awards and I find myself trying to get off stage as quickly as possible.

Started work on the new series. All i'm allowed to say is that it's for MTV.

13-12-07 / SUNDANCE / TV SERIES / DOGGING / BASS INVADERS

Soft has got into Sundance, which is great considering they selected only 83 films out of 5100 entries. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend because I'll be directing a few episodes of a brand spanking new series for MTV in the new year but I can't say what it is yet.

Just completed the last shots for Dogging and I'm now only days away from the first complete cut.

27-11-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN ROMANIA

Two colleagues have independently informed me that Soft also won the main prize at DaKino Short Film Festival in Bucharest at the weekend, making it a hat trick on Saturday, which is surely a once-in-a-lifetime thing. The festival have yet to inform me themselves, despite my emailing them twice. Funny old world.

25-11-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN BRISTOL AND OURENSE

Soft scooped Best British Short at Encounters International Short Film Festival in Bristol, and Best Direction at Ourense International Film Festival in Spain. It's getting crazy now and I'm starting to feel strangely guilty. Maybe that's not the right word but it feels peculiar. I couldn't attend both festivals as I was doing a talk at Encounters, which went well considering my DVD wouldn't play. Everyone was so damn nice. Even the 2am Stifado that resembled a plate of Pedigree Chum (dog munch) was nice. I just got back home after a typically shit UK train journey, withered but smiling.

18-11-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN ITALY

Soft won Best Fiction Short at Cortopotere Short Film Festival in Bergamo, Italy : )

13-11-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN BERLIN

Soft won the top prize at Interfilm in Berlin. A hell of a prize and a perfect end to a great trip. People still turned up to my screenings even though they could have been out building snowmen, which you have to be humbled by. The retrospective screenings went well but a slight change in the films from the usual selection freaked me out unexpectedly. I was more aware of the flaws in my work than ever before and found myself sinking lower and lower into my chair each minute. There was some quality squealing from the back during What about the Bodies though, hehe.

I almost found a new hat, having seen it in a window late one night, just over the road from where I was staying. Damned if I could find the same shop the next day though.

04-11-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN GENEVA / GENT PICTURES

Soft won the Refelt d'Or for Best Short Film at Cinéma tout Ecran in Geneva, Switzerland. Excellent. I just received the email after waking from a dream where I snapped my two front teeth shorter with some pliers, but now I feel good again.

Some images from the gathering of finalists in Belgium a few weeks ago. Almost all of the thirteen filmmakers were present in Gent for two days of free food and fine hotel rooms with big massive beds that you could sleep on in every conceivable angle and still be miles from the edge. Having slept properly for the first time in a long time, it inspired me to buy a new bed, new mattress, new pillows, new duvet, new sheets and new pillowcases. No shit. My new bed is well smart.

31-10-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN NEW YORK / MORE JAPAN PICS

Soft just won Best Drama at NYC Shorts.

More pictures from Sapporo in Japan here, courtesy of the festival and fellow filmmaker Aaron Wilson.

22-10-07 / SAPPORO VIDEO DIARY ONLINE / CORK

Video diary from Sapporo is now online at the BBC Film Network, or here :

Just got back from Cork International Film Festival with Jane (Soft's producer). A pleasure as always. We didn't win anything but when I saw how strong the programming was, I can't say I was surprised. Met US director John Dahl (Red Rock West, The Last Seduction), who was a lovely chap and extremely generous with his praise for Soft. He made considerable effort to convince me that travelling to L.A to work within the studio system wasn’t necessarily the poisoned chalice I considered it to be (“You can always get out, but you can’t always get in”). Soft got an extra screening on the Opera House's massive screen, to a capacity audience, before John's new feature 'You Kill Me'. Smart.

16-10-07 / 'SOFT' WINS TWO MORE / GOODBYE OSCARS / BELGIUM

Soft won Best Film in the International Competition at Imago International Film Festival in Portugal. It also won Best Film at Colchester International Short Fim Festival, which I didn't even know I had submitted to.

After all the trouble getting a 35mm print to them, the academy emailed me to say that the film wasn't eligible for the Oscars because it had screened on Channel Four prior to winning its qualifying award. I could have died. I didn't know whose throat I wanted to tear out first. What an enormous balls-up, especially when the broadcast was wasted on a 3am audience anyway. This tragedy, which has cost a lot of effort and money on my part, confirms two of my beliefs. One is about the academy and their 'rules' (unprintable here because my mam might be reading) and the other is that screening shorts on television IS more than pointless, after all.

Had a fun weekend in Belgium at the Flanders Film Festival. It was the Prix UIP gathering, where myself and the other twelve nominees meet and see each other's films. The highlight for me was seeing a scruffy old print of The Warriors on the big screen, introduced by Walter Hill himself, which made me mope about missing out on the Wonder Wheel interview all over again (see the Manhattan entry below if you have absolutely no idea what I'm banging on about). Full of drunken brio, I addressed Kathleen Turner with such brazen informality that my fellow filmmakers thought we knew each other, doh.

08-10-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN MANHATTAN

Soft scooped the Best Editing award at Manhattan Short Film Festival. When each filmmaker was asked to choose an iconic location for their interview, I opted for the iconic Wonder Wheel on Coney Island (from The Warriors) and was told to keep an eye on my phone the next day for further info. No info came and the following evening I found out that the festival had not only arranged it, but it was due to be stopped while I was at the top and everything, and for some maddening reason the festival’s messages never got through to my phone. I understand that the girl who arranged everything was very upset indeed, and it will be a missed opportunity that I will never forget and always regret. An assortment of snaps from the trip can be found here.

21-09-07 / RETROSPECTIVE WINS IN JAPAN / SOFT WINS IN D.C

My six-film retrospective just won the Filmmaker Grand Prix at Sapporo International Short Film Festival in Japan. The trip was a truly fantastic experience and a video diary of my time there will be online very soon. Some snapshots from this very special festival can be found here for the time being.

Meanwhile, Soft picked up an Audience Choice award at DC Shorts in the States.

31-08-07 / 'SOFT' WINS AT CONCORTO / INTERVIEW / 'DOGGING' UPDATE

Soft won another at Concorto in Italy :)

After having struggled with other commitments I finally managed to begin shooting pick-ups for the feature, which was basically a dogging session in a car park in darkest London. My hat goes off to those who came along and performed, so if any of you are reading this THANK YOU again!

29-08-07 / 'SOFT' WINS AT PALM SPRINGS

I just received an email from someone at Athens Film Festival congratulating me on my win at Palm Springs in the USA. Having no idea what he was talking about I went and checked online and Soft has won 'Best of the Fest', which is its second Oscar-qualifying win after Toronto. Needless to say I am ready to piss myself.

28-08-07 / SKINS / SARAJEVO / 'SOFT' WINS AT EDINBURGH

After much thought, I have declined directing duties on the second series of Channel 4's Skins, which was a painful decision to make when the people at Company Pictures were so nice that it was sure to smashing. Soft's success has attracted several excellent offers on sure-to-be-successful TV ventures but I have to get the feature finished. At least I don't watch TV so won't get wound up by what I might have missed out on.

Sarajevo was great, if brief. The temperature reached 41 degrees, which somebody told me was a record high there. Go here for some snaps.

Soft has won the European Film Academy's Prix UIP Award at Edinburgh Film Festival, which is an important part of the festival strategy so i'm delighted. Lead actor Jonny Phillips (below) went to collect the award in my absence. I was at Sarajevo Film Festival standing right beside Juliette Binoche when I received the call, making for a very pleasant moment.

31-07-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN BRAZIL

Soft won Best International Short at Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival in Brazil.

13-07-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN LUDWIGSBURG / GUARDIAN REVIEW

It has been really hectic these last couple of weeks. Soft won the Best Screenplay award at the European Short Film Biennale in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Having only intended to be at the festival for a few days I had to stay longer to collect the award, which meant returning to the UK and leaving on a rescheduled flight to Vila do Conde in Portugal within a few hours. Some snaps here.

Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw wrote a startling blog-cum-review about Soft a few days ago, which was an excellent surprise.

01-07-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN CAPALBIO, ITALY

More nutness. Two days ago I received a call from Capalbio Cinema International Short Film Festival in Tuscany, Italy, informing me that Soft had won the Best Direction Award. They flew me over the next day (yesterday) to attend the ceremony and moonlit beach party and, 24 hours later, I am now back already. I've had around three hours of kip in as many days but for some reason I'm still awake so I'll probably pass out any moment now, like the sleep-needing lightweight that I am. The festival was a different experience to most, with its holiday beach and beautiful open-air cinema in the heart of an ancient village up in the hills, boasting a screen flanked by flaming torches (which were maybe just for the awards ceremony, to be fair).

26-06-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN ST. PETERSBURG

It's my birthday today and at 3am I found out that Soft won Best Fiction Short at Message to Man Film Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. I had my visa sorted to attend that festival too but editing commitments wouldn't allow it. That's four gongs in the last three weeks :)

21-06-07 / HAMBURG VIDEO DIARY

Video diary for the BBC Film Network from Hamburg International Short Film Festival -

18-06-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN TORONTO

Soft won in Toronto last night, which now makes it eligible for an Academy Award nomination.

15-06-07 / 'SOFT' WINS IN HAMBURG

Soft just won the audience award and a special mention from the jury at Hamburg International Short Film Festival. Other festival acceptances for the film are racking up. There will be a video diary from Hamburg at the BBC Film Network next week but until then, some snaps here.

23-05-07 / ‘DOGGING’ / 'SOFT' AT CANNES / CHANNEL FOUR

Dogging has been my favourite pain in the arse for what seems like forever. Editing something of this scale has fully reignited a love/hate opinion of editing. Heaven and hell on the same plate, which is pretty much a continuation of the shoot.

After its screening on Channel Four for insomniacs at shit o'clock in the morning, Soft is starting to hit the festivals. My opportunities to see it with a wide range of international audiences are diminishing as things get frustratingly busy. It seems to be causing a nice little stir at the short film corner in Cannes and i've had several encouraging emails from people who have watched it, including one fella who said he whooped out loud and was asked to be quiet.

I should be directing two episodes of a very popular Channel Four television series at the end of the year but haven't signed on the dotted line yet so I won't jinx things by saying what it is (Update: It was the second series of Skins). I'm fully shitting myself about post-production on the feature being even slightly unfinished before I begin. After the crossover I experienced on Soft and Dogging, I really don't want to go there again. Goodbye wellbeing.

16-03-07 / 'DOGGING' INTERVIEW / TAMPERE FESTIVAL / 'SOFT' IN 35MM

I am now one hour into the edit of Dogging and I haven't lost my marbles yet, which is nice. There is a brand spanking new interview about the making of the film on BBC Film Network.

Go here for a gallery of my visit to Tampere Short Film Festival in Finland, where A Storm and Some Snow was in competition. Film highlights for me included Bálint Kenyeres' Before Dawn (Hungary), Nacho Martin's El Cerco (The Fence) (Spain) and Barney Elliott's True Colours (UK).

Three days ago I got to see the 35mm test print of Soft, which was the first time I have seen my work on celluloid. Oh man. Having been back and forth to Berlin several times in between editing duties on the feature to try and finish it, seeing the print was a thoroughly gratifying experience. The film will screen at Nottingham's Bang Short Film Festival on Sunday 25th March and we are hoping to get a print in time to screen on glorious 35.

15-01-07 / 'A STORM AND SOME SNOW' WINS

A Storm and Some Snow won the VX Auteur Theory award at London's Halloween Film Festival and the winnings EXACTLY covered the cost of licensing the music so that's a good start to the year.

25-12-06 / 'DOGGING' WRAPS

Wrapped on my debut feature Dogging just before Christmas in Newcastle and it feels weird to have my life back. It was sad to leave behind, despite needing a year of sleep. Everybody worked really bloody hard and the material looks great. 2007 will see the mammoth task of editing and hopefully a theatrical release towards the end of the year.

29-10-06 / ‘SOFT’

Just been back to Berlin for the spit-and-polish on Soft. Almost there! It’s own page is now in the films section.

21-10-06 / 'DOGGING’ CASTING / CORK / BERLIN

After lots of auditions with casting director Victoria Beattie, the ensemble for the feature is almost fully cast. We begin shooting in Newcastle, three weeks from now. In between this and finishing Soft at Elektrofilm in Berlin, things have been pretty hectic. Matthias Schwab mixed the film on a screen the size of my house

I also managed to visit Cork Film Festival with A Storm and Some Snow and sat on a panel with filmmakers Peter Foott and Jens Jonsson. It’s difficult not get shitfaced in Cork Opera House (especially for photographers, as evidenced below) and the festival’s usual hospitality ensured that lots of time was spent recovering. The overall experience was superb thanks to its legendary organisers who, as always, made us feel more than welcome. Without doubt, one of my favourite festivals.

Here are some random snapshots from both trips. The last image is my travel pal and fellow filmmaker Iain Finlay smuggling an Irish potato onto the return flight, while remembering that I’d just finished the previous night's curry for breakfast. But check this out - when we landed in Birmingham I predicted that my bag would be the first to appear on the conveyor belt, and it was, so Iain guessed that his would be “errrrrrr… 25th” and it bloody well was :o

01-09-06 / GO!

Bubtowers is finally online. There is no film content to stream or download but a few films can be found on other sites for those interested enough to go mooching. Links are provided on the appropriate pages.

Currently, i'm just completing my new short Soft for FilmFour and UK Film Council's ‘Cinema Extreme’. The film is set to premiere in November at Encounters Film Festival in Bristol.

New short A Storm and Some Snow is out there trying to nudge its way into a festival near you (or miles away from you).

Unexpectedly, my short documentary Freya (3) will premiere at this year's London Film Festival.

All being well, my first feature film Dogging is due to begin shooting with Vertigo Films at the end of the year.