16-10-25 / CYPRUS
Notes From Planet Three screened in competition at the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus and I was lucky enough to travel to Limassol for it. Super friendly festival team and a good theatre with a decent screen, lots of sunshine, lots of cats, lot of pigeons, and somehow no visible slayings between the last two.
I took some basic camera gear in the hope of capturing some night sky at this new latitude, but light pollution was too aggressive. Lucky for me I met a guy called Leo who generously gave up a whole evening of his time to drive to the much darker Pissouri beach for a two-hour shot of the stars forming a shallow arch across the southern sky.
More general observations from the trip were crazy colourful car parks, an egg hotel - complete with hanging egg chairs on its balconies - and the strange harmony between pigeons and cats. It's baffling to me why so many pigeons would risk their lives holidaying beside an abundance of predators, yet I didn't see a single dead bird. The cats are obviously ninjas, feasting efficiently at night and leaving no traces. Another guest filmed a cat scarpering up the beach with a fish after swiping it right out of the sea, and that can only be a ninja hiding in plain sight.
10-10-25 / INDIECORK FILM FESTIVAL
Sadly this was the final edition of Ireland’s IndieCork Film Festival. Mick Hannigan and Úna Langlois have been huge supporters of my films pretty much since the beginning and this year I was lucky to receive a special focus programme featuring eight of my films and a handful of music videos. Separately, Notes From Planet Three screened in competition, and I was tickled to see that the festival team’s passes featured a still from Stew & Punch.
Despite the trip’s brevity, this was an emotional one for me after some history with Cork and a long time since visiting. No doubt it was all kinds of tough for the festival staff as the festival closed out (I had to leave mid-week), but they should be proud of all that they achieved.
03-10-25 / OCTOBER SCREENINGS OF ‘NOTES FROM PLANET THREE’
Festival selections coming up for Notes From Planet Three this month include IndieCork (Ireland), International Short Film Festival of Cyprus, Cinekid (Netherlands), EKOFILM (Czech Republic), and another that I apparently can’t mention yet.
29-09-25 / AWARD FOR ‘NOTES FROM PLANET THREE’
A lovely return for Encounters Film Festival in Bristol after a one-year hiatus. Notes From Planet Three was in the Documentary competition and the Children’s competition where, I’m honoured to report, it won the Children’s Jury Award :) It was a surprise to hear such young viewers responding to the film’s text elements, but the balance of reactions to different parts between kids and their parents was the most gratifying.
Highlight films I hadn’t seen, despite some being well-travelled already, were Linda Lô’s We Had Fun (France), Lin Jianjie’s Hippopotami (China), Levi Stoop's Drijf (Belgium), Mohamed Bourouissa's Genealogy of Violence (France), Lea Favre’s Hunting (Switzerland), and Bill Morrison’s Incident (USA).
11-08-25 / DOKUFEST, KOSOVO
My third time in Kosovo for Dokufest where Notes From Planet Three was screening in competition and, as ever, I felt like I barely dipped my toe into the pool of goodness going on. This is one of those festivals where a core group return every year without fail, such is the experience. Of the winners I particularly liked Christopher Radcliff’s We Were The Scenery (USA), which pipped John Smith’s Being John Smith to the post, although I imagine it was a close call.
The journey to and from this festival always seems to be a bit challenging but the destination more than makes up for it. Shout out to Samir Karahoda, Eroll Shporta, Eroll Bilibani, Veton Nurkollari and the rest of the festival team.
10-07-25 / ‘NOTES FROM PLANET THREE’ IN MEXICO & KOSOVO
Notes From Planet Three will be screening at Guanajuato International Film Festival in Mexico later this month, and at Dokufest in Kosovo early next month 😀
27-06-25 / PANCHIKO ‘LIFESTYLE TRAINERS’ MUSIC VIDEO
Another music video for Panchiko, using an idea I’d been mulling on for a long time.
11-06-25 / HAMBURG
Just back from Hamburg Short Film Festival with Notes From Planet Three, which had an amazing five screenings between the international competition and the concurrent Mo&Friese Children’s Film festival, plus a last-minute inclusion in the rowdy and excellent Short Film Slam.
The Q&A’s at the children’s screenings included queries like “Do you believe in aliens and if so why?”, “Is the Earth flat?” and, amazingly “Do you consider Pluto a planet?”. I honestly thought it was only us oldies who lived through Pluto being declassified who cared and, given that Pluto isn’t even mentioned in the film, this impressed me no end.
As if five screenings weren’t enough, there was also a really special sixth for my previous film The Terminator. A film about the moon, projected outdoors with the real moon in attendance. It slipped out of the clouds just in time for the show, literally as the projector was being set up. Respect to the A Wall Is A Screen team for pulling that one off!
Big shout to a couple of animated films that I loved. While billionaires are feverishly eating the world and things look bleak, fun films feel more vital than ever. Anything that has the power to distract me from the horrors for even a few minutes gets all my respect, so big love to Nils Hedinger’s Storytelling (Switzerland) and Saki Muramoto’s A Night At The Rest Area (Japan). And it would be remiss of me not to mention pal John Smith’s mighty short Being John Smith, which scooped TWO main prizes.
It was sad to leave the bubble, return home and reconnect with world events. Multiple global conflicts aren’t getting any better. The lows get lower, the nadir repeatedly surpassed. Masks are off and the warnings were real. Hyperbole be damned, fascism is on our doorstep with a smile and a pamphlet reading fuck you. Be mindful who you vote for x
31-05-25 / ‘NOTES FROM PLANET THREE’ TRAILER
My new short Notes From Planet Three is the result of many night sky adventures in recent years. It has been a long time coming so here’s hoping some festivals take it. Tested already in truncated form as The Terminator, I now feel kind of lost without its daily demands. I’m feeling pretty honoured that it’s in competition at both Hamburg International Short Film Festival AND it’s sister event Mo & Friese Children’s Short Film Festival Hamburg in June.
04-04-25 / PANCHIKO ‘CHAPEL OF SALT’ MUSIC VIDEO
This one was fiddly, time-consuming fun. the final single from Panchiko’s new album Ginkgo, released today.
14-03-25 / PANCHIKO ‘MAC’S OMELETTE’ MUSIC VIDEO
While I’ve been putting the finishing touches to the new short film, I did another music video for the fourth single from Panchiko’s imminent new album, featuring additional tour footage shot by the band.
03-01-25 / PANCHIKO ‘SHANDY IN THE GRAVEYARD’ MUSIC VIDEO
My video for Panchiko's new single SHANDY IN THE GRAVEYARD. Bees versus butterflies, filmed over a few mad days when there were 20+ Red Admirals in the garden at once.