Very first Made in Sussex Film Festival set to light up the screen

SussexWorld

Running from April 25-27 at the Depot Cinema in Lewes, the festival celebrates the creativity and craft of film-makers working in, around, and inspired by the region.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers.

00:06Lovely this afternoon to speak to Chris Collier, producer and director, CEO of Film Sussex,

00:11about the very first Made in Sussex Film Festival, which is super exciting.

00:16It's nearly with us.

00:18Tell me the idea behind the Made in Sussex Film Festival.

00:21What's it all about?

00:22Well, it came about through a conversation with Carmen at the depot in Lewis.

00:28I went there to talk to them about some work that we were going to do with them in partnership,

00:33some training work.

00:36And at the end of the conversation, I just mentioned that I thought maybe we were missing a film

00:42festival in the area.

00:45And I didn't really expect much of a response, but clearly Carmen had been thinking about

00:49it herself.

00:51And she said, well, what about if we put together a film festival that was just about films made

00:57in Sussex or made by Sussex filmmakers?

00:59Oh, it is literally made in Sussex then, in that sense.

01:02Yeah.

01:02And I said, OK, have you got a title for this?

01:05And she said, well, Made in Sussex.

01:07I said, OK.

01:09Yeah.

01:10Well, let's do it.

01:11So that was how the initial idea came about.

01:14And on that day, we decided they were films that were either had a very strong Sussex connection

01:20or they were made very definitely in Sussex or they were made by a Sussex filmmaker.

01:27And obviously, that part really fits in with what Film Sussex does to try and support filmmakers.

01:32Well, tell me more generally, what's the strength of Sussex filmmaking?

01:36I know from the newspaper and the website point of view, so often people tell me about films

01:40that they're making.

01:41Is Sussex a good place to make films, do you think?

01:44It's a great place to make films.

01:46And I mean, it's obviously got some incredible sights.

01:49It's got the sea, the beautiful downs, the historic towns.

01:55There's so many places in Sussex that you can shoot.

01:58And there's also an incredible wealth of talent in filmmakers that you can work with.

02:03So a lot of the work that we do is about networking those filmmakers

02:06or supporting filmmakers to find other filmmakers and maybe get past some of the barriers

02:12they've got to filmmaking.

02:15But yeah, there's already a really strong community here.

02:17And, you know, we had hundreds of entries to the film festival.

02:20So what do you think the festival will achieve, given this is the first one?

02:24Well, I'm hoping that as we go on each year, we'll get more and more entries as we become

02:32more and more well-known.

02:34We're obviously hoping that the filmmakers from this festival, those that win awards,

02:41are able to go on and make films in Sussex, because the Best Director Award comes with

02:45a £10,000 soft grant towards making a film in Sussex.

02:50So, yeah, we'd like to see that made by next year, but we'll see.

02:56Yeah, just seeing what other filmmakers can bring to the festival.

03:02Are you hoping it's something that will expand, become longer over the years?

03:06Or is it about right, do you think?

03:07Well, difficult to say, because it hasn't happened yet.

03:09But what's your feeling?

03:10I mean, we had a huge number of entries, but we'd really like to see more feature film

03:15entries.

03:16We had quite a few, but we'd really like to encourage feature film filming in Sussex.

03:24That's something we've been talking to the Sussex Film Office about.

03:26What we can do is bring more films to Sussex and get more Sussex-based films started.

03:33Yeah, absolutely.

03:34Give me an idea of the range of films that's being shown in this first edition.

03:38Oh, well, it really is quite a range.

03:41I mean, I think the youngest filmmaker is from Van Deen College, and it was a film that was

03:48made at Van Deen.

03:51The judges on the jury didn't know that.

03:54It came through the entry process, like all the others, and it got selected amongst all

04:00the others.

04:01So that says something about the talent of that young director.

04:05And then there were films made by groups of directors.

04:08There's a really great film about the Brighton Open Market, which is playing in our short

04:13film programme on the Sunday.

04:17And then there's some great feature films.

04:20Yeah, as a documentary filmmaker, I'm particularly interested in the documentaries, and there's

04:24a really strong Sussex.

04:26I think Sussex has always been strong for documentaries.

04:30Yeah.

04:30So it sounds like with this first festival, you're going to start really well, aren't

04:33you?

04:33It's going to be a great foundation for the future.

04:36Yeah.

04:37Yeah, absolutely.

04:38And I think going in and starting with three days and saying, right, well, we're going to

04:44leap in and we're going to put together a programme that lasts three days.

04:47And yeah, so yeah, really looking forward to see what happens and looking forward to seeing

04:55people there.

04:56Brilliant.

04:56Well, it sounds fantastic.

04:58Congratulations on pulling it off.

04:59It sounds something that it's almost inevitable to celebrate Sussex in Sussex in film.

05:05Lovely to speak to you and good luck with the whole thing.

05:08Thanks.

05:09Thanks.

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