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nations and regions
northern lights
Photos l-r: The Burn It team and Jennifer James & Georgia Taylor at Wigan Film Festival; Pogus Caesar at the Black History screening; Kate Adie and Maureen Sinclair at the BBC Radio Merseyside Charitable Trusts Literary Lunch; In Conversation with... Ricky Tomlinson and Granada news presenter So Rahman; at the Launch of the Crystal Mask: Maureen Sinclair, Johnny Vegas and Stephen Marsden, Chief Executive of Tower Films; So Rahman, Johnny Vegas, Oz Yue and some of the Brookside cast; Creative artists from behind the scenes of Brookside, Hollyoaks and Grange Hill; Filmmakers at Liverpool’s first Chinese Film Festival
This has been a busy 12 months for BAFTA North with much of the focus being on the progression and promotion of new talent.
BAFTA North in partnership with North West Vision, has been able to set up several new initiatives with financial support from the Film Council’s Regional Investment Fund for England’s Lottery Programme.
The programme started well with the first of a series of events entitled Behind the Scenes, which premiered in March. In collabora- tion with NWV, BAFTA North co-ordinated a series of media- related events that will tour the North West with an aim to provid- ing specialist knowledge, demys- tifying the film and television industry and providing careers advice for young people who would not usually have access to such information.
The first event took place in Kensington, a socially deprived area of Liverpool. By locating the event there, BAFTA North was able to reach disadvantaged young people in their own com- munity. Mersey Television, the regions largest independent tele- vision company were on hand to provide their specialist knowl- edge. Over fifty young people attended the careers seminar, to learn first hand from experts work- ing behind the scenes, on televi- sion productions such as Brookside, Hollyoaks and Grange Hill. Representatives from depart- ments such as make-up, cos-
tume, locations, script, produc- tion, technical and human resources took time from their busy schedules to attend and were embraced by the lively audience of young people.
An exciting development in the North has been the arrival of Tower Films, who have chosen Liverpool as their home. Established by Stephen Marsden, Chief Executive, Tower Films aims to boost the number of movies being made in the North. Filming has already begun and a slate has been scheduled to start pro- duction next year. BAFTA North is delighted that Tower Films have agreed a level of sponsorship sup- port for the following 12 months.
CBr y s t a l g a z i n g
AFTA North has launched its own crystal mask based on the original design by Mitzi Cunliffe, crafted by St Helen’s World of Glass. The high profile launch sponsored by Tower Films took place at the World of Glass Museum, in the elegant, newly built stateroom.
The crystal mask will honour and celebrate the talent of new- comers working in the moving image industry in the North of England. Each year the mask will be presented at a chosen inter- national film festival in the North and the Bradford International Film Festival has been chosen for this inaugural event, which takes place in March 04.
With the aid of St Helen’s first son, award winning comedian
and actor Johnny Vegas, special- ly invited guests mingled at a pre- reception, courteously served with champagne and canapés while Vegas attended to the region’s press. Hosted by Granada Television news presen- ter So Rahman, the launch included speeches from Kevin Price of BAFTA UK, Steve Marsden of Tower Films, Maureen Sinclair of BAFTA North and last but not least, Vegas himself.
PTeerless Wigan
he first International Wigan Film Festival took place over a couple of days in September with BAFTA North assisting in the production of a number of high profile events.
Pioneered by the success of the twin towns of Wigan and Angers in France, Wigan were keen to adopt an international ambience and the Festival incor- porated short films from the region, interspersed with shorts made by local film-makers.
In keeping with this theme, we exhibited BAFTA’s award winning short film, by Julie Rutterford and Brian Percival, About A Girl. Shot partly on location in Wigan, pro- ducer Janey de Nordwall and locations manager Andrew Swarbrick attended the screening to give an interesting and inform- ative Q & A session.
The Red Production Company were also a visible presence at the festival, with BAFTA North organising a Script to Screen of BBC 3 acclaimed drama, Burn It.
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