Happy New Year to everyone! We can’t believe that twenty years have past since Isle of Man Film (then known as Isle of Man Film Commission ) first dipped its toe in the movie business with The Brylcreem Boys, starring Gabriel Byrne. It’s been quite a ride!
Here’s to the next twenty years. Your Island, Your Movies..
In 2014 the selected Mannin Shorts screenplays to receive funding support from Isle of Man Film are:
These projects were selected by a panel including representatives from the Arts Council and Isle of Man Film, alongside film industry professionals in the field of directing, distribution and art direction.
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Panel Pitch Event 2014 from MannIN Shorts on Vimeo.
Isle of Man set strict match-funding criteria; the producers must raise substantial finance support elsewhere in order to qualify. As a result it is intended that the producers will accrue valuable knowledge in packaging and financing projects, along with experience in budgeting and scheduling.
The three projects will be shot during June and July 2014 with an aim to be previewed at the Isle of Man Film Festival in September, before being submitted to international film festivals.
Based on the story by Max Lucado, this magical Christmas film arrives in cinemas November 2013.
Isle of Man based Location Manager Sian Sutherland was interviewed recently by top industry magazine The Location Guide. Read the full interview here: http://www.thelocationguide.com/blog/2013/05/ma-interview-filming-on-the-isle-of-man-with-location-manager-sian-sutherland/
Pinewood Shepperton plc, a leading provider of services to the global film and television industry, today announced that the Group has entered into a 50:50 Joint Venture Agreement with Seven Stars Media Limited (“Seven Stars”), part of one of China’s leading private media groups which provides content creation and distribution, media services and events. The joint venture, to be called “Song Lin”, initially will assess a number of business proposals in the growing entertainment market in China. Under the terms of the joint venture, Pinewood will provide its expertise with limited capital investment.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: “It’s great to see Pinewood Studios expanding its business with the announcement of its joint venture with Seven Stars Media. The creative industries are a rapidly growing area of China’s economy and will increasingly provide huge opportunities for UK companies competing in the global race. Pinewood is leading the way, taking advantage of China’s thriving entertainment and media sector and building on Britain and China’s growing trade relationship.”
Shooting People, a network of film makers who seek to learn from each other currently have a campaign to raise £5,000 to restore and protect one of Alfred Hitchcock’s last silent films, The Manxman. The money will go to the British Film Institute who are tasked with the painstaking restoration. To see more information on the project please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/shootingpeople.
Cultural and Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey has announced that the BFI will take over the majority of the UK Film Council’s activities including the distribution of National Lottery money. Film London will assume responsibility for promoting the UK as a filmmaking destination. For more information click here. The BFI will take over on 1 April 2011. More about their plans and the recruitment of new Governors click here. News updates will be published on the websites of all three organisations.
Local writer and producer Alistair Audsley has secured full finance from Stealth Media Group for his first feature film, a thriller called Dark Peak. The film is being described as The Philadelphia Experiment meets The Descent. Dark Peak follows a group of hikers on Dark Peak, an area in the Lake District UK, who encounter a terrifying mysterious force. The one surviving member must convince his rescuers that something is very wrong, so wrong that he cannot conceive of its full impact until it is too late. The film is being produced by Paul Tucker on behalf of Belief Films, and John Adams of Angry Badger Pictures. Ben Jagger is in line to direct and pre-production begins in April 2011 for a delivery of first quarter. A number of crew from the Isle of Man will be given a chance to work on the project.
Belief Films Ltd, who are producing the project, are shooting on location at the actual Dark Peak area for authenticity. Since WWII there have been over 50 unexplained air crashes on the Dark Peak area.
Further to July’s announcement by the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport that the UK Film Council is to be dissolved, more details about the alternative structure have been announced today.
The UK Government has decided to make the British Film Institute the Lottery distributor for film in the UK. All Lottery-funded activity, together with some Grant-in-Aid activity, that has until now resided in the UK Film Council will transfer to the BFI. Reaffirming its commitment to the current Film Tax Relief, the UK Government has decided that inward investment work will transfer to Film London in a public/private partnership with the Production Guild, UK Screen, Pinewood Shepperton Studios and others in the industry.
A number of important areas of film activity which are currently funded by the UK Film Council – including film exports, research, statistics and market intelligence, work on intellectual property and combating film theft, co-production support and diversity initiatives – have not been mentioned in the DCMS announcement today. All current Lottery activities and schemes will continue through 2011/12 at the BFI.
Tim Cagney, Managing Director of the UK Film Council said that he wanted to “..recognise the outstanding professionalism and commitment to the film industry that the UK Film Council staff have shown throughout this incredibly difficult and uncertain time for us all. ”
Gemma Arterton, Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston star in The Disappearance of Alice Creed, showing in cinemas across the UK from the 30th April 2010. Filming of the tense thriller took place at Island Studios in early 2009. The story revolves around two masked men who seize a young woman and take her to an abandoned, soundproofed apartment. She is Alice Creed, daughter of a millionaire. Her kidnappers, the coldly efficient Vic and his younger accomplice Danny, have worked out a meticulous plan. But Alice is not going to play the perfect victim – she’s not giving in without a fight. In a tense power-play of greed, duplicity and survival we discover that sometimes disappearances can be deceptive… Visit the website for further information: www.alicecreed.com
‘A proper nail-biter’ – Empire
‘An ingenious British thriller..’ – The Times
‘A grippingly twisty thriller’ – Total Film
‘Gemma Arterton’s best performance to date’ – The Daily Mail