Greetings everyone, and welcome to the November issue of The Spread! This month, we’re focusing on all things short film, with everything from reviews of stunning new shorts, to interviews with the creators of award-winning shorts, and features that will help you get the best out of your own short film.
After a jam-packed September for the Cinema Jam crew, October has been a bit quieter on the news front, with us all gearing up for our big event on Monday 2nd November - details of which will follow later.
Firstly, we’d like to thank you all for making October’s Jam Session another huge success. We returned to Corbet Place Bar and Lounge for our monthly members-only screening, sponsored by MOFILM and Casting Networks. This month, we screened 3 shorts and several episodes of the French web series Authentik. Two of these shorts were BAFTA-nominated, The Kármán Line,directed by Oscar Sharp and Three Brothers, directed by Aleem Khan. Our final short was a funny and heart-warming secret film by recent NFTS graduate Daniel Montanarini.
Providing us with wise words as guest speaker was Maria Pasholok, a producer and director who currently works for the on-air production team at Sony Pictures Entertainment. We were also lucky to have the delicious street food vendor Caboose offering Jammers 20% off meals over £8. Their burgers and rosemary chips kept the Cinema Jam team smiling.
This month’s Jam Session will be on Monday 16th November at Corbet Place Bar and Lounge again. We hope to see you all there!
Now, back to our big event, on Monday 2nd November, in association with Shortcourses @ NFTS, we’re excited to present a screening of Amy followed by a Masterclass with acclaimed producer James Gay-Rees. With On The Corner productions, James Gay-Rees has produced some of the most successful indie documentaries from the past five years, including Academy Award-nominated Exit Through the Gift Shop, double BAFTA-winning Senna and, of course, the hauntingly beautiful Amy (official selection, Cannes Film Festival 2015). Join us at Cinema Jam HQ in Camden Collective’s office space for what’s sure to be an insightful and inspiring look into the world of documentary producing. Tickets are available online now, priced at £7 for members and £10 for non-members.
And now for our Short Film Issue! To start, we’ve shared two fantastic pieces from Raindance’s Elliot Grove that provide some useful advice on making your own short films: 19 Great Ways to Brainstorm Short Film Ideas, and the Short Film Toolkit, the first of a 6-part series that is linked to within the article. Then, Lisa Fontaine takes us back to Cold War Czechoslovakia, guiding us through some of the best, and most absurd, shorts from renowned director Jan Švankmajer.
Central to this issue are interviews with three talented filmmakers who have a variety of impressive shorts under their belts. Our Jammer of the Month is Jamie Hooper, a filmmaker who writes, directs, shoots, produces and edits all of his own films. His macabre, deadpan short Terry and Brenda is definitely one to watch, and was selected for the London Short Film Festival. I also chat with producer Sorcha Bacon and director of photography Nick Morris, the founders of Try Hard Productions.
We’ve also reviewed a selection of notable new shorts, my favorite of which is Over, Jörn Threlfall’s masterful imagist mystery that has one of the most original and shocking twists of recent memory. I was also grabbed by Patrick Vollrath’s German drama-thriller Alles wird gut (Everything Will Be Okay), which transitions between a heartwarming story of parenting into a terrifying suspense movie in the course of minutes. I also write about Phil Sheerin’s North, while Marlies Janssens covers the impressive British short Patriot directed by Eva Riley, which premiered this year at Cannes.
On top of that, we’ve got reviews of a few longer films, including Thomas Humphrey’s take on the entertaining Korean martial arts cop comedy Veteran, Lisa Fontaine’s take on Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, and my take on Spectre, which I frankly think is an overrated mess.
Rounding out the issue, we’ve shared two interesting pieces from our friends James Bradley and Stephen Follows. The former has an enjoyable networking guide, which includes a discount code for Lift-Off’s Singapore festival next year, and the latter investigates UK cinemas, collecting the thoughts of staff to see what it’s like to work at the movies.
I hope you enjoy our Shorts issue, and have a fantastic November!
Editor’s note co-written by Katherine Bradshaw.
