Category: NEWS

The Ffresh Student Media Festival 2014 launches on Saturday the 10th May in Cineworld, Cardiff and continues with two days full of programming across many venues in Cardiff.   Feature film screenings include Svengali (starring Jonny Owen & Vicky McClure) and a Wes Anderson themed evening in the Masonic Hall screens Bottle Rocket, Anderson’s very first feature film. A series of 8 programmes will feature diverse work from many students in University institutions of Wales.

 “This year we have some incredible guest speakers including Nik Powell (Co founder of the Virgin Group and head of NFTS), Paul Murphy (Current director of Doctor Who), Gwawr Martha Lloyd (Content commissioner at S4C) and Danny Hargreaves (Special Effects on Doctor Who and Sherlock)” said Festival Director Jody Tozer. “There will also be a master class from the crew who made the forthcoming Welsh feature, Benny & Jolene.” 

Alongside this programme of guest speakers and highly anticipated feature films, the festival will also be screening student media work that has been shortlisted for Ffresh by industry judges, and this year’s event will culminate in an awards ceremony on Monday 12th May in Cineworld, featuring 10 categories including best Welsh language, Fiction and Animation.

The festival kicks off with a launch party on Saturday 10th May featuring welcome drinks and music from the Bubblewrap Collective.  Acts featured on the night will be Little Arrow, Ivan Moult and Quiet Marauder. This event is completely free so provides a great opportunity to find out what the full line-up of events, screenings and guests at for this year’s Ffresh.

“We are fortunate to have secured sponsorship from organisations such as Bafta Cymru, Royal Television Society Wales, On Par Productions, Creative Skillset, S4C, Bubblewrap Collective, Real SFX, BFI Film Audience Network, Media Academy Wales and Mini Film Fest. Their generous support has helped us put together this year’s lively programme,” added Tozer.

Day tickets are just £10 and can be bought online at www.ffresh.com or on the day in person in Cineworld.

The Wes Anderson night on the 11th May will have a separate additional cost and tickets for this special event can be purchased from Chapter Arts Centre (www.chapter.org).

Any students who attend any of Ffresh’s member institutions are entitled to free day passes, member institutions are: Cardiff University, Aberystwyth University, Bangor University and University Of South Wales.

Film4 FrightFest 2014 has moved to the prestigious Vue West End for its annual five-day horror extravaganza, allowing it to showcase even more films and special events whilst still retaining its famed communal spirit in the heart of London.

Alan Jones, FrightFest co-director, said today: “Re-locating to Vue Leicester Square for this year’s event will allow us to be even more creative and ambitious, whilst still retaining our unique blend of inclusiveness and great value for money. The beauty of the horror fantasy genre is it consistently reinvents itself to stay a fresh and vital part of the cinema-going experience. Event festivals like ours that are now an acknowledged part of the global genre fabric must lead by example to stay relevant and ahead of the game”.

Joanne Webb, Marketing & Sales Director at Vue Entertainment said: “We are delighted to be hosting this year’s popular FrightFest at Vue Leicester Square and are looking forward to offering the fans even more choice for FrightFest’s 15^th year.

Our state-of-the-art audio-visual technology, fully digital screens and comfortable seating, will no doubt provide FrightFest fans with the perfect atmosphere to enjoy the festival”.

The festival has enjoyed nine successful years in Leicester Square, four at the Odeon West End and the last five at the Empire Cinema.

Ian Rattray, FrightFest co-director, commented: “We’re looking forward to a new era in FrightFest’s colourful history, and working alongside Daniel Goodwin and his enthusiastic team at Vue. FrightFest is no stranger to Vue, having hosted its last three Halloween all-nighter events there, so we’re delighted to be working with Vue even more closely now”.

This year’s event will be spread over a larger number of screens, but the popular festival and day passes plus individual tickets will remain in place. In addition, there are planned special events in the West End in the days leading up to the start of the festival, which begins on Thursday August 21^st.

More information and updates can be found on the festival’s website and via FrightFest’s regular newsletters.

www.frightfest.co.uk

Actor and filmmaker John Schneider (Smallville, Dukes of Hazzard) has rounded up some of horror’s most famous faces for Smothered, premiering in New Orleans in May.

The highly-anticipated fright-fest, which features the likes of Kane Hodder, Don Shanks, R.A Mihailoff, Bill Mosely, and Brea Grant , boasts the largest number of horror icons ever to grace the screen at the same time.

Smothered, written and directed by Schneider, sees the horror icons playing themselves in a scenario that sees them attending a small, disheartening horror-convention on Friday the 13th.  Running out of patience but principally money, the group accept a cash-offer to go and scare-up the local RV park – but things take a surprising, dark turn when they arrive.  The tables are turned as the monsters of the movie screen become the prey!

A recent sneak preview resulted in glowing reviews across-the-board, with critics calling the movie “a horror-comedy with some bite” (Shock Til You Drop) and ” A must see cinematic event” (Examiner).

Smothered will premiere in Louisiana, where the film was shot and Schneider’s Fairlight Films is now located.

The premiere,  being held at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel on Friday May 16, encompass a pre-screening social hour and post-screening Q&A with Schneider.

Members of the film’s cast and crew, as well as city dignitaries are expected to be in attendance.

Smothered, also featuring Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), John Kassir (‘The Crypt Keeper’), Dane Rhodes (True Detective), and Shanna Forrestall (The Last Exorcism), is due for release late 2014.