Film / News
Bristol filmmaker seeks distribution funds
Anyone can make a movie these days. All you need is a cheapo HD camcorder, or even a mobile phone, and a bunch of mates. Getting anyone other than that same bunch of mates to see it is another matter entirely, as award-winning Bristol filmmaker Esther May Campbell has found with her acclaimed, locally shot debut feature, Light Years.
Now independent production company Third Films has launched a Crowdfunder campaign to secure cinema distribution. They’re aiming to raise £6,000 for a series of screenings nationwide with filmmaker Q&As. Supporters can pledge as little as £5 for a personal thank you on the film’s website and social media channels, or as much as £350 for a screening at their own film club, with plenty of options in between. So far, the campaign has raised nearly £1200.
Esther May Campbell has directed various music videos and won a BAFTA for her 2009 short film, September. Described as “a poetic and startling story of loss, hope and the deepest of human connections,” Light Years features the acting debut of singer/songwriter Beth Orton. Here’s the official synopsis:
is needed now More than ever
One hot summer’s day, Rose (newcomer Zamira Fuller) longs to see her mum (Orton) but nobody will take her. Her father (Muhammet Uzuner), struggling to cope, disappears to work, her sister (Sophie Burton) waits to meet a boy on the local golf course and her brother (James Stuckey) is preoccupied at home communing with spirits online.
Taking destiny into her own hands she sets off alone deep into England’s forgotten edge lands to reach her. Rose’s odyssey provokes her disconnected, fractured siblings and parents into a poignant reunion to face their challenges together.
When it screened at last year’s Venice Film Festival, trade journal Variety‘s reviewer remarked that this “enticingly sensuous, heat-hazed drama demonstrates the meticulous command of composition and romantically desolate atmosphere that won her a short-film BAFTA”.
To find out more about how you can contribute, visit the Light Years Crowdfunder site.
If you’re in the mood for supporting film-makers, you may also wish to know that London-based writer/director Stefano Nurra has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a sci-fi short inspired by the ‘Bristol Hum’. Full details are here.
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