The third animation in the Penny dreadful project ‘The Screaming skull‘ has had its UK premiere at the
seventh annual ‘Two short nights‘ festival, hosted by the Exeter Phoenix arts centre.
Seven films were screened in total, each written and directed by film makers based in the south west. The films screened were : ‘Man-cub‘ by Tom Austin, ‘The Simple lies experiment‘ by David Salas, ‘The Surrogates‘ by Vicki Smith, ‘Untitled Dystopia‘ by Martin LeJeune, ‘Making the difference‘ by Andrew Oxley and the nights showcase winner the powerful ‘Distraction‘ by Toby and Lucy DeBurgh. For further details visit: www.phoenixmedia.org.uk/twoshortnights08/commissions.php
The evening was full to capacity, selling out weeks in advance and was attended by Director, Producer and writer Don Boyd. Described by Alexander Walker as a “one man film industry” Don Boyd has significantly influenced the face of British cinema since the mid-seventies. After entering the industry as a director, at the age of 26 he formed his own production company which he made a bastion for young British talent. 
He has been involved, in various capacities, with such projects as ‘Scum‘ by Alan Clarke, ‘The Great Rock n Roll Swindle‘ by Julien Temple and numerous collaborations with Derek Jarman. Boyd has gone on record as saying that he likes to see himself as ‘a director-orientated audience-conscious film-marketing editor’, and has proved himself to be unquestionably committed to indigenous British cinema.
‘The Screaming skull‘ played top of the bill, making a chilling finale to the nights screenings.
For ‘Screaming Skull’ trailer click here: screaming-skull-trailer B