Continuing to actively promote animation in the region, Animated Exeter has secured a spot at the Glastonbury festival 2009 for films shortlisted for its competitions (reminding all that its work goes beyond the annual fortnight of festival).
Carrion film animation ‘The Screaming Skull‘ is one of the films to be shown due to its part in Animated Exeter 2009 and also for being being shortlisted for the Screen out loud 2009 competition (it was also screened as part of ‘The Best of the West‘ this year). The film recently received glowing praise at its screening in New York as part of the ‘Fangoria Weekend of Horrors‘ and is starting to gather interest, and a reputation within the horror community.
Festival co-ordinator for Animated Exeter, Rosie Jones said: “This is a great result for our festival and a real achievement for many of the local young filmmakers involved.”
At Glastonbury, there will be two 25m square digital screens, back- to- back, which will broadcast a mix of short films, archive footage, gaming sessions, classic pop and highlights of the BBC’s coverage of the Festival from 10.00am to 3.00am every day.
The content has been gleaned from across the UK via the Regional Screen Agencies. 10 hours’ worth will be supplied by artists from the South West, after South West Screen launched a call for content to filmmakers across the region last month. A mixture of short films, animation, documentaries, virals and pop videos were submitted and project co-ordinator, Cathy Gremin from South West Screen was on the panel to draw up the final list. She says:
‘We had a huge amount of content sent in from across the SW so it was a tricky job to whittle it down to just ten hours. The kind of content that will work best has a strong visual impact to be able to stand out against the fairly noisy background of the festival.
‘This is a terrific opportunity for all the filmmakers and content producers, and we’re delighted to be involved. Glastonbury is an iconic festival, which hosts a mixture of arts, but this is the first time there has been a screen programme dedicated to promoting the work of new and emerging filmmakers and games developers.’ – From South West Screen.
‘The Screaming Skull‘ director, Ashley Thorpe – ” I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for local filmmakers and artists…though it has always been famous for being primarily a music festival it’s actually a festival of – and a showcase for – all contemporary arts. I mean that’s an audience of what, 150.000 people. Extraordinary really. I have to say though that if I had been partying all weekend, I’m not sure if ‘Screaming skull’ is the first thing I’d want to see, ha ha..”
The Glastonbury festival is held at Worthy farm, Pilton in Somerset and runs from Wednesday 24th to Sunday the 29th June 2009.