September sees the return of Bedford Film Festival, so we caught up with co-founder Paul Hutchinson to find out what team behind the scenes have been up to.
Now in its third year, Bedford Film Festival is attracting film makers from across the world, Oscar-winning film crews, UK premiers, and has a flourishing relationship with BAFTA.
So what’s in store for 2016?
The team are keeping things under wraps for the time being as Paul says there are still some finishing touches to arrange: “I can tell you we’ve got a very British theme this year, and we’re working with BAFTA and the team at The Quarry Theatre to create a children’s event that kids of all ages will love. I wish I could tell you more but this year we’re doing a lot more ourselves and so things are taking a little longer.”
With the festival becoming more independent, there’s a few new faces helping with project management, programming, and organisational support.
“We always knew that one day we’d need to be a little more independent and that time has come,” said Paul. “Since our inception Cambridge Film Trust have given us tremendous support and we couldn’t have achieved what we have without them. Tony and his team will still be giving us gratefully received support in other ways but as we evolve it’s only fair that we take more weight on our own shoulders.”
The three organisers, Paul Hutchinson, Richard Jobson and Stephen Judge got together just after the first TEDxBedford in 2013 where Richard was a guest speaker. All three left the event inspired by the theme of ‘Everyday Radicals’, collectively agreeing that a film festival in Bedford would be a great way to increase film variety in the town and promote Bedford as a great place for film makers and lovers.
Last year’s festival saw the UK premier of A Walk in the Woods, a BAFTA exhibition of photographs by the legendary Andy Gotts, and 1300 short films entered into their increasingly popular Shorts Session.
With the support of local film lovers, makers and businesses, the festival now put on events almost all year round. Recently they’ve hosted a cult event at The Sharnbrook Hotel and a film for Bedford’s deaf community at last month’s Bedfringe Festival.
The team have been developing ties with film makers and other organisations to create a direct relationship between Bedford and the world’s film industry. Paul says they’re looking at ways of promoting Bedford and the town’s film festival to a wider audience – there’s a new website in the works too and the film programming team are busy talking to distributors and film makers to finalise this year’s festival.
“It’s really starting to feel like Bedford has always had a film festival and we’re sure that 2016 will be another big step in our ongoing plans to make Bedford a prominent destination for film lovers and makers from across the world,” says Paul.
Bedford Film Festival will host documentaries, shorts, films and fringe screenings at The Quarry Theatre and various locations across Bedford from 2nd – 18th September 2016.
For announcements and full details, www.BedfordFilmFestival.org, follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
