Wirral International Film Festival off to a flying start

Nov 26 2008 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

film festival

THE inaugural Wirral International Film festival began on Monday at Birkenhead’s Queens Hotel.

From small acorns do mighty oaks grow, and organisers Phil Bimpson and Alan Veste are hoping the week’s run of 96 films, across a range of genres, will be just the beginning for this event.

First up on Monday afternoon were the music videos, including an eclectic mix from Ryan Kruger, some comedy rap stylings from the Gracious Bears and a very polished effort from Glynn Thomas, in collaboration with r’n’b artist J.Romeo.

The evening began in a slightly more sedate fashion, with Woodlands Primary’s thought-provoking film on racism kicking off the under-16s section.

Phil Bimpson said: “Without the support of Wirral News, we wouldn’t have had the amount of submissions we’ve had, which is close to 100.

“It’s all being done on a shoestring, but what we’re trying to do is create an ongoing platform for people creating media in Wirral.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s an art form that covers all the genres from music to feature films, to cartoons.”

Tuesday saw the start of the short film category, the most populous among the submissions, with work coming from new film-makers as well as internationally-renowned artists, The Singh Twins.

Among Monday’s viewers were 17-year-old Jade Crane, from Wallasey, Marie Whiteside, 18, from Birkenhead, and 17-year-old Gareth Griffiths, also from Birkenhead.

Jade said: “We thought it would be interesting to watch people, see what people are doing and see if they can inspire us.”

And if you haven’t made it down yet, there’s a still a chance to see what Wirral’s film-makers have to offer.

The short film section continues today, interspersed with efforts from our twin town of Latina, Italy, while Thursday sees documentaries and animation given an airing, before the week ends with the feature films and awards ceremony.

As Phil said when opening for the first production: “Wirral International Film Festival, who’d have thought it?

“Enjoy yourselves.”

l Wirral International Film Festival runs from 2.30pm to 8.30pm at the Queens Hotel, Park Road East, every day this week and is free for all.