Scorpion makes a sting at Wirral film festival

Dec 16 2009 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

Scorpion makes a sting at film festival

In only its second year, Wirral Film Festival continues to go from strength to strength

WIRRAL News Award winner, Sarah McGuinness spent five years in London but it wasn’t until she returned to the peninsula that her first film was made.

The 24-year-old, originally from Moreton, trained at the International School of Screen Acting but returned to Wirral last year with her dreams still very much alive.

Sarah told the News: “We hadn’t really got anything around here, which was why I went down to London in the first place.

“When I came back, I didn’t think there would be much going on, but to my surprise it was nice to see there are so many people to work with.”

Sarah, who now lives in Meols, returned shortly before Wirral International Film Festival (WIFF) 2008 last autumn, and used the opportunity to meet film-makers, two of whom helped get her short, The Scorpion, off the ground.

They started work on it straight away, had the script sorted by December and filmed, with Sarah in the lead role, over three weekends in April.

And now the former St Mary’s, Wallasey pupil has been named Best Actor at WIFF 2009, as well as picking up the Wirral News Award – based entirely on a public vote.

She said: “We put so much hard work into it, so it was really nice to get something back.”

“I didn’t go expecting anything because I saw the standards were so high, so I was so happy to come home with two.”

The 30 minute film is based on the fable The Scorpion and the Frog.

It tells of a serial killer and a detective, “he’s hunting her down and she’s hunting him down, with lots of twists and turns”, Sarah said.

She said: “There weren’t any kick ass girl roles, so this way we created something and Craig got to show what he can do as a director.”

And their efforts have already born fruit.

Sarah added: “The Wirral News Award is one we wanted.

“We made it because we wanted people to like it so we’re made up, over the moon.”