The 2020 edition of MIPTV, due to take place March 30-April 2 in Cannes, has been cancelled this year due to coronavirus concerns. MIPDoc and MIPFormats, programmed for March 28-29, have also been cancelled.

The third edition of Canneseries, set to run parallel to MIPTV, has been postponed to October 9-14, alongside MIPCOM. Screen has confirmed that as of today, TV event Series Mania is still going ahead as planned from March 20-28 in Lille, France.

MIPTV organisers Reed MIDEM said last week they had been hopeful of going ahead on the original dates, but a spate of new infections in France, and the recent ban on gatherings of more than 5,000 people, appears to have forced their hand.

In a statement, Reed MIDEM chief executive Paul Zilk said, ”In the current context, many of our clients have expressed concerns about travelling at this time. Rescheduling MIPTV in the coming months is not feasible, so the most appropriate course of action is to cancel MIPTV for 2020. The well-being of our clients, partners and staff is our priority. We are grateful to clients for their support and constructive input during this challenging period. We look forward to welcoming everyone to MIPCOM in October 12-15 and we are delighted that CANNESERIES will be at our side again this year”.

The next edition of MIPTV will take place April 12-15, 2021, with MIPDoc and MIPFormats set for April 10-11, 2021. The fourth edition of Canneseries will run in April 2021 during MIPTV.

Source: www.screendaily.com

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Rural Media invites you to celebrate the remarkable young filmmaking talent emerging locally and across the Midlands.

Join them as they screen a selection of creative short films. These include the premiere of Rural Media’s BFI Academy films and a collection of shorts from the BBC’s New Creatives programme, plus more. There’s also the opportunity to find out more about gaining your very own short film commission from the BBC. Not to be missed.

The films will be followed by a discussion.

Details

Hereford, The Courtyard

Wednesday, 4th March

5:00pm

This event is free, but please book your spaces here.

Source: www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk

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Former Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College student turned Hollywood filmmaker, Tayyib Mahmood returned to his roots this week, visiting his former stomping ground to promote the British Film Institute Academy.The programme, run in partnership with the Midland Arts Centre, gives young people the opportunity to make a short film under guidance from industry practitioners.

Last week saw ex-student Tayyib Mahmood return to Joseph Chamberlain College to showcase the thriving British film industry. A British Film Institute Academy alumni and now mentor, Tayyib now works at Pinewood studios. As a Studio Unit Trainee on the front line of production, his repertoire spans films including Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One – famously filmed in Birmingham – as well as brand new James Bond film, No Time To Die.

Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College is the only OFSTED Grade 1 college in Birmingham and Solihul. It’s already received high praise for its arts, performance and media department and Tayyib Mahmood’s story is testament to the college’s reputation of excellence. Tayyib’s passion for film was discovered whilst he attended the college. He then honed his skills at Birmingham City University.

Tayyib Mahmood on the College

Talking about his time at the college, Tayyib said: “Joseph Chamberlain College helped me discover my passion and love for film which I knew I had but didn’t know how to access. The facilities were amazing as well as the teachers for both Media and Film. They helped me achieve filmmaking at the highest level during my time at the college”.

Joseph Chamberlain College has been rolling out the red carpet for its alumni with former students achieving huge success across the Arts and Film industry.

Other famous faces amongst the JCC alumni include: British social commentary artist, Mahtab Hussain. He uses photography to explore the important relationship between identity, heritage and displacement. Successful actor, Adrian Lester OBE, is also a former student of the college. He’s now gone on to star in many box-office films, plays and TV series.

Source: www.iambirmingham.co.uk

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 Submissions are now open for Film Birmingham’s next ShortFuse event on Tuesday 26th November 2019! West Midlands filmmakers have the chance to screen their short films at the Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen to an audience of their peers and film enthusiasts.

ShortFuse is a bi-monthly event, aiming to engage with regional audiences and provide a platform for the work of emerging filmmakers. We are also proud to have premiered a number of regional films at our film night, and opened the floor to a number of award-winning filmmakers. We are accepting films of any genre from emerging or established filmmakers for this regional event.

Past ShortFuse Events

Past events at the Mockingbird Cinema showcased regional films, including the BAFTA-winning short 73 Cows, directed by Alex Lockwood and ‘Sylvia’, winner of the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker award at Cannes. Audience members are invited to participate in a Q&A with filmmakers following the screening and to network at a post-event mingle.

Filmmaker Adam Palmer, whose short film Answer was featured on ShortFuse’s opening night, said: “It’s great that ShortFuse offers a platform to showcase the work of filmmakers who sometimes get overlooked in the Midlands; it’s often London and elsewhere. There are some really great films screened as well. “If you have a short film, submit it. You get to watch it with an audience so you can gauge how your film is. A lot of the time you sit there one-on-one with your film. You don’t know how it’s going to be received so it’s good to be part of a community of filmmakers and film lovers.”

Attendee Lee Davis said: “When I saw the regional films, it made me feel like filmmaking is something I could do. I thought the range of the films was very varied, and it was good to hear from BAFTA-winners.”

To Submit

Deadline for ShortFuse submissions is midnight, October 31st, 2019.

Please email shortfuse@filmbirmingham.co.uk with the following info:

• a completed ShortFuse – Film Submission Form
• a viewing link for your short film
• your film trailer and poster as a link or attachment

All films must be under 30 minutes. If selected, you will then be asked to provide a hi-res version of your film.

Please email shortfuse@filmbirmingham.co.uk for any further information.

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Some of the UK’s most creative individuals including Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight this month launched a powerful new body to turbo charge the region’s screen industry.

Knight, together with Nativity film franchise founder Debbie Isitt and other leading minds from the region’s TV, film and games industries joined Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street to officially launch Create Central – Home of Original Story Telling.

Create Central has been developed with national bodies including the BFI, ScreenSkills, UKie, Creative England, the Creative Industries Federation and PACT to build on the region’s existing creative and cultural talent and take it to the next level, helping to drive investment, growth and thousands of new jobs.

Unveiling the name, branding and website (www.createcentraluk.com) during an event at The Bond Company in Digbeth, Mr Street said:

“There has never been a better time to invest and support our creative sector in the West Midlands. This is a boom time for production in the industry with the likes of Amazon, Apple, Disney, and Netflix all investing hundreds of millions of pounds in original UK content. As the home of original story telling, our region has the tradition and talent to capitalise on this in a big way. The tales of Shakespeare and Tolkien still generate enormous value and interest to this day, and our modern-day storytellers are continuing this success with hits like Peaky Blinders, the Nativity franchise, and Citizen Khan. Create Central will harness the talent of the brightest and best people within the industry so we can turbo charge our creative sector and lead the way once again.”

The Mayor said the WMCA, which he chairs, would work with Create Central to deliver an innovative scheme to train more people for jobs in the film, TV and games sectors.

The WMCA will make up to £500,000 available to launch a series of pilot Create Central Bootcamps in collaboration with ScreenSkills, Ukie and local colleges and providers by the end of the year.

The Mayor added: “We know we cannot grow our screen sector without the right talent and skills in place here in the West Midlands, which is why the WMCA in partnership with Create Central will be piloting new ways to help the industry source great local talent.”

He said the WMCA was looking to see 29,000 new, high skilled jobs in the digital and creative industries by 2030.

Create Central, which also includes Citizen Khan creator Adil Ray and will be chaired by international industry heavyweight Ed Shedd, will dovetail with the region’s wider cultural and tourism sector including the Royal Shakespeare Company and the forthcoming Coventry City of Culture in 2021.

Steven Knight said: “The West Midlands will be the big new everything in European film and television production. It will be bigger and better and the people who make the region what it is will be nurtured and inspired to make great moving image content. Watch this creative space.”

Create Central also aims to capitalise on the region’s status as the UK’s only city-wide 5G testbed – a technology it believes will be invaluable to digital and creative innovators including Leamington Spa’s internationally recognised games companies.

The area around the town has been dubbed Silicon Spa due to the concentration of games companies producing console blockbusters like, F1,Forza Horizon and Tom Clancy’s The Division.

The launch of the new body follows the 18-month long West Midlands Screen Bureau Project which was funded by the BFI through National Lottery funding from the Creative Clusters Growth Fund.

The project ended with the publication this week of the Clusters Development Plan which sets out a number of recommendations including the setting up of:

• A screen industry body such as Create Central
• A strategic approach to new infrastructure such as studios, hubs and flexible spaces
• Screen skills training and development
• Networks to help the industry work together on joint projects and other initiatives

Ed Shedd, chair of Create Central, added: “I am so excited about Create Central and the impact we will have on the West Midlands creative sector. We are perfectly positioned to respond to and benefit from the fundamental transformation the screen industries are undergoing, driven by the advent of near ubiquitous, high speed connectivity. I look forward to working with the industry, the WMCA and partners to help attract and stimulate our next generation of storytelling, be they telling that story on TV, film, social media, or games formats. And I also look forward to that next generation of storytellers enrapturing audiences, both locally and globally.”

Source: www.birminghamupdates.com

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