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You are invited to Be More Birmingham, an unmissable event celebrating the city region’s creativity. Birmingham is at the bull’s eye of the creative sector,spanning film & TV, tech & digital and games. Join Creative England in a celebration of creative revolution, as we shine a light on this vibrant, youthful and diverse city region. Be More Birmingham will bring together SMEs, policy makers, broadcasters and talent within the creative industries for a day filled with high-profile keynotes and discussions.

Be More Birmingham will be hosted by BBC1’s Midlands Today presenter Elizabeth Glinka, with keynotes from the mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street. There will also be an In Conversation with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Overall, Be More Birmingham will celebrate Birmingham’s creative past whilst looking ahead to its exciting future.

Speakers for this event include:

Andy Street – Mayor of the West Midlands

Steven Knight – Writer and Director

Caroline Norbury MBE – CEO Creative England

Jenny Tooth OBE – CEO UK Business Angela Association

Joe Godwin – Director BBC Midlands and BBC Academy

Faye Pressly – Chief Operating Officer – Vanti

Oliver Clarke – Studio Director Lockwood Leamington

Mehjabeen Patrick – Chief Finance Officer Creative England

Michael Gubbins – Senior Project Manager

Host: Elizabeth Glinka – BBC 1 Presenter, Midlands Today

Alison Grade, CEO Producers’ Forum

Be More Birmingham will be held at The Bond Company, Digbeth on Wed, 20 March 2019, 13:00 – 19:00 GMT.

This is a free event. To register, click here.

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Ben Hardy, who recently portrayed Queen drummer Roger Taylor in box office hit Bohemian Rhapsody, has joined the cast of Adam Randall’s UK film Recovery. The thriller is scheduled for filming in West Midlands. Hardy will star alongside Tim Roth in the three-hander, with further casting now underway.

Production is set to begin in March in the UK’s West Midlands and then Belgium. Roy Boulter and Sol Papadopoulos of Liverpool-based Hurricane Films are producing. Executive producers are Stephen Kelliher of Bankside Films, Tim Roth and Bastien Sirodot of UMedia. Bankside Films is launching sales on the project at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin.

Randall, whose credits include iBoy and the upcoming I See You with Helen Hunt, is directing Recoveryfrom a screenplay by A Prayer Before Dawn writer Nick Saltrese. The story follows a tow-truck driver and his two passengers, one of whom is a terrorist responsible for a campaign of fear. Ben Hardy was a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2015. His credits also include X-Men: Apocalypse and Mary Shelley. Recovery was developed with Creative England and is a UK-Belgium co-production with UMedia.

Source: ScreenDaily

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“Ready Player One”, directed by Steven Spielberg,  nabbed one of the coveted spots – a nomination for a 2019 Oscars award for Visual Effects. Famous winners in the past have included “Avatar,” “Interstellar,” and all three of “The Lord of the Rings” films. The movie, based on Ernest Cline’s book of the same name, is known for characters traveling into a virtual reality space — which needed to be experienced without film patrons having to done VR headsets themselves.

“Ready Player One,” filmed on a number of streets within Birmingham, tells the futuristic story of a society that spends most of its time jacked into VR. Students even go to virtual schools, with some even wearing haptic suits that allow them to feel everything that’s happening in the virtual world.

The Oscars, which will be televised on February 24, are addressing the rise of VR in storytelling. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences nominated a short animated VR film, “Pearl,” in 2017 which could be viewed on both HTC Vive devices and on YouTube as a 360-degree video. Filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu took home a special Oscar award for his VR exhibit, “Carne y Arena” in 2017. And director Guillermo del Toro created a VR experience for his 2015 film “Crimson Peak.”

Spielberg himself can be said to be very focused on VR and its role in Hollywood. He is involved in Dreamscape, a VR theater, that recently opened its first location in Los Angeles’ Westfield Century City mall.

Ready Player One has also been recognised for its stunning visual effects or production design, receiving nominations for the Academy Awards, BAFTA and the Art Directors Guild. Watch the trailer here. Other nominees in the Visual Effects category are Avengers: Infinity War, Christopher Robin, First Man and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Original Source: www.gearbrain.com

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ScreenSkills are providing bursaries for colourists working or hoping to work in the High-end TV industry. Bursaries are valued up to £800 for DaVinci Resolve training  provided by Soho Editors. This bursary is available to those accepted on the Soho Editors’ Advanced DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio Course. The bursaries for colourists helps them to hone their mastery of the software, and to take their grading skills to the next level.

You can apply:

• If you can demonstrate proven professional experience of working regularly in the UK screen industries. Dailies work is acceptable if it is on broadcast material and you have more than three credits. Trainee experience does not count. Work undertaken at film school or in education is also not considered suitable experience;
• Once you have been accepted on the training course(s) you want to attend;
• If the training you are applying for will benefit your career to progress within the High-end TV industry;

You cannot apply if you:

• Are in full-time education
• Are employed on a permanent contract
• Do not have a permanent UK address
• Are applying on behalf of an organisation

The deadline for applications is 31 March 2019. But, these funds are in high demand and will close when all of the funds have been allocated, which may be before this date. You may only apply for up to £800 of funding per financial year. The training course must start at least one day after your application is made – we cannot accept applications for training which has already begun.

Bursaries for Colourists: How to apply

The first page of the application is an eligibility test. If you are successful, you will be directed to the online form. This takes you through the application step by step and should not take more than 30 minutes to complete. Before you start filling in the form, make sure you have the following information available:

• The cost of any additional travel, accommodation and childcare costs
• The dates of your training
• Your CV ready to upload
• Copy of your acceptance on the Soho Editors course and confirmation of the course costs ready to upload (either a company headed letter or email from the training provider)

Once you have completed the application form and attached your supporting documents you must press the ‘submit’ icon. Until you do this, your application has not been submitted to ScreenSkills to be assessed. You will automatically be sent a receipt of application email with a tracking number. If you do not receive this, please check your junk mailbox and if it is not there contact ScreenSkills immediately.

Find the application link here.

Bursaries for Colourists: Judging

It can take up to four weeks for us to reach a decision on your application. If you decide to go on your course before you receive a decision, ScreenSkills does not accept responsibility for funding your attendance. Wherever possible, please try to allow four weeks between making your application to ScreenSkills and your course starting.

If your application is unsuccessful ScreenSkills will notify you by email. Please address any queries to: hetv@screenskills.com or call +44 (0)20 7713 9800.

Source: ScreenSkills

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The Film and Television Charity has opened its latest round of applications for The John Brabourne Awards (JBAs).

The JBAs is a talent development programme providing financial assistance up to £5000 to individuals working in the film and television industries. The JBAs are a stepping stone for individuals who are talented and driven, but who face hurdles in
developing their career.

Difficulties faced by John Brabourne Awards recipients in recent years have included lack of finances, accident, illness, or personal circumstances preventing time or ability to work. You can apply using the charity’s online application, or contact them with additional queries. The deadline is 31 January, 2019.

The Application Process

To increase your chances of success, The Film and Television Charity advises you to read the guidelines before applying and closely follow the submission instructions.

The main elements of the John Brabourne Awards application are listed below:

• The reasons why you are applying for funding
• Your employment history
• Your personal financial details
• A budget of how you will spend the money if successful
• Details of any financial shortfall and how you would intend to meet it
• Your commitment and passion for your chosen field
• Two industry referees
• A portfolio of previous work or key industry achievements

Your application must be submitted by midnight of 31 January. Then, you will receive a notification when your application has been received and is being assessed.

The John Brabourne Awards shortlist

The Film and Television Charity reviews every application, including supporting material, and assesses how useful its support will be. This is based on how well you demonstrate the following within your application:

• Your talent for your chosen field
• Your financial need, and the difficulties this presents in you progressing
• The strength of your strategy to succeed in your chosen career

The more specific the presentation of these three elements, the stronger your application will be. The applications which stand out are those where we get a sense of who you are – both personally and professionally.

We’re interested in your journey to date, why you have chosen your particular path to progress, and why working in the Film and TV industry is important to you. There are two rounds of the John Brabourne Awards each year -the next one will be 31 July.

• Ready to apply? View the charity’s eligibility criteria and dates.

• Apply for the John Brabourne Awards by clicking here.

Source: filmtvcharity.org.uk

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CineQ Queer Film Festival  has officially grown into a two-day film festival. This is with support from BFI FAN Film Hub Midlands and supported by Centrala Art Gallery, Midlands Art Centre, and Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen. CineQ Queer Film Festival is a project aimed at creating safe spaces for cinema and discussion surrounding social change within the LGBTQ community. The event will put the focus on new stories, and ‘QTIPOC (Queer Trans and Intersex People of Colour)’ perspectives, while introducing ‘new queer cinema’. The festival aims to showcase some of the best underrepresented LGBTQ film both past and present. After the film festival, CineQ will specially curate a selection of queer films representative of the LGBTQ community which will tour cinemas, film festivals and film societies in the region.

CineQ Queer Film Festival Offers Representation

CineQ founder Rico Johnson-Sinclair said: “Queer cinema has often been a blind spot in the region’s best cinemas. Not to say that there isn’t an offer. Love Simon, Call Me By Your Name and God’s Own Country were notable successes in recent years, but there’s a plethora of films from a variety of perspectives that are being made, but just not shown in cinemas. Often the only places to watch queer films are streaming services, we want to change that by bringing audiences across Birmingham and the Midlands, more opportunities to see these brilliant titles on the big screen.’

CineQ was previously operating as a community cinema supported by Flatpack Projects. They have screened many titles such as The Wound, Closet Monster, and Check It, as well as short film programmes at Centrala Art Gallery and Cafe, Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen, and Flatpack Film Festival. The group has also worked with cinemas outside of Birmingham such as Phoenix Cinema in Leicester and was recently awarded a commendation by Cinema for All, Britain’s leading authority for community cinemas and film societies.

Reserve Your Spot at CineQ Queer Film Festival

CineQ Film Festival will take place from March 22 to 24.

For more information on the festival and to book tickets, click here.

Source: Express & Star

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The Complete the ScreenSkills Employer Survey is important if you or your organisation is an employer within the UK screen industries. Your input in this survey is vital to help ScreenSkills produce a clear picture of the state of the sector and help address skills needs and inclusion challenges. ScreenSkills is also including freelancers who recruit teams, such as talent managers. The survey is part of ScreenSkills’ new Skills Forecasting Service which published its first findings earlier this month. It is designed to build a strong evidence base for action on skills and training. Please complete the survey by Friday 25 January. ScreenSkills will publish the findings in the spring.

Complete the survey here.

ScreenSkills’ Chief Executive Officer Seetha Kumar says: “We are encouraging the whole industry to take part in the ScreenSkills Employer Survey… This will help employers plan and help us to target investment where it is most needed… We are already working closely with our colleagues in the screen industries on skills and training. But if we are going to address skills gaps effectively and diversify the talent pool, we all need a better understanding of the state of the workforce.”

Val Ames, Director of Production, Kindle Entertainment, and Co-chair of the Children’s Skills Council, said: “I will be filling in the Screen Skills Employer Survey because I recognise the importance of having the right talent in our industry and how training is key to ensuring that is the case.  As co-chair of the Children’s Skills Council, I also want to have children’s television properly represented in the findings.”

Christine Healy, Head of Production, New Pictures, and Chair, High-end TV Skills Council, said: “The success of high-end television production at the moment is putting pressures on the industry and it is important to understand those pressures in some detail… so we can do something about them and plan for the future. All companies and employers should find the time for the survey when it is released.”

Iain Smith, Chairman and MD, Applecross Productions, and Chair, Film Skills Council, said: “I would encourage all employers to fill in the ScreenSkills Employer Survey to provide as much information on skills needs as possible. Our skilled workforce has been one of the driving forces of inward investment and making sure we continue to have the worker’s industry needs is critical.”

Complete the Survey here.

Source: ScreenSkills

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Fans of the BAFTA-nominated film “Ray and Liz” will be able to chat with its Birmingham-born director at an upcoming event.

The multi-award winning artist Richard Billingham returns to the striking photographs of his family during Thatcher-era Britain for this film. “Ray and Liz” is based on his own memories, focusing on his parents, their relationship, and its impact on their children. Within the film is some historical and regional detail, achieved most obviously through set design closely based on Billingham’s photographs. Sound and music are used to further orient us. We hear Musical Youth and Fine Young Cannibals — bands that originated in Birmingham.

This is Richard’s debut feature film, and it has gained a BAFTA nomination for ‘Outstanding Debut’. It has also won a string of festival awards, including three BIFA’s.

Click to watch trailer.

A screening will be held at Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham on 24 January, 2019 at 19:00. Afterwards, there will be a live onstage Q&A with Richard Billingham and Professor of Film and Television at Edge Hill University, Roger Shannon FRSA.

Tickets cost £8.10 – £9.00 and can be booked here.

Source: macbirmingham.co.uk

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