Interview With Beeston Film Festival Director John Currie

Film Festivals interview by #ChrisOlson

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John Currie with local filmmaker Andrew Pike

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Who are you and what is the Beeston Film Festival?

I am the Festival Director and creator. The Beeston Film Festival is the biggest international short film festival in the East Midlands. It aims to celebrate both film and filmmakers through providing a platform in the community for global cinema and offering a warm welcome to all filmmakers that attend in person.

Who is your #filmfestival aimed at?

It is aimed at the East Midlands region to entertain the community with high quality, diverse, risk-taking short films from around the world.

What is planned for your 2019 event?

This year the key categories of films will be #Drama, #Horror, #Animation, Non-fiction, #Comedy, Local Films, and Women’s Voices. Each year we expand the scope of the festival and this year is no different. A new category called, A Better Place, has been established for films that challenge the status quo and aim to make the world a better place. These films could be driven by human rights, environmental or any other issues, whether fiction or non-fiction, but at the heart of what the filmmaker has created is the dream of making the world a better place to be.

Are you currently looking for submissions and/or volunteers?

Yes we are, so please get in touch if you have particular skills you have to offer or wish to be part of the event team during the festival. Furthermore, our programming team is always looking for more support, however, to be in the review team you do need to live in Beeston.

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of running a film festival?

Making selections for the festival is the hardest aspect of running the festival. Each year we receive more and more entries challenging our scheduling, making the final decisions tougher and tougher. When the announcements are made it is a day of great joy for some and disappointment for many.

If you could have a new film from any filmmaker submitted to you, who would it be and why?

#DarrenAronofsky because that guy is always full of surprises.

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