Kick-starting the two-day festival with an exploration of the promises and pitfalls of literary adaptation, and a chance to get advice on getting your project off the ground when all the usual funding streams have dried up.
With Martin Riley (Founder of Lion Eyes) and Amir Jamal (director of Weddings and Beheadings), Mike Knowles (Made Up North), and Alison Surtees (Creative Industries Salford). Chaired by Comma Film’s Ra Page.
About the Speakers:
Michael Knowles is Producer and Creative Director of Made Up North films. He has programmed short films for the Commonwealth and Manchester International Film Festivals and the British Council, before establishing short film production company Northern Films, the Northern Film Network and the inaugural Salford Film Festival. His 2004 short Talking with Angels, directed by Yousaf Ali Khan, was accepted by over 80 festivals around the world and won awards at 15, as well as a BAFTA nomination for Best Short Film. He has also recently production-managed ‘Arctic Monkeys at the Apollo’ and The Mighty Boosh’s forthcoming live film (with Warp Films). His latest production is CGI short The Conductor by Geoff Wolfenden.
Alison Surtees has worked in the Creative Industries for the last 10 years, mostly in short film production. She has directed a number of shorts, provided camera on others but in the last 5 years has focused on producing. Through CRIS (Creative Industry In Salford) she has helped a wide number of independent filmmakers achieve their aim of getting a film made, from use of equipment to finance, and networks. She is also sometime contributer and collaborator with Soup Collective, who produce amongst other things music videos and visuals for the likes of Elbow, Doves and many more. Alison is Chief Executive of CRIS which delivers creative projects in a community context, is on the board of Salford Film Festival and Co-Founder and member of the Manchester District Music Archive.
Amir Jamal is an award-winning director/producer specialising in observational ‘human interest’ documentaries and polemics. His directorial debut ‘Weddings and Beheadings’ based on a short story by Hanif Kureishi was described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘terrific and strikingly poignant’ and aired on Channel 4 in 2007. He has sinced produced the feature length documentary ‘Hope in Motion’ and is currently developing his first feature ‘More on Terror’ – an extension of his Hanif Kureishi short.