Southern Exposure Film Fund - August 2010
Andrew Leen, Lee Scott, Simon Shaw and Laurence Hill from Performance were delighted to attend the launch of this year's Southern Exposure Film Fund at the Whirled Cinema, Brixton.
Southern Exposure is a "hub" of three London Boroughs (Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth) that promotes the work of up-and-coming filmmakers. The fund awards grants of up to £4,000 to successful applicants, and this year is also providing master class workshops to help aspiring filmmakers develop their talents further. More information on the scheme can be found at http://lewishamfilminitiative.com/funding
Film London's BoBs ceremony - July 2010
Andrew Leen, Lee Scott and Simon Shaw of Performance attended Film London's Best of Boroughs (BoBs) Awards ceremony at BAFTA, which promotes filmmaking across several of the London boroughs. Andrew Leen commented "Performance is proud to support a growing number of these filmmakers through our innovative insurance scheme which, this year, we extended to even more of the boroughs taking part. The quality of the films seems to get better each year and the amount of talented individuals out there making things happen is quite amazing and a credit to this programme."
Winner of the Judge's Award went to "Assessment" (Writer/Director: Mark Gutteridge, Producers: Jack Tarling, Tom Clutterbuck) from Southwark Borough, whilst the Audience Award went to "Physical Education" (Writer/Director: Rohan Green, Producer: Louise Marie Cooke.)
After the awards, the Performance team joined some of the winners and filmmakers for "refreshments" and to hear more about their projects.
A big thank you to Film London for the invitation, to the boroughs for taking advantage of our insurance scheme and to the filmmakers for an entertaining evening. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
Performance does Cannes! - May 2010
As further development of the Performance insurance brand, Lee Scott and Andrew Leen of Performance travelled to Cannes on 17th May, accompanied by filmmaker Andrea Thornton from AT Work Films Ltd.
Lee and Andrew were able to network with up and coming filmmakers, as well as those well-established in the film and media industry and learn more about the problems they face when putting their projects together including any insurance issues that could be improved.
Film London hosted a fantastic series of sessions in the UK Pavilion, and Performance bumped into a few of their clients there, including Dan Shipton, who won an award at the Performance Short Film Competition for his film "Hammerhead."
Andrew Leen gave his verdict on the trip "It was important for Performance to be here in order to further develop our understanding of the industry and to make those key connections with both the filmmakers and with the agencies that support them. I would like to thank Andrea Thornton from At Work Films for her input during our visit and Film London for hosting some very entertaining and interesting sessions. The learning's we take away from Cannes will enable us to provide them with real insurance solutions to their problems through an outstanding insurance product."
Croydon Film Festival - April 2010
The month of April saw Croydon's first ever Film Festival, with competitions, screenings and events running throughout the month at several locations.
Performance was proud to partner Croydon Council as supporters of the festival, in particular sponsoring the Festival's 48 hour challenge. This competition was open to local filmmakers, who had to write, shoot, edit and deliver a completed film on DVD to the organisers within 48hours. No mean feat! To make matters a little trickier, they had to incorporate a genre (such as Thriller, Western, Romance, etc) and two random objects.
Entrants were shortlisted and invited to a glittering Black Tie Awards night at Croydon Clock Tower, where Performance were represented by Lee Scott, Simon Shaw and Andrew Leen. After making a few words and introducing the crowd to Performance's new online facility, www.micro-hire.tv Andrew introduced the nominations and the winner was "Tying the Knot" by Anita Wadsworth and Owen Kingston. Anita and Owen were handed their prize by Nick Moran (Lock Stock) and were thrilled to have won.
"The Trailermade" Competition - March 2010
In March 2010, Performance was approached by the New Producers Alliance (NPA) to provide insurance for three filmmakers, who were making film trailers for the NPA's "The Trailermade" competition.
The NPA will be showcasing the trailer projects at an industry event in the UK, Cannes International Film Festival and Los Angeles Trailer Film Festival 2010. Additionally the three trailers will be available via an online platform.
Applications were shortlisted by the NPA and the three winning trailer ideas were selected by industry professionals.
The three successful teams were:
Christine Hartland - Project: Nitrate; Company: Patchwork Productions
A hotshot director uncovers the truth behind the murder of his filmmaking idol when he reconstructs the dead mans lost, Unfinished Masterpiece.
Thom Greybe - Project: Container - K584; Company: Cubeink
A police detective with an unusual neurological disease tries to understand what parts of his life are real and what parts aren't.
Giacomo Cimini - Project: Bleak Sea; Company: TONDO Media Soup
Cold War, North Seam, a British submarine, in search of a soviet secret weapon, finds a much bigger and more terrifying enemy in, The Abyss.
Becky Bazzard, Sponsorship and Fundraising Manager for the NPA commented to Performance:
"I just wanted to say an enormous thank you... for the support you gave to each of the three trailer projects"
Performance is proud to be able to further demonstrate their commitment to supporting up and coming filmmakers this way.