May 09

Comma Film invites Futureworks Students to Join Film Crews

Comma Film, the audio-visual strand of Manchester's award-winning Comma Press, is launching a special two-day festival, Version, celebrating, screening and commissioning short film adaptations of published poems and short stories.

As well as coordinating a series of national and international poem-to-film challenges, the festival is also commissioning three short adaptations of 'modern classic' short stories, to premiere in November.

Filmmakers from across the UK have been invited to select a short story from the internationally recognised writers on Comma's backlist (over 300 published stories to date), and then submit a short application with a showreel.

For more information about director applications, visit http://www.commapress.co.uk/?section=books&page=Version

Comma are also working with Futureworks to appoint Futureworks students to crews to assist in the professional delivery of all three productions.

The results of all projects will be premiered at the festival at Cornerhouse (as well as other venues around the city) on 14-15 November. The festival will screen all-new work and feature guest speakers such as Frank Cottrell Boyce and other leading film-writers and authors, as well as workshops, networking sessions, and page-to-screen masterclasses.

Comma's previous adaptations have been shortlisted for the Virgin Media Prize (Kate Jessop's 'Desires'), won the London Short Film Festival Femme Fantistique Prize (Kate Jessop's 'When the Telescope Came') and premiered at Berlin Film Festival (Andrew Haigh's 'Five Miles Out').

"This is a great opportunity for Futureworks students to experience a number of different roles in digital film production as well as working with industry professionals, culminating in their names appearing on the big screen at the Corner House." [Sam Green, Futureworks]

The festival is sponsored by Lion Eyes Television, with commission partner Futureworks and support from The Granada Foundation.

Useful links:

Version Film Festival

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