Introduction: The Pioneering Spirit of Independently-Funded UK Films

In the wake of the news of the possible abolition of the UK Film Council, there has been an electrifying buzz online created by new upcoming independent films created in the UK by young actors and directors.


In the spirit of true movie-making pioneers, these people have given up their time and some of them have even sold personal possessions to make the money to turn their dreams art-magically into reality.


Where sometimes funding has been thin on the ground, social networking has come into its own to help film makers to get publicity and followers for their work. Below I have listed some links for some of the most exciting new UK films which will soon be written up in more detail in future entries of this blog. These film makers have used twitter and Facebook to gather a huge following of fans for their movies...



McQueen:
McQueen movie's Facebook page, run by actor/director Oliver Lee and his film crew. To be released in 2011. Starring Lee Battle, Nico Mirallegro, Oliver Lee, Linzey Cocker, Marcquelle Ward, Tina O'Brien, Chris Grixti, Lianne Sorsa, Matt Lanigan, Danielle Malone, Zoe Matthews and Julie Proffitt.




Ad Lane's 72 Hour Film Fundraising Tweetathon:
Ad Lane is tweeting a marathon to raise money for the funding of his indie movie Invasion of the Not Quite Dead. All sponsors will be mentioned in the credits of the film.




Six Minutes of Freedom by Plato Films & All-Seeing Eye Productions:
Facebook Page for Six Minutes of Freedom, which stars Nico Mirallegro as a young boxer who has issues with his foster parents.
In August 2010 Six Minutes of Freedom won Best New Wave Short Film at the Yellow Fever International film festival, and is still entering further film festivals.
To be released in 2011.




The Vampires of Bloody Island:
An unconventional vampire movie, made & distributed by Allin Kempthorne and his crew, at The Weird World of Wibble. The DVD is available to order from the website, with a small premium for autographed DVDs.






I have named but four notable UK indie films for now. If you would like your independent mentioned or reviewed in this blog in future months, follow me on twitter @pinkyandrexa and I'll follow back, then you can DM me with details. Also follow this blog for more news on forthcoming UK films....


I will also be interviewing film makers and actors on this blog. In the meantime, I will finish off this introduction with a satirical poem I wrote about the closure of the UK Film Council...



The Ballad of The UK Film Council
by Sara L Russell aka PinkyAndrexa
19:14pm, 23/08/2010

I

What names of high renown lie here within,
What wonders of a cinematic age?
What players of chameleonic skin,
What vast dimensions leap beyond the stage?

Withnail and I would walk this hallowed road,
Dreaming of turning visions into deeds;
Train-spotting trains of thought that overflowed,
Where levity had trampled karma's seeds.

Tread softly here and utter not a sound,
The scene is set, for all lost here below,
With all forsaken dreamers underground
And all who yearned to go on with the show.

For all the lost, forsaken and foregone,
Dead lips whisper of "Hunt" and "Cameron".


II

Walkways of fame, like dreaming colonnades,
Gold sunrise shoots that everyone admired;
Lost eras when producers all wore shades,
And divas turned up early and inspired.

Hot cappuccino served with bright ideas
In cool cafés and bistros of desire;
Their ghostly image flares - then disappears,
With all who held the torch of inner fire.

All those who now endorse perfumes and creams
And those in pantomimes on seaside piers,
Remember well who crucified their dreams
Replacing honeyed hopes with bitter tears.

Inscribed in blood, their torrid names live on
- Don't speak to us of Hunt and Cameron.


III

A beautiful laundrette, deserted now,
Reduced to an accountant's numeral;
Open the wine and slay the fatted cow,
To find the wedding's now a funeral.

And did we, in good faith, believe their lies,
Electing them to office, fuelled by hope?
Now strung along by feeble alibis,
And all because we gave them enough rope?

Hope is the dreamer's dope. We who despair
Are never fooled by optimism's glitz;
Sometimes we are too fatalist to care,
Sometimes we must accuse, where the cap fits.

The coalition's follies blunder on
Up the Junction, with Hunt and Cameron.


IV

Avert thine eyes, Tim Bevan, CBE,
A tempest comes, on terrible black wings,
A blight hath fallen on the industry
That used to bring such bright imaginings.

Our protestations have a Little Voice
That Whitehall deems too indistinct to hear,
Must we the free be faced without a choice,
Must everything we loved now disappear?

Tread softly here, for it's the final take,
No accidental noise disturbs the boom,
As art is crucified for money's sake
Respectful silence settles in the gloom.

Sometimes progress moves backwards and is gone,
Like bright ideas by Hunt and Cameron.


The End....?

Pinky's Indie Film News, 21/10/10 by pinkyandrexa