Sir Michael Parkinson offers support!

Exciting news! Broadcaster, journalist and BFI fellow Sir Michael Parkinson has offered his support for the festival- stating that he is "looking forward to seeing it take shape"!

Parkinson (or "Parky" as he is often known) has had an incredible career in the broadcasting industry - starting out in television in the 1960s, presenting in particular Granada's late night film review programme Cinema, before moving on to present his famous Parkinson series where had the opportunity to interview the likes of Orson Welles, Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood. Such a career has clearly given him insight not only into the lives and experiences of such people but also into the world of film itself and as a result, we are delighted to have his support!

UCAS on board!

UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service- www.ucas.com), the company responsible for managing applications for higher education in the UK is now on board as an educational partner! They are the world's leading shared admissions service for higher education and consequently their support and involvement will be extremely valuable!

Hello all! This is Amy- the new “official blogger” for the Cheltenham Film Festival here- things are really stepping up with regards to the festival now and so I’ve volunteered to help out with keeping everyone updated!

First off, last week Martin and Adam met with Target (the festival’s marketing agents) as well as 11-55 (our commercial branding agents). A variety of matters were discussed regarding the festival’s advertising campaign, along with business-to-business fundraising, distribution progress, and various graphics concepts. The ball is definitely rolling!!

I’m very excited to say that progress is also being made with regards to the educational aspect of the festival. Gloucestershire College hope to come on board as educational partners and so Adam and Martin met with Andy Ginn from Gloucestershire College to discuss the possibility of delivering workshops where students can produce work that will later be showcased within the Shorts Cinema Screen! This would be a very exciting opportunity for students to get involved and have their work screened to a large audience!

Don’t forget that we are also on Facebook and Twitter so please sign up!

Oh...P.s we now have a Facebook site you can follow us through ... so crack on and sign up!

Last week we met with Target, our marketing agents and finally signed off on festival contracts. They have proposed some truly fantastic ideas and concepts to engage our festival with Cheltenham! We really can't wait to launch into the public realm and hear the public response!! Keep an eager eye out for festival happenings!

In addition to that, its been all hands on deck with discussions with potential financial backers and film distributors.... continue to watch this space! Things are moving quickly!

A little belated, but thought we'd throw these pic's up here. These were taken at the ISSA (International School of Screen Acting) Graduation ceremony at BAFTA in July. In the second image is David Craik, course leader at ISSA. Once again David thanks for all your support!!

Firstly, to all those who may have been referring to the BLOG and wondering why there's nothing on it ... REALLY SORRY! Things have been absolutely flat out at our end, and so its taken a while to get ourselves organized in launching. From here on in we're going to aim to update our followers every week-end. Thanks for understanding and for coming back to keep posted.

The following is a retrospective update relating to key events and meetings that have got us to the stage at which we find ourselves now. Its a little prescriptive and text heavy but I guarantee the future to be much more dynamic!

BAFTA HQ – 23^rd July 2009

One of the festival’s first official affiliates was the International School of Screen Acting. We were in turn invited to the 2009 graduate screening of the work of this year’s student’s at BAFTA.

www.bafta.org

Martin Horwood – 20^th July 2009

Martin Horwood, local Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham gives us his backing after a really positive meeting. Martin has been extra-ordinarily generous in his support for the festival, for which we are really grateful. We look forward to meeting again soon ... hopefully at his parliamentary offices next time!

www.martinhorwood.net

Joanna Page / UCAS – 24^th July 2009

Promising meeting with UCAS – remain hopeful that they’ll become a sponsor or partner; now in the throes of drafting an official proposal and document for them, to be submitted mid September.

www.ucas.com

Website launch – 5^th August 2009

The festival website goes LIVE!! And it looks great…Thanks to Paul at Ventana Design who’s done a spectacular job given the tight time frame we gave him.

www.ventanadesign.com

Viewfinder – 10th August 2009

After a meeting with Tico Romao of the University of Gloucestershire we can confirm that Cheltenham Film Festival and VIEWFINDER Film Festival are now working together to establish an evening dedicated to showcasing the short films of FE and HE students.

www.viewfinderfilm.info

Kevan Blackadder – 10^th August 2009

We can confirm that Gloucestershire Media are now our primary local media partner after meeting with Kevan Blackadder. Looking forward to a long lasting relationship during the build up and launch of the festival!

www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

You can read the most recent story about Cheltenham Film Festival at...

www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/search.html

BFI – 25^th August 2009

Success! Having been in dialogue for a while we can confirm that we’re now working with the BFI to enhance our festival program and will be developing this relationship over the coming weeks.

www.bfi.org

The Queens Hotel – 26^th August 2009

Met with Trudy Heenan of the Queens Hotel Cheltenham who very kindly gave us a tour of the hotel and its facilities. As a consequence of the meeting the hotel has agreed to be a core affiliate of ours during the festival.

www.mercure.com

Cheltenham Ladies College – 4^th September 2009

Amanda Naylor confirms that we have booked usage of the Cheltenham Ladies College locations – that is the Princes Hall where our Classic Screen is to be situated and their new Bayshill Performing Arts Centre where our Short Film screen will be located.

www.cheltladiescollege.org

TARGET Marketing Agency – Signing off this month

We’re looking forward to signing off contracts officially with our marketing agency TARGET who we are working closely with to develop our advertising strategy and we hope a plethora of exciting forthcoming endeavors! Cheers to ZAK and Sarah especially for their enthusiasm and passion for our project!

www.targetgroup.co.uk

ElevenFiftyFive – Signing off this month

Another momentous step this month will be the signing off on contracts with our commercial / branding consultants ElevenFiftyFive. We’re really looking forward to developing our relationship with them, and building upon branding strategy.

www.elevenfiftyfive.com

Facebook site launched

Watch this space! The Cheltenham Film Festival Facebook group will be launched REAL soon!! Hopefully by the 11^th of September. We’ll be sure to launch the news here first!