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!