Wychwood Magic

With the sun shining down over Cheltenham race course (and one dramatic thunderstorm!!), CFF's festival debut took place the weekend of the 4th, 5th and 6th June at the Wychwood Festival, a predominately family event which attracted old favourites such as the Happy Mondays, local bands, aspiring comedians and the famous Pimms bus! CFF were asked to run the cinema tent over the weekend which screened family favourites such as Finding Neverland to the modern day cult, Life Aquatic. The cinema also screened a series of UK Film Council's short films.



The weekend was a huge success with the climax taking place on Saturday night when a local band, "The Travelling Band" gave a musical accompaniment to the classic film "The Devil Bat." This "musical experiment" attracted a large eclectic audience who responded positively to the performance. Martin and Adam filmed the evening with a view to producing a music video for the band. Watch this space!



The weekend was a great learning experience for Martin and Adam and gave the people of Cheltenham a little taste of what is come in October at the main event.....!

New promotional videos

Thanks to the marketing guys at Target Marketing (http://www.targetgroup.co.uk/) who have created some fantastic marketing material for our website to freshen it up.

Taking on the concept of making a star out of Cheltenham and it's population by recreating famous scenes from films with Cheltenham as the back drop, they have created some fantastic results with support from both P4 films and Slaters.

Check out the videos and see if you can guess the films they are mimicking.

http://www.cheltenhamfilmfestival.com/trailer.html

More films added

We are currently in contact with some very exciting distributors to screen a wide array of films - many of which have never been screened in Cheltenham before. This is a really exciting time for the festival and we are hopeful of releasing some more information soon - stay tuned!

Congratulations to Martin Horwood

Although slightly belated, we wanted to congratulate Martin Horwood MP for a successful election campaign that saw him stay as the MP of Cheltenham on a higher majority. Martin has been a supporter of the festival from the very start and we are extremely appreciative of everything he has done for us. Here's to another successful term.

Another celebrity endorsement

James Bond himself has now voiced his appreciation for the festival……Sir Roger Moore, famous for playing the highly acclaimed secret agent has stated:

 

“I first visited Cheltenham a couple of years ago during the literary festival, and found it a charming and thriving place to be. I hope the film festival generates as much 'buzz' as the other festivals in Cheltenham do, and that along with celebrating classics it might also help unearth new talent and classics of the future too."

 

His statement displays how far the festival has grown in stature already as Sir Michael Parkinson has similarly voiced his appreciation for the event. Watch this space for more famous faces! 

Exciting meeting with Mickey Mouse

Fresh from the success of the launch party in March both Martin and Adam were invited to a meeting at the Disney offices in Hammersmith! The meeting took place with the technical director and marketing manager and the boys even met Mickey Mouse in the flesh and got a peek of the Disney/ Pixar board room where ideas for classics such as Toy Story and the Incredibles may have taken shape.

 

Martin and Adam hope that Disney will be able to participate in the festival in some capacity and have their fingers crossed for a development some time soon.

First official launch party

Hello my name is Laura and I am the new official blogger for the Cheltenham Film Festival. Such a lot has happened since the last entry as we draw closer to the big event……

 

On an evening in late March, Martin and Adam staged the CFF launch party at the prestigious Queens hotel in the centre of Cheltenham. Representatives from over thirty local businesses attended the exciting event which kicked off with a champagne reception in the Regency Suite. This was followed by speeches by both Martin and Adam which portrayed to the vast audience both their passion and drive behind the event and their future exciting plans for the forthcoming months.

 

A special thanks to Target who without their support this event could not have taken place. The evening was also given a special mention in the local newspaper “The Echo” the next day along with photographs of the evening which was enjoyed by all.  The event has already attracted the interest of many key local businesses who have now committed to supporting the festival both financially and with in kind support. There are still opportunities for businesses to get on board so if you are interested, don’t delay get in touch now! 

Greetings all! Sorry about the long wait but there’s been such a lot going on and now I bring plenty of news!

First of all, Martin and Adam are busy organising a launch party for our potential sponsors and current affiliates (plus some special guests I hear!), to be held at the prestigious Queen’s Hotel in April.

Secondly, the festival is currently in negotiations with some exciting distributors who will show some exclusive films at the festival. This will be fab in creating lots of diversity within the festival programme!

Major progress has been made now that 2 of the screens have their schedules almost in place, and I hear the others are not far behind! In the next few months the full film schedule will be totally complete and you will find out what's in store!

And now a bit of mystery for you...the festival is close to announcing yet another industry partner of the festival...more shall be revealed in due course!

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Stay tuned for further updates!

Hello! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and new year! Just to let you know about a couple of recent developments:

The BFI is now officially one of our industry partners and they will be kindly aiding us in the “Classic Screen” part of the festival.

Established in 1933, this world-renowned organisation is famous for its archive (the largest of moving image material in the world!), cinemas, festivals, films and its publications. It is dedicated to the promotion of understanding and appreciation of Britain’s film and television heritage and culture and as such we are thrilled to have them on board!

Their involvement means that we will be able to utilise their huge range of films, lecturers and fellows!

For more info on the BFI, have a gander at the website (link below)

www.bfi.org.uk

Also, with regards to news I posted a month or so ago about Sir Michael Parkinson lending his support to the festival- the Echo had a feature last month:

Hereth is the link: http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Michael-Parkinson-backs-Cheltenham-Film-Festival/article-1591181-detail/article.html

Stay tuned for further developments!