Now in our permanent home of Leigh Film Factory, we celebrated our 10th Anniversary.
Once again the festival was spread over two nights with awards being presented on the final night.
Five category awards were presented on the night by our host Richard Houghton.
Our Award Winners
Watch the 2023 Awards Ceremony below.
The four award winners who attended the events were interviewed after the ceremony and you can watch that film below.
Our fifth awardee Josie Charles (Writer & Director of Dead Cat Film) unfortunately could not be at our event but they did send this acceptance video which was shown on the night. You can watch that film below.
Here are some photos taken at the events.
We moved to our new home in 2022. The event took place at Leigh Film Factory which is Leigh's only independant cinema, situated in Leigh Spinners Mill, which is a grade-ii listed building.
The festival was spread over two nights with awards being presented on the final night. As usual we have a good mix of filmmakers and short film fans in attendance. Five category awards were presented on the night by Natasha Hawthornthwaite & Scott Davenport from Northern Heart Films.
Our Award Winners
Our Media Director Andrew Nowell, interviewed the filmmakers & other dignitaries in who came to the events. You can watch those below.
Here are some photos from the events.
Our 2021 event saw us return to a physical venue after our enforced Covid abscence which was fantastic! The venue was only small but we certainly made the most of it.
The event was held in the Derby Room of The Turnpike Centre with room for an audience of 50 members of the public and fellow filmmakers and short film fans. Three category awards were presented on the night by our patron Sacha Parkinson and our host Darren Jeffries.
We were also lucky enough to have the star of our Audience Choice award winning film, Joy Uncensored in the audience, and she received the prize on behalf of the filmmakers.
Members of the Media Studies department of Edge Hill University also attended on the night to photograph and film the event. We hope to be posting interviews with the directors and filmmakers that attended the event which they filmed in the coming days.
The 2021 winners !!
In 2020 we had to host our film festival virtually as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the resulting UK wide lockdown during that year.
Ben Price won the North West film and also the Judging Panel award.
Paul Flannery won Best Animation for his film "Bernard".
Spencer Hetherington from Canada, won the Young Filmmaker award.
Here are a couple of screengrabs from the virtual festival site.
As you can see, alongside the film streaming itself, we had a thumbs up/down voting system for each film together with a section where viewers could post comments as well.
(click each thumbnail to see a larger fully detailed image)
In 2019 we held events at ALRA North and The Old Courts, Wigan.
Congratulations to "Quiet Carriage" who won the Audience Choice award!
Congratulations to "The Magic Paper Man" team who have won our North West Filmmaker's Event!
Other films shown in this category...
A bit of this & a bit of that
Directed by Jake Gill, Elizabeth Ratcliffe, Liam Steers & Alexander Deniston
"Hidden away amongst the backstreets of Manchester’s vibrant Northern Quarter lies This & That, a small Indian café owned by Ismail Mallu, a first-generation Indian migrant who came to the UK in 1966 during the peak years of migration from the subcontinent."
North West Filmmaker
A Dunder Plunder
Written & Directed by Grace Alwyn Ashworth
"In this dark comedy, a cat burglar's plans to steal from a football manager's house are derailed, when he encounters the owner's sobbing ex-wife in one of the bedrooms."
North West Filmmaker
About time, Too: Ivy's Story
Written by Ian McLoughlin MBKS, Directed by Iain Cash
"In About Time, Too: Ivy’s Story we meet octogenarian ex-nurse Ivy Lodge on the day she travels to her new home and, en route, we learn something about her past, her present and a future that promises to be not all she imagines."
North West Filmmaker
The Magic Paper Man
Winner of the North West Filmmaker Event, Friday 15th November 2019
Written by Ben Michael Bone, Directed by Bryan Corteen
"Two lonely souls; a homeless man and a widowed librarian embark on an unlikely friendship with a little help from a paper swan, a Jammie Dodger and a Pam Ayres poem."
North West Filmmaker
Once Bitten
Written by Kevin T Rogers, Directed by Pete Tomkies
"Martha needs the toilet fixed in her hotel bathroom but there's one problem: her plumber may be a vampire."
North West Filmmaker
Soil
Written by Mark Woodward, Directed by Scott Feast
"Two Gravediggers receive a mysterious commission in the form of a padlocked trunk. A face from the past gives them a stark warning of what’s inside."
North West Filmmaker
The Lover
Written & Directed by Peter Mckeirnon
"A jealous husband devises a plan to make sure his wife can never leave him."
North West Filmmaker
Verto
Written & Directed by Matthew Fordy, Danny Childs & Rhys Charles
"Emma seeks help to improve her life after the unforeseen passing of her husband Richard."
North West Filmmaker
Congratulations to "Hidden" who won our Young Filmmaker's Event!
Other films shown in this category...
Breaking Bread
Directed by Callum Wilkins & Elliot Lane
"Breaking Bread explores the life of a baker who is struggling to maintain his passion, as the rise of corporate businesses strangle his hopes."
Young Filmmaker
Burying the Mother in Law
Written by Tom Critch, Directed by Sean Wilcock
"Mark should be looking forward to his stag do. Instead he's in a forest at 4 in the morning, helping his best friend, Sam dig a grave for their mother-in-law."
read more
Death's Toll
Written by Spencer & Rob Hetherington, Directed by Spencer Hetherington
"When the bells toll, the heads roll. A bell tower becomes the harbinger of death at the hands of an ancient creature, Mortuus."
Hidden
Winner of the Young Filmmaker Event, Saturday 26th October 2019
Written by Sophie Black, Directed by Jess O'Brien
"Solomon reads aloud a poem with a beauty that surprises his classmates except one, Katie. The poem has a meaning and two secrets only they know about."
read more
Kick Scooter
Directed by Yiannis & Kostas Petsas
"A spot for a school assignment with the subject: 'Television'. 7th Grade, Papagou School, Athens, Greece."
Learner
Directed by Rachel Jessett, Matthew King & Ben Sibbitt
"Emily wants independence, and Mum can't let go, as they battle for who is in the 'driving seat'."
read more
Stalemate
Written & Directed by Kieran Stringfellow
"As Christmas comes to an end, Liz the head of a small distant family attempts to recover what has been a cheerless holiday with a good old board game. However what was meant to be a night of family fun soon turns into all out war."
read more
Congratulations to "The Need To Be Alone" who won Best Animation at our Main Event!
Other films shown in this category...
Glass Ceiling
Directed by Alice Lambert
"We follow the progress as a woman competes against a man for a promotion and confronts the reality of male-biased fringe benefits. Her male counterpart builds success-promoting relationships through inclusion in male-biased social activities."
read more
Medium Rare
Directed by Luca Cioci
"Functional and aesthetic values in recurrent, yet questionable domestic scenarios."
read more
The Interview From Hell
Written & Directed by James Lawson
"The apocalypse looms and a board of managers from Hell Incorporated have been tasked to find Hell's most evil demon. Will they find the agent of armageddon they need? or will the incompetence of the applicants bring out the demon in the interviewers?"
read more
The Need To Be Alone
Winner of Best Animation, Saturday 16th November 2019
Written by Alain De Botton, Directed by Tom Fisher & Catherine Prowse
"A film about an introvert and how his time alone makes him a better friend."
read more
Odd Jobs
Written & Directed by Christopher Murphy
Congratulations to our 2018 winners!
"RISK" won our Audience Choice Award with a whopping 49% of the vote!
"Eric and the Barbarian" won the Best North West Film Award
"Diffrerent" won the Best Animation Award and
"Hindsight" won the Young Filmmaker's Award
We would also like to thank the local composer & musician, Lucy Farrimond who composed the music that we use in our title videos.
You can read more about Lucy on her website at www.lucyfarrimondmusic.co.uk
The 2017 Leigh Short Film Festival
This year the event grew to include more categories and awards, with the overall Audience's Choice prize joined by accolades for the best animation and best North West production. We also organised a young film-maker's competition in Wigan the night before the festival, with the winner there joining the Leigh line-up.
Still based at The Turnpike Centre in Leigh town centre, the event was another complete sell out. Several writers, directors & producers of some of the films screened on the night were also in attendance and took questions from the audience about their work.
A total of 72 films were submitted to the festival this year and the quality was even higher than previously. Our selection committee chose a fantastic set of 13 films to show on the night.
We also had several special guests attending on the night. Firstly our very own MP for Leigh, Jo Platt kindly stood in for our Patron Christopher Eccleston at the last minute, who unfortunately could not attend due to a sudden changed overseas filming commitment.
The 2016 Leigh Film Festival
An evening of films that entertained and surprised...
The 3rd annual Leigh Short Film Festival was another well received event. Based once more at the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh town centre, our venue was filled to capacity with 140 guests attending on the Saturday night. Once more, several directors & producers of some of the films screened on the night were also in attendance.
While fewer films were submitted to the festival this year, we believe the overall quality was higher. As usual our friends, Nag Nag Productions performed a sterling effort in selecting 12 films to show on the night.
We also had a special guest, Katya Greer who is an actor from Leigh, whom has starred in several feature films to date. She presented the Audience Choice Award with Ian after the online vote.
Feelings, loneliness, science fiction, destitution, crop circles, magic , twins & memories all featured in the films and a very clear winner emerged fairly early on in the evening...
Pictures & Video from the event
We've created several videos which give you a taste of the short films that we showed on the night and also listed their details for further information.
Circles
"Circles is a Comedy/Scifi/Horror which follows a pair of paranormal investigators as they discover a string of crop circles around their small town of Totnes, Devon. Will they be the first to gather evidence of extraterrestrial life and prove the world wrong, or are Andy and Martine the real Aliens? ... Made with the support of Creative England and BFI Network as part of the ishorts scheme."
Comedy/Sci-Fi/Horror, 14 mins 51 seconds, Director Dean Puckett, Writer Dean Puckett | Website | Twitter | Trailer
The Song Plays On
"When the first notes of a long forgotten record play, John remembers Anne, the women he married, the woman he loved and it's as though he's 25 once more...His daughter, Alice, doesn't see it that way. She sees her Father struggling to cope day to day with dementia and she senses a distance growing between them - She fears that as John remembers Anne, he forgets her..."
Drama, 11 mins 26 seconds, Director Adam J Spinks, Writer Lawrence Timms | Facebook | Twitter
The Place Of My Birth
"Anthony has an implant embedded in his neck to stop the bad memories of a tragic accident. But when the implant stops working, he is confronted with his anger."
Drama, 4 mins 59 seconds, Director Matt Harris-Freeth, Writers Matt Harris-Freeth & Matthew Redd | Facebook | Twitter
Broke
"Two sisters are forced to question their own morality in a society where money has lost its value."
13 minutes, Director James O'Halloran, Writer James O'Halloran | Website | Trailer
The Key To Life
"Answering the age old question of "where have my keys gone ?"
Animation, 2 mins 18 seconds, Director Peter Mottram, Writer Peter Mottram
Jake The Magnificent
"Jake has 5 days to perfect the disappearing trick before performing it at his birthday party. Will he become the magician he dreams of or will it end in disaster?"
Comedy/Drama, 7 mins 54 seconds, Director Simon Wade, Writer Paul Wade | Twitter
Being A Dad
"A short film about the relationship between Richard and his son James, and what it means to be a dad."
Documentary, 5 minutes 10 seconds, Director Duncan Morrison, Editor Serafima Serafimova
Spiral
"Three generations follow different paths to the same destiny in this suspenseful drama encompassing deception and time travel, as entire lifetimes play out in the space of minutes."
Sci-Fi/Thriller/Drama, 11 mins 30 seconds, Director Richard Addlesee, Writer Richard Addlesee | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Trailer
Twinsburg
"Jerry, sentimental about his fading twin identity, reunites with his reluctant brother Paul for a weekend of revelry at the world’s largest congregation of twins."
Comedy/Drama, 15 mins 48 seconds, Director Joe Garrity, Writer Joe Garrity | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Trailer
Cold Reader
Drama/Comedy, 10 mins 57 seconds, Director Michael Beddoes, Writer Kristina Heaney | Website | Twitter
Wild Flower
"'Wild Flower' is a personal film exploring the strain and strength in family relationships under the weight of mental health, showing that people and love can be complicated and that children can show incredible strength when responsibility roles are reversed."
Drama/Family/Children/Mental Health, 15 minutes 22 seconds, Director Claire Molloy, Writer Carrie Wemyss | Facebook | Trailer
Interviews
Festival organisers, volunteers & audience were invited to be share their thoughts on the night
The 2015 Leigh Short Film Festival
The 2nd annual Leigh Film Festival was a huge success.
We had over a 120 guests attending the event, which was held on Saturday 3rd October 2015 at the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh town centre. Some of those guests included writers, directors & producers of some of the films screened on the night.
Over 2000 films were initially submitted for the festival, but Nag Nag Productions (a Leigh based film production company) stepped up and whittled that list down to just 22 for the night.
Of those films selected, we had a quite diverse range of topics to explore, these ranged from line drawing animations, through dramas about loneliness and mental health, interviews, science fiction, ghosts and ending up with the tales of an ex-Disney animation character...
We also had the amazing Clothears Costumes company exhibiting three of their creations on the night. Darth Maul, Bane's vest (from the Dark Knight) and "Boussh" (from Return of the Jedi).
Several short video clips of the nights action...
This year's submissions
