At July’s Time of the Month we announced the exciting collaboration with the Tommy Vine Fund on a Screenwriting Competition. The theme is “Reflections” and there is a prize of £700 up for grabs! More information here.

We were delighted to catch up with two of our most recent winners, and one from Underwire’s very first year:

 

Charlotte Ginsborg won the Best Editor award for her piece Opponent in 2014. In between on-location rehearsals, she took the time to tell us about her current project, which continues the work of Opponent as it becomes a feature-length essay.

The Taste & Ache of Action, follows the personal and professional lives of three intriguing men for whom boxing plays a pivotal role in their lives. The film will investigate what drives these individuals to fight, what fuels their determined need to win, uncovering the unique personal stories that lie behind their expressions of aggression and need for control. As the film progresses each of the boxers will perform a series of unique hybrid dance sequences. The seamless interweaving of these dynamic performances into the fabric of the observational documentary format will be used to explore male identity in a haunting, fantastical and surprising manner, revealing these men’s ability to express a very different palette of emotions to those played out when boxing.

Director: Charlotte Ginsborg, Producer: Isobel Ricketts, Choreographers: Kirill Burlov, Anthony Trehearn, Matt Harris, Composer: Gabriel Prokofiev, Comission & funded: Arts Council England, Status: early production

Georgia Parris won the XX Award for A Moment to Move in 2014. Having previously volunteered at Underwire, and while keeping busy in her day job working on sets in supporting roles, Georgia has been extremely driven in progressing her career since November. She recently completed a commission for The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, which she shared her experiences of.

“Since screening A Moment To Move at Underwire it went on to show at London Short Film Festival and is about to show at the East End Film festival. Always On came off the back of A Moment To Move, as did another project for an Opera company which is all ready to go - we’re just trying to secure funding. So currently I’m planning a festival strategy for Always On, looking for Funding for the Opera film 2nd Movement, developing an idea for a music video, and also I’ve begun writing my first feature so it is pretty full on!

The process of making Always On was an interesting one for me. It was my first project that was to a brief and commissioned so to speak which threw up lots of challenges.”

 

Just days after speaking to us at Time of the Month, Debbie Howard completed work on her first feature film, Still Loved. It was inspiring to hear her talk about how she has achieved her vision with integrity, and the determination that has carried this difficult project to completion.

“Since winning the Best Producer award at Underwire Festival in 2010 for my short film Pussy, I went on to write, direct and produce more short films. My last short, Peekaboo, starring Lesley Sharp and Shaun Dooley looked at stillbirth. Having completed that film I realised that there was a feature documentary that desperately needed to be made about this taboo subject matter. Having developed many close relationships during the making of Peekaboo, I decided to go ahead and make this much needed film. Three years on I have just completed Still Loved. I made the film independently, it was a real labour of love. I had an amazing team come on board, including our fantastic Editor, Joby Gee. It has just secured a distribution deal and will be released very soon.

Still Loved shows how families survive the loss of a baby, something so much more common than most people realise. It’s a beautiful film that I’m incredibly proud of, it wasn’t easy to make, for many reasons, but it’s been worth the battle. It made me realise how much I love documentary. I now have two more feature docs in development, but I will return to making drama and comedy again at some point soon. At Big Buddha Films we aim to make films with strong female roles and always work with at least a 50% female crew.”

 

Our next Time of the Month networking event at Hackney Attic will be to launch our programme on 30th September. See you there!