Search found 298 matches

by Howard-Smith
Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:18 am
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: THE BIAFF WEEKEND
Replies: 42
Views: 30990

Re: THE BIAFF WEEKEND

The late, great John Astin told me that it would add considerable prestige to our festival if we could pay a professional film critic such as Mark Kermode to watch all the 5 star films and select the Diamond Award winners and the top two award winners... and then hand out all the trophies to the win...
by Howard-Smith
Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:41 am
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION
Replies: 13
Views: 12338

Re: THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION

I agree with you Dave. Movie Maker magazine was full of enthusiastic, helpful and inspirational content. I remember all this names of the regular contributors you mention. I learnt so much each month regarding how to make better films and the basic ‘rules’ of filmmaking. As mentioned previously, Iva...
by Howard-Smith
Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:54 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION
Replies: 13
Views: 12338

Re: THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION

I enjoyed what you had to say there, Willy. Glad you’ve enjoyed reading the old Movie Maker magazines, Tom. Brian, how amazing about Bill Davison still being around, at least as recently as 2019. I wish he were still making and submitting films. For a time he was the ‘Enfant Terrible’ of the amateur...
by Howard-Smith
Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:58 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: THE BIAFF WEEKEND
Replies: 42
Views: 30990

THE BIAFF WEEKEND

I thought I'd start this new thread for people to voice their opinions on how the weekend went and what people thought of the films and the awards. For me it was a thoroughly enjoyable exciting weekend with lots of interesting and amazing films. While Zoom has been very successful in keeping the sho...
by Howard-Smith
Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:50 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS
Replies: 63
Views: 44487

Re: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS

It was thought-provoking that in one of Saturday's BIAFF sessions, when a 4 star drama (which I won't name) was shown, someone's response to the film in the chat was, 'It was vile'. The point is worth making that we as judges are appraising each film as objectively as possible on its merits as a pie...
by Howard-Smith
Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:54 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS
Replies: 63
Views: 44487

Re: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS

You make some good points Tim. I suppose I was thinking of certain highly talented filmmakers who deserve to hit the heights but are never awarded more than 4 stars. Take for instance the late John Astin who was a really excellent and prolific documentary filmmaker. He never won a BIAFF Award above ...
by Howard-Smith
Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:42 am
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS
Replies: 63
Views: 44487

Re: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS

Tim says: “Good point made by Howard about the number of diamonds being fixed.” I wasn’t actually making any point about the fixed number of Diamonds. I totally approve of giving Diamond Awards to the “top 8 films of the whole festival” regardless of how many entries there are. Tim has demonstrated ...
by Howard-Smith
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:06 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS
Replies: 63
Views: 44487

Re: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS

Yes John, this means of course that only 17 of the 168 entries this year were deemed to be worthy of 5 stars (obviously with 8 of them being upgraded to Diamonds). It makes me wonder whether we judges are sometimes too hesitant, too cautious, about nudging more of the 4 star films into the 5 star ca...
by Howard-Smith
Fri Apr 09, 2021 10:07 am
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS
Replies: 63
Views: 44487

Re: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS

One week to go before BIAFF 2021 launches at 5.00 pm on 16th April! Hopefully the full results will appear online any day now. My friend Martin Evans from Aberystwyth, who joined the IAC about 3 years ago on my recommendation, is busy working on the online interactive programme. I thought he did a b...
by Howard-Smith
Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:23 am
Forum: Club and General Issues
Topic: Bill & Dorothy Every
Replies: 1
Views: 5864

Bill & Dorothy Every

Some of you may remember a couple of long-term members of the IAC from Kidderminster, Bill Every FACI and his wife Dorothy. They were both members of the Kidderminster Videomakers group for many years until the group disbanded a couple of years ago. Sadly I’ve been told by a mutual friend Paul Bye t...
by Howard-Smith
Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:52 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION
Replies: 13
Views: 12338

Re: THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION

I bitterly regret having thrown out all my Movie Maker Magazines in 2002 when I was at a low ebb and was having a massive clear-out. If anyone happens to have a collection of them (as complete as possible) that they'd be willing to sell to me, let me know. I remember the first edition I bought from ...
by Howard-Smith
Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:10 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION
Replies: 13
Views: 12338

THE MOVIE MAKER TEN BEST COMPETITION

I've been sent this link by a forum user: http://www.pathefilm.uk/amateurfilm/tenbest.htm On this site it shows Ten Best programmes for selected years, together with complete lists of entries and their star ratings for the years in question. It's a pity that there are many years missing. It's fascin...
by Howard-Smith
Thu Apr 08, 2021 10:18 am
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS
Replies: 63
Views: 44487

Re: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS

Criteria for awarding 1 star at BIAFF: "One Star means... ​Work at this level shows little understanding of the basics of film-making. It may for example have unsteady photography or problems with exposure, obvious distortions of sound or unattractive abrupt changes. It may lack understanding o...
by Howard-Smith
Wed Apr 07, 2021 7:40 pm
Forum: Club and General Issues
Topic: Phil Martin
Replies: 4
Views: 7167

Re: Phil Martin

Oh dear. I found the following two posts from late 2020 with regard to Phil Martin. Post by Willy Van der Linden » Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:54 pm ... On the IAC-web I noticed "A Gentle Woman" by Phil Martin. 4 stars at BIAFF 2011. I wanted to see that "old" one, too. I met Phil at BIAF...
by Howard-Smith
Wed Apr 07, 2021 6:00 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS
Replies: 63
Views: 44487

Re: BIAFF 2021 RESULTS

No John, I didn’t read into Mike’s comment that he meant that a boring film may deserve a high mark, but I have my own opinion on this. (See below.) What he’s saying is that an audience may well disregard certain aspects of ‘incompetence’ in the filmmaking if they are enjoying the storytelling. And ...