FOCUS Wales Film Festival 2019
The first ever FOCUS Wales Film Festival took place on Saturday 18th May 2019 with support from Ffilm Cymru & 73 Degree Films. FOCUS Wales is an international showcase festival featuring acts from across the globe - last years' festival welcomed over ten thousand people into Wrexham to enjoy the events! This year's #filmfestival took place at Grove Park Theatre.
The day featured the first ever 'FOCUS Wales Short Film Award' which opened up for submissions from around the world earlier this year. After a great response and some difficult decisions by our judges, 8 short films were ultimately shortlisted for screening on the day.
The festival kicked off with a Stanley Kubrick Celebration. The documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures" was screened, followed by a Q&A with the film's director Jan Harlan. Jan Harlan was also the executive producer of many of Kubrick's films including Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He also worked with Steven Spielberg on the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).
In the afternoon all 8 competition short film screened with introductions from the selected filmmakers. Following this the S4C documentary "Carwyn Ellis: Ar y Cei Yn Rio" was shown, following Carwyn's musical journey to Rio de Janeiro and the the development of his new album - ‘Joia!’ - with a group of top Brazilian musicians.
The awards ceremony was presented by Producer Mark Thomas who kindly offered his time to come and give out the awards at the event.
Competition Winners:
- Stari Grad (Jack Beck)
- Seven Sharp (Roque Cameselle)
Runners up:
- Locations (Daniel Edwards)
- Beta Test (Joel Makar)
- Iolyn (Glen Gair)
- Burning Grief (Roger Barker)
- Tyre Kicker (Martin Cannon)
- If God Were A Women (Joe Edwards)
73 Degree Films would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that attended the event, all volunteers, Film Cymru for their support, Grove Park Theatre for the use of their space and of course FOCUS Wales for including the festival as part of their programme. A special mention is also required for Isolte Avila of SignDance Collective, for volunteering her time to provide Sign Language interpretation for the event.
We're already looking forward to next year!
