SCREEN SENSATION HEADING FOR INVERNESS

4th May 2015

INVERNESS-BASED creative industries festival, XpoNorth, which promotes creative careers throughout the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, has received almost 3,000 entries from filmmakers across the globe looking to be part of its prestigious film showcase programme.

XpoNorth director, Amanda Millen, put a call out for submissions in January this year for short films to screen at the festival which takes place in the Highland capital in June.

As well as receiving submissions from the Highlands & Islands, the rest of Scotland, Ireland and other parts of the UK, Amanda was delighted when just under 3,000 films flooded in from 107 countries, including Vietnam, Nigeria, Iran and Nepal. Most of the films were submitted via FilmFreeway, a global digital platform for filmmakers to get their work seen by film festivals.

Now, with the festival just six weeks away, 104 films have been successful in their bid to be screened before an influential audience of screen and broadcast professionals. The list includes local home-grown talent from the Highlands & Islands.

XpoNorth (formerly goNORTH) takes place this year on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th June at venues across the Highland capital.

According to Millen, a former BBC producer who also heads up ScreenHI, the screen and broadcast wing of XpoNorth, the sheer volume of submissions has made the selection process a challenge,

She said: "It's been a fascinating process and a real insight into how grassroots filmmaking is thriving in every corner of the globe. The digital age is opening doors for people to make films on a budget wherever they are based. There were some very strong submissions from filmmakers based in the Highlands and Islands and other parts of Scotland.

"XpoNorth is all about giving a platform to emerging talent and offering free practical, hands-on support all year round."

This year, the screen and broadcast element of XpoNorth is being boosted by the presence of The Screen Machine, the 80-seat, air conditioned mobile cinema which is more usually seen in far-flung corners of the Highlands and Islands.

The Screen Machine will be based in the centre of Inverness for the duration of XpoNorth and will provide a unique viewing point for festival delegates to watch featured films. Of the selected films, 78 will be shown in the Screen Machine, while 26 will screen as part of the conference programme.

Special evening programmes include Screen Academy Scotland celebrating ten years in business with a special programme of shorts and a bespoke programme curated by Richard Warden of The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival.

A highlight of this will be a screening of controversial Thurso filmmaker, David Graham Scott's, autobiographical film, Detox or Die. Described as an ‘in-depth portrait of a small-time drug addict seeking redemption’, it tracks his own quick-fix style attempt to shake off a 20-year-long addiction to opiates.

To top off this fantastic feast of film, Millen is introducing The Golden Hour to XpoNorth audiences. Named after cinematographers’ favourite time of the day, the hour just after sunrise or before sunset when the light is softer, XpoNorth will present a selection of Millen’s top picks from partner film festivals.

Details of the full festival XpoNorth conference programme will follow on Tuesday 12th May.

The film showcase list in full:
'About Me' Adam Galloway Canada
1-0 Saman Hosseinuor Iran
1900-2000 Benoit Berthe France
3 Shades Vivek Joshi India
A Friend of Ours Joey Jameson Australia
A Lost Youth Andy Salamonczyk United Kingdom
A Time Of Freedom Douglas McDowall United Kingdom
A Wee Night In Stuart Edwards United Kingdom
Adana Kebap Özgür Barut Turkey
Agradecimento Diego Akel Brazil
All You Do Is Shag Manu Bueno Spain
Anatomy of a Sunbeam Larica Perera Canada
Arty Anne Marcin Walczak United Kingdom
As He Lay Falling Ian Waugh United Kingdom
Available Light John Edwards United Kingdom
Baby At Any Price Clicquot Guillaume France
Backward Run Ayce Kartal Turkey
Better Than Tomorrow EuiJeong Hong United Kingdom
Botev is an idiot Deyan Bararev Bulgaria
Calling Ukraine Jean Counet Netherlands
Camouflage Lucinda Verweij Netherlands
ChatRoulette Alexander Thomas United Kingdom
Children's Allowance Brian Stynes Ireland
Chinatown Mehmet Gözetlik Turkey
Cold War Julija Proskurina Ukraine
Companion Sean O'Neill United States
Curse of the Society Naimur Rahman Jeem Bangladesh
Daily Bread Betsy Tsai United States
Dark Side of the Earth Aćim Vasić United Kingdom
Deer and Firework Cheng Yixuan China
Different People Kirill Kosolapov Russia
Directed by Tweedie Duncan Cowles United Kingdom
Dropping Off Michael Zam Salim United Kingdom
e-Social Natalia Lampropoulou Greece
Elysia Greg McCarron United Kingdom
Everything For The Movies Lukas Buys Belgium
False Allegory Greg Doble Canada
First Ascent Katrina Brown United Kingdom
Fly With Me Joelle Tyea Enver Singapore
Freistil Jannis Lenz Austria
Go Daan Go! Mari Sanders Netherlands
Happy New Year Joseph Israel Laban Philippines
Harvest Kit McDee Australia
Heaven Group Andre Nyström Sweden
Heavyweight Jesper Quistgaard Denmark
Hole Parnaz Rad Iran
I've just had a dream Javi Navarro Spain
James and the Urn Louis Clark United Kingdom
Kapi Burak Cilsal Turkey
Keys, Money, Phone Roger Young South Africa
KiaRex Yandong Qiu United States
Love Refrain Silvia Capitta Italy
Lovearthcam Aitor Marín Correcher Spain
Magarwasi Kartik Gupta India
Michel Romain Richard France
Moments Chris Cronin United Kingdom
Money Box Muzappar Osman China
My Sardasht Ziba Arzhang Iran
Norman is Lost Joseph Felton United Kingdom
Nose Off The Fairy Hill Arun Sood United Kingdom
Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution Matthew VanDyke United States
Office Kingdom Salvatore Centoducati Italy
On the Edge Roy Zafrani Israel
One in a Million Darren Langlands United Kingdom
OUT - A Coming Out Documentary Tommy Fletcher United States
Pebble Moon Lian Furness United Kingdom
Planet X Rohit Gill United Kingdom
Razor Aleley Belyakov Russia
Roses Are Red Abbey Sacks United States
Rosso Papavero Martin Smatana Slovakia
Scotoma Mark Callum United Kingdom
Someoneone Else's Skin Patrick Perlman France
Stop Serdar Cotuk Turkey
Surface Mark Jenkins United Kingdom
Switch Man Hsun-Chun Chuang Taiwan
Swoon Jacob Joyner United States
Take Your Time Orson Cornick United Kingdom
Tall Tales Part 2 Jon Turner United Kingdom
Tarweeda Ateeq Mohd Bahrain
Ten Paisa and Grandmother Sachi Bansal India
Tethered Kevin McNulty United States
The Bird That Never Flew Hector Bizerk United Kingdom
The Fight Keith Mannix Ireland
The Future Venetia Taylor Australia
The Girl and her Tail Yong Jie Yu Singapore
The Laboratory With Leaves: Creepy
Crawlies Daniel Roberts United Kingdom
The Latecomers Michael Creutzburg Netherlands
The Longest Day Tim Courtney United Kingdom
The New News Danny Sandler United States
The Penguin Construction Mihály Schwechtje Hungary
The Punishment Nelson Fernandes Spain
The Technician James Arden United Kingdom
The Trouble with Lucie Lionel Kaplan France
The Wheel of Time Kagan Kerimoglu Turkey
Time Capsule Michael Peeling Canada
Tři Cíga Liam Hall United States
Under the Same Roof Dornaz Hajiha United Kingdom
Upside Down Shira Levin United States
Waning Wolf Ian Todaro United States
Way Out Yukai Du United Kingdom
We Got Your Back Viktor Hertz Sweden
Where are you hiding Nadia Abate Italy
White Lining Nor Hazlin United Kingdom
White Swan Olivier Lallart France

The annual Inverness-based XpoNorth festival is devoted to boosting creative careers in the Highlands and Islands and beyond and takes place this year in Inverness on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th June.

The only event of its kind in Scotland devoted to crafts, publishing, screen and broadcast as well as music, XpoNorth is also attended by leading creative industry insiders, who take part in workshops, panels and masterclass sessions over the course of both days.

XpoNorth, is funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The four genres under the collective banner of XpoNorth are:

XpoNorth Crafts/Fashions/Textiles and XpoNorth Writing and Publishing
Supported by Emergents, the network which co-ordinates HIE industry networks for craft, fashion and textiles as well as writing and publishing. It is managed by Pamela Conacher and Peter Urpeth, who both bring extensive experience in their respective fields of craft, fashion and textiles, and writing and publishing, to XpoNorth.

XpoNorth Screen and Broadcasting
ScreenHI is headed up by Amanda Millen, who is also director of XpoNorth. ScreenHI is the Screen and Broadcast Industry Network for the Highlands and Islands and has been operating for four years. It offers experiences, job opportunities and industry networking to screen and broadcast businesses in the Highlands & Islands.

XpoNorth Music is managed by former goNORTH music producer Alex Smith along with the team at Ironworks Venue. It has been established as the new Music Industry Network for the Highlands and Islands and will be delivered by Ironworks Group. The 2014 festival showcase schedule in Inverness included much-lauded emerging artists such as Neon Waltz, Baby Strange, Ella The Bird, Hector Bizerk and Broken Records.

Website: www.xponorth.co.uk
Twitter: [AT]XpoNorth
Facebook: www.facebook.com/xponorth
Instagram: www.instagram/xponorth
Hashtag: #xponorth