Short Digital Film Festival 2003
25 - 26 June 2003
New Short Film Festival at the tic won by young Birmingham performing arts group.

The first Short Digital Film Festival held by Birmingham’s Technology Innovation Centre (the tic) at Millennium Point has been won by locally-based Rage Ensemble - a performing arts company for 14-19 year olds. Entitled ‘The Release’, Rage’s debut movie was a dramatic 10 minute-long story of a young man released from prison trying to go straight. The film, produced with financial support from Severn Trent, was judged to be well written, shot, directed, acted and edited. The Rage Ensemble students who made ‘Release’ are working towards foundation GNVQ qualifications in performing arts

Commended runner-up was ‘Daytrip’, a 15 minute comedy written and directed by Northern Media School masters-graduate Dominic Green and produced by his wife, Jenny. This caused audience laughter which was in contrast with the powerful drama of ‘Release’. These two productions triumphed in competition with 29 other films from a total of 16 directors.

Sub categories for under 5-minutes and 5-10 minutes were won by ‘The Jagged Little Pill’, by the tic’s own Tai Luing, and ‘Plethora’ by Pardeep Sangha from Wolverhampton, respectively.

The Film Festival judges were made up of Midlands film, TV and video production experts - Mike Burch, Executive Producer with Carlton TV, Jane Slater, Executive Producer with Screen West Midlands (responsible for digital shorts and first cut), and Stephen Gordon, Course Director for TV Technology and Production at Sandwell College.

This specialist panel was chaired by the educational correspondent of the Birmingham Evening Mail, Tony Collins who said of the standard: “It was genuinely very high and gave me and my judging panel of screen professionals some tough decisions. We were most encouraged by the wealth of talent revealed in this Festival which is just what the tic wanted to achieve.”

:: More about Rage
The Rage Ensemble is led by West Midlands youth director and actress Kay Morgan, whilst Owen Radmore is general manager of the overall Rage educational charity. The activities of The Rage Ensemble have involved workshops with organisations such as the RSC, the Birmingham Rep, CBSO and the National Youth Music Theatre.

Rage has to seek financial support from a range of sources. Until recently the Rage Ensemble benefited from a DfES support scheme which funds activities that give self esteem, confidence and team-building abilities to 14-19 year-olds. This has been achieved through stimulating the written and verbal skills of the students who, for various reasons, are unable to go to college. (For further information visit: www.rage.org.uk or email ensemble@rage.org.uk)

:: Background to the tic Film Festival
The tic Film Festival was inspired by George Kingsnorth, the tic’s Course Director for its undergraduate degree in TV Technology and Production. A highly experienced freelance director, editor and writer, George also founded the Belfast Independent Film-makers Festival (BIFF).

George has a vision to develop the Festival as an annual event in Birmingham at the tic, part of the University of Central England. He is encouraging students to produce their own short films in competition with ‘all comers’ to stimulate both the creative talent and overall quality of their work and lift the profile of the talents of a new generation.

Steve Smith, head of the tic’s Electronic Media activities backs this vision. He says: “Recently concerns were expressed by Screen West Midlands that the growth of screen media in the region is being held back by a shortage of skilled recruits. This has highlighted for us the need for our tic festival of short films. This event has proved a showcase for new talent. That is a natural step for the tic as we work to create new job opportunities in Eastside - Birmingham’s learning and culture quarter. The tic is a key part of that.”