| Profile : Paul Bradshaw | Paul is a photographer providing images for the Nottingham Evening Post, the Leicester Mercury and City Life magazine among others. He grew up in Clifton but now lives in West Bridgford and in his spare time provides vocals and guitar for the 4-piece progressive rock outfit "Shatner's Bassoon". He is a film-maker and has also worked on the feature films "24/7" and "One for the Road" both shot in and around Nottingham. "I've moved around a bit, living in London, Vancouver and Seattle (also Stoke on Trent!) but I love Nottingham, it's got a great mix of "big-city" glitz but has retained it's gruff charm." |
Bang! Film Festival Sunday 31st July, Broadway Cinema Bang! is slowly emerging as the most significant of the regions short film festivals and here's why: it's non-competitive, open to all formats, anything goes. Over 300 people visited the screenings over this weekend making it the biggest bang! Ever. Three times a year and a special (the excellent Mayhem, see past review) allow the organisers of Bang to cherry pick from over 500 hundred entries - drama, documentary, comedy, animation, films made by the local community tackling important issue- crime and youth in the remarkable Street Life, a short written by youngsters from Radford/Hyson Green in collaboration with Paul Fraser the screen writer of 24/7 and Heartlands. There are films from far and wide, the creepy and unsettling Snapshot from London filmmaker Luke Blair or the hilarious animation Best Band Ever from Matthew Tregoning, which casts Mother Theresa on drums. But what's really crucial about this festival is the local work from the upcoming talent of the region - this is truly an opportunity to monitor the health of the independent talent in the region- and a chance to submit your latest opus, even if it's really rough around the edges and shot and made for a fiver. Highlights for me were the sweet Freya, from rising star Simon Ellis, which explains why it's called the beautiful game as we watch a three year old girl get to grips with the ins and outs of football and The Night We Killed a Fox by Sarmad Masud, a gentle, bitter sweet tale of male bonding on a lonely summers night in a Nottingham estate - brilliantly written and observed. There were of course, many other excellent films on offer, all tightly packed into an hour and a half - and along with Electric Lounge’s DJ’s downstairs and a screening in the Café Bar of experimental and animated work this has to have been the best bang ever! Next up is the Christmas edition - so send your entries in now; it's going to be massive. Bang! screens again on the 17th/18th of December 2005. | 
