Making it big in the film business isn't easy but Simon Ellis is carrying on the tradition set by the likes of Notts based Shane Meadows and Chris Cooke. He's already had his features shown on Channel 4 and MTV as well as festivals in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Canada. Now his short film, What The..?, has been viewed by an American audience at The Other Venice Film Festival in Los Angeles, California.
 | | Nottingham filmmaker Simon Ellis |
His was one of three Nottinghamshire features being shown in Venice Beach as part of a tie up between the festival organisers and Nottingham's Bang! film festival. The others are The Brick, a short film by local animator Max Crow, and Chris Cooke's first feature film, One For the Road. The link with LA will be reciprocated in April although the event is already a sell out. Simon Ellis graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 1995. Since then he's written and directed 17 short films. He's been talking to Nigel Bell about his career, getting disillusioned with filmmaking and the short, What The..?, a Science Fiction comedy drama about a man being followed by reality TV. You can hear more about that and:- - The value of screening at festivals
- Giving up then getting back into filmmaking
- The history of What The..?
- Screening around the world
- Progressing from shorts to feature films
- Shooting with film
- Snubbing America
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Simon's screening in LA took place on March 19th 2006. The next Bang! Short Film Festival is on the weekend of 22nd/23rd April 2006 at Broadway Cinema, Nottingham. Details on 0115 952 6600. | 
