roughcut returns at Golowan Festival 2008 - Kernow

roughcut returns at Golowan Festival 2008
o-region's groundbreaking screening event for local short films, roughcut, makes its long-awaited return at this year's Golowan Festival in Penzance. On Thursday 26th June roughcut will be taking over the Acorn Arts Centre with a selection of the best Cornish shorts submitted from the last twelve months, alongside DJs, secret events and the much anticipated launch of o-region's new filmmaking competition.


"We're ecstatic to be relaunching roughcut at Golowan," explains Oliver Berry, o-region's Associate Director. "We've had a year to take stock and think about where we wanted to take the event, and we're hugely excited about the new quarterly format. We've got a great line-up of new films to show from new and established directors - and we're still on the lookout for top-quality new work!"

The line-up includes work by new directors as well as more familiar names. The programme includes new films by Brett Harvey (Bandages), Mark Jenkin (Another Horizon) and Morgan Lowndes, as well as debut work by emerging directors including Felicity Notley (White Cherry), Ed Sayers (The Allotment) and Christian Butler (In The Garden). Of particular interest to the Penwith audience is Barbara Santi's The Mock Mayor of Penzance, the latest in a series of films specially made for the Golowan audience. There will also be some classics from the roughcut archive hand-picked by the Golowan organisers.

roughcut was established back in 2003 and established a reputation as one of the southwest's most exciting film events, providing a much-needed platform for new directors to show their latest work in front of a live audience. The event has attracted some high-profile supporters, including veteran British director Mike Leigh, who attended o-region's roughcut event at the Cornwall Film Festival and quipped "If this is what Cornish cinema is all about, then let's have more of it!"

After a brief hiatus over the last year, o-region has redesigned roughcut as a quarterly cinematic party. The Golowan roughcut will be the first of four events in 2008, with a summer roughcut at the Sandsifter in Hayle, a Hallowe'en party at Miss Peapod's in Penryn, and a Christmas roughcut back at the Acorn in December.

The event will also see the exclusive launch of o-region's fourth filmmaking competition, building on the huge success of the company's three previous challenges. Despite massive interest in the new competition, the exact details will remain strictly under wraps until the high-profile launch at this year's Golowan Festival.

"roughcut has always been about inspiring new filmmakers and encouraging experienced people to experiment and innovate with new ideas," adds Oliver Berry. "That's what our film challenges are all about - we don't mind whether you've made loads of short films or never picked up a camera in your life. We just want to inspire you to be creative and get out and make something. But you'll have to come along to roughcut in June to find out more!"

roughcut is part of o-region's ambitious 2008 screening network, supported by University College Falmouth, South West Screen, O2 and Penwith District Council. To find out more about the project and to book your tickets for roughcut at Golowan, visit www.o-region.co.uk/film.



For further information please contact Simon Harvey on (07971) 650652
or Oliver Berry on (07971) 256498.