Press Release
Film Festival Rolls Final Reel and Screens the Future

Contact: Alison Chapman 07977 211755
alisonc@borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk
Date: March 28th 2005

"This was the third Festival and our best ever with audiences of almost 6,000." said Festival director David Gillam.

Borderlines has screened 60 films from 15 countries at 17 different venues across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Powys and Gloucestershire and hosted High Fidelity director Stephen Frears, Debbie Garcia Koons (Future of Food), Jeremy Gilley (Peace One Day) and Shona Auerbach (Dear Frankie). Twenty one presenters and directors were in attendance to talk about the films being screened.

The Festival also launched Neil Oseman's new film Soul Searcher and premiered Pugilists, a boxing film made by twenty local young people. There was also a music strand to the festival and a day centering on disability filmmaking.

"Combining good, contemporary films like Vera Drake, Ray and Enduring Love with media events like our education conference, YOU TV3, and our directors' talks proved really popular with audiences," says Gillam. Another highlight of the programme were the archive films of old Herefordshire entitled 'River of Life', that tapped into the county's pride in its rural heritage.

"Attendance figures for the festival are up by 35% on last year." Gillam goes on to explain that "I didn't expect Vera Drake to do as amazingly well as it did." Mike Leigh's movie was one of eight sell out titles which included Sideways, Nicotina and Hereford produced low budget digital feature Soul Searcher.

There has been a palpable energy and excitement at the various screening venues, notably The Courtyard. Emerging from a screening of Racing Stripes with her young daughter film fan Rosie Martin said the festival has been marked by " a fantastic choice of films and a feeling of something going on, a real pick up for the spring." Her daughter Tasmin agreed " it's very popular, and I think there could be more films for children."The future for Borderlines looks bright. Borderlines 4 is already in the planning stages for spring 2006. "This third year will be hard to beat, " observes David Gillam, " but we're confident of continuing to find exciting films and creating opportunities for new filmmakers to have their work platformed." The first three years of the festival have enjoyed significant support from Herefordshire Creative Industries that has helped develop the festival. " That phase is now at an end," explains David Gillam, " and so the challenge now is to find new and interesting funding opportunities for subsequent years. It's been incredible to see the growth of the festival and audiences are keen to see it continue to grow and innovate."

Well satisfied by audience turnout and response David Gillam concludes that "The festival is gathering momentum and it's getting onto people's calendars and becoming a staple of their spring entertainment." Gillam is not resting on his laurels, though "We are already starting to plan next year's Festival!"

ENDS

Editorial notes:
1. Borderlines Festival ran from March 18 to March 30 at The Courtyard,
Hereford, Ludlow Assembly Rooms and in rural locations across Herefordshire,
Shropshire, Powys and Gloucestershire. www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk
2. Picture Captions:
* Martin Orbach, Deborah Koons Garcia and Rev. Nick Reid at The Future of Food event.
* Andrew Kimpton-Nye
* Shona Auerbach
* Stephen Frears.

ENDS.

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