My Experience at the Fastnet Short Film Festival
03:41
So as mentioned in my previous post, I spent the majority of last week volunteering at the Fastnet Short Film Festival in Schull. Overall I had a great time, the volunteer work wasn't horrible, I got to meet new people and I got a free t-shirt, so overall I was pretty happy!
The festival was pretty chill, and everyone was really lovely. It definitely had a more relaxed vibe compared to the other festivals I had been to and hung around. Films were screened in a variety of venues across the village, ranging from upstairs in the bars and cafes, to the local church halls. Overall, it was very relaxed and carefree and you were never really sure who you'd run into. The people wandering around ranged from independent filmmakers, to employees at the BFI.
Even though I was at a film festival, I actually didn't watch many films, if at all. A complete lack of sleep meant that when I wasn't volunteering, I wasn't exactly rushing out the door to a screening, and when I was volunteering, it was generally for seminars or I was rushing around turning on films for other people. I'm pretty disappointed by that because I heard of some amazing films that were shown, and have been spending all my time since attempting to track them down online. Even though I didn't watch many films however, I did go to some great events. The first was an interview between Gerard Stembridge and the director Lenny Abrahamson, whose most recent film was Frank which was released last year and starred Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson. It was incredibly informative, and really gave me an insight into how Lenny Abrahamson works as a director. I also feel that it gave me a ton of tips for my own films. I also got to volunteer and sit in on a seminar hosted by Rob Cullen, whose production company, Boulder Media made cartoons such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Amazing World of Gumball. As a huge fan of animation, it was awesome to hear how he got started and about the process involved in making such great cartoons.
The highlight of the festival had to be my course's screening of our short films on the Saturday. The films were presented by Lenny Abrahamson (which was surreal in itself) and it was absolutely unreal getting to see something that I wrote and directed up on a big screen.
All and all, the Fastnet Short Film Festival was a great experience and I'm really tempted to go back again next year, with the hopes of actually watching films this time! Schull is an absolutely gorgeous village and the festival is really relaxed and friendly. I really recommend it to anyone who lives in the area!
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