A laboured route to the Grand Final

In July 2016 the Hellfire Short Film Festival’s competition format began in earnest. However, the intention of hosting twelve qualifying rounds over the following twelve months didn’t quite go to plan.

A series of unfortunate events including our venue temporarily closing for renovations and one of the directors being hospitalised 24 hours before a round put our schedule out of sync. The intended twelve months turned into 18 months. Then add the three semi-finals and a wait for our preferred grand final venue to be available and our first year became 22 months.

That said we’re finally here. In just two weeks it will be the Hellfire Short Film Festival Grand Final.

THE AWARDS

Throughout the twelve qualifiers, we received over 3,300 submissions from 143 countries. Of those, we selected 163 to be screened. The 163 turned into 16 and they will all have a chance to win the coveted Hellfire Short Film Festival Best Film trophy among other awards.

The Best Film will be decided by audience vote while the six other awards, Best Director; Best Cinematography; Best Editing; Best Soundtrack; Best Visual Effects; and Best Actor will be decided by our panel of judges.

THE JUDGES

Frank Jakeman

Frank is a highly experienced and award-winning actor and stand-up comedian having appeared in several movies over the years including ‘A View To A Kill’, ‘Rise of the Krays’, ‘Dead Wish 3’, ‘Shed of the Dead’ and the starring role in ‘Christmas Slay’. He has also appeared in several TV commercials including the Ted Baker ad and is currently in the cast of Game of Thrones. He also appeared in Eastenders as a stripper and kissed Dot Cotton!

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Kate Griffiths

With over 15 years’ experience in the film industry working as a freelance makeup artist Kate has worked for huge production companies such as 20th Century Fox (Logan Wolverine) through to small indie filmmakers making both low and high budget films. Kate specializes in horror and special effects as well as stage, theatre and TV makeup. Her gallery and up to date blog can be viewed on theatricalmakeupartist.com.

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Ben Barton

Ben is a Folkestone-based filmmaker whose recent film ‘Stella Erratica’ hit the national tabloid headlines when it was revealed the late great David Bowie funded it. An avid maker of Super8 films Ben brings his aesthetic eye to the judging panel.

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Steve Davis

Steve is a Kent-based film director. His first feature film ‘Christmas Slay’ was the third most watched film on Amazon Prime USA in December 2015 and most watched Christmas film. He is currently working on a World War Two feature film called No Glory.

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Gary Ingoldby-Spate

Gary is a Folkestone-based film producer and formerly an award-winning TV producer. Since Hellfire’s inception, he has been the Executive Director and hosts all of its events.

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The Finalists

Below is the list of short films vying for your vote in the Grand Final:

They Will All Die in Space
Javier Chillon 

One Under
Ruth Pickett

The List
Steve Davis

Destroy Madrid
Joseba Alfaro

Spaceman
Adam Spinks

Might
Emil Sallinen

A Splendid Affair
Laurent Ardoint

Osteopathy
Alistair Train

Fireplace
Muhammad & Samah Safi Bayazid

The Mishap
Ruth Pickett

The Honeymoon
Ruth Pickett

Eternally Child
Lorena Sopi

Gone
Guillaume Foresti

Drawn To Fear
Daniel Robinette

All In A Day’s Work
Andy Coughlan

The Barber’s Cut
Mark Brocking

Where and when

The venue is The Brewery Tap UCA Project Space in Folkestone. A huge thank you goes to the University for the Creative Arts for allowing us to use the space for our inaugural Grand Final.

The date is Wednesday 23rd May and the event begins at 5pm BST (GMT+1).

Tickets

Entry is FREE although spaces are limited so please get your tickets as soon as possible HERE as we may not be able to give away tickets on the door.

We look forward to seeing you in two weeks!