Filmstock 11: This is the End

As the last ever day of Filmstock came to the end, the bar went dry, Filmmakers said their goodbyes and I went photo mad.

The £11 Stockholder pass meant ridiculous value for money.

Which Filmstock was your first?

The poster says it all.

The ‘Box’ Office – get it!

The Filmstock office museum/archive thingy.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The shining light that was the [...]

Filmstock 11: Oil City Confidential

Having made his last two documentaries on The Sex Pistols and Joe Strummer, Julian Temple completes his trilogy on 70’s music, with a beautifully inventive look at British pub rock band Dr Feelgood. A band who burst onto the British music scene in the middle of 70’s, with their high-energy take on the Blues and R&B. Overlooked [...]

Filmstock: This One Goes to 11

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You know the sinking, gut wrenching feeling you get when your favourite TV show up and quits at the height of its success, or that band you love and adore call it a day after just a couple of kick arse albums? Well that’s something I’d always presumed wasn’t [...]

Filmstock 11: The Best of the Shorts

The Filmstock short weekend has become somewhat of an annual event in my life in recent years and whatever I had planned for my summer or winter (the festival moved dates during its lifetime), I always made sure these dates were free in my diary. However, after 2009, I’ll have a big hole in my [...]

Filmstock: Establishing a Film Festival

When you live in a town where the closest thing to independent cinema is Legally Blonde 2 you could be forgiven for upping sticks to London. Instead, Luton-based Justin Doherty and Neil Fox of Zero Balance decided to create their own film festival, Filmstock.
How did you identify a gap?
Justin: We lived in the gap, we [...]

Filmstock 11

As anyone will know who reads my posts on Directors Notes, knows I’m a big supporter of my local film festival Filmstock and unashamedly try to promote it whenever I can. It’s with that in mind I’m posting to all our filmmaking readers out there, to let them know that Filmstock is now accepting submissions for [...]

Filmstock 9: Nicolas Roeg – Puffball

Having missed most of Filmstock being down with the sickness, I was really looking forward to seeing the screening of Nicolas Roeg’s Puffball and especially looking forward to hearing the director talk about his career.
Roeg’s films have held a special place in my heart for some time now and whenever I watch Walkabout and Don’t [...]

Filmstock 9: Choke

I can’t believe it’s been 12 months already since one of my favourite times of the year!
Never was a massive fan of Halloween, fireworks are always a little disappointing, but give me an independent film festival right on my doorstop, showing over 150 films and I’m as happy as kid on Christmas day – in [...]

DN EP 098: Seeking Wellness – Dan Schneidkraut

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It’s with complete unashamedness that I admit we discovered this week’s guest Dan Schneidkraut from our well mined source of the Filmstock Film Festival when El Vez spotted Daddy’s Time, Part two of Dan’s Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements quadrilogy of films. My interest in the films only [...]

Bin Appetit

For those of you who can remember one of my only attempts at podcasting back in November last year (DN064), will be familiar with director Craig Rook and his short documentary What A Freegan Waste. Craig’s insightful documentary exploring the lifestyle of Freeganism, proved not only very popular with everyone you guys (It’s actually the [...]