'Pretty Things' now online.

At last. Here it is. Enjoy and do let me know what you think. Thanks again to cast, crew and Timothy Foxx Clothing for making this all possible.



Pretty Things from carlo ortu on Vimeo.
If you like the film then please do offer a tip to the Tip Jar via Vimeo.

Interview by Celeste Ramos

It's been a busy month or so for various reasons but just wanted to point you towards an interview I was in, conducted by Celeste Ramos, an American blogger who resides in Norway and saw my short film 'Pretty Things' at Interfilm in Berlin. Check it out by clicking here and look out for 'Pretty Things', which I will be releasing online very soon.

'Pretty Things' at Interfilm

Things have been busy, mainly writing and doing what the majority of people call 'getting by' and I almost forgot to tell you I have more festival news. 'Pretty Things', my short film, will be screened as part of the Official Selection of the 28th International Short Film Festival Berlin. The film will be screened on Friday 16th November. Check out more details here.

CoFilmic

I'm having a pretty good month festival wise and I've got more good news because on Tuesday 30th October 'The Last Man on Earth' will screen at the CoFilmic Comedy Festival as part of its Official Selection. Based in Manchester the line up of people giving talks looks pretty good so I'm going to try and make it.

After Effects

This week I've been on a five day intensive Adobe After Effects course and wow, besides my brain hurting for the amount of information I've been taking in, I'm quite excited about what this new knowledge means. For starters I aim to revisit one of my previous films for a quick bit of extra post production and a clean up on some unwanted elements within the frame. Think George Lucas revisiting 'Star Wars' but on a much cheaper and less ambitious scale. I won't tell you which film I'm working on either in case I totally cock it up. Apart from After Effects I've also had a play around with Premier Pro 6 and decided that it is in fact Final Cut 7 in disguise.

'Cut Loose' Script Reading Coming Up

Just wanted to let you know about something cool coming up.

ScriptReadEast, who provide the opportunity for scriptwriters to have their work read out by actors to a live audience, has selected my comedy road-movie feature script 'Cut Loose' for a reading this Sunday at the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston. It will be a 60 minute extract with drinks after so come along as it should be a laugh.

Details below so do spread the word.

SUNDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER
The Vortex Jazz Club ( upstairs)
11 Gillett Square  London, Greater London N16 8AZ

http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/
Doors open : 3pm ( time to grab a drink from the very low priced bar )
3.30pm START
5,30PM END ( but we always like to have a drink or two at The Vortex downstairs after )
£4 entry

'Pretty Things' to be screened at Raindance

I'm pleased to announce that 'Pretty Things' will receive its world premiere in the Official Selection at this year's Raindance Film Festival. 

Thanks to the cast, crew and Timothy Fox Clothing for making this happen.

It's also good news as 'The Last Man On Earth' was also accepted but I had to withdraw it from the festival as it had already had its London premiere. Damn!

For screening times click here.

New Music Video

Just to let you all know that my new music video is now available to view and the EP is released this Monday 10/09/12. It's for the new Groove Noise record label (Part of Tactal Hots Music) and is a Silosonic tune featuring Dennis Wonder. Watch it and enjoy.


 
Silosonic Feat. Dennis Wonder - Set Me Free (2012) from carlo ortu on Vimeo.

'The Last Man on Earth' at DC Shorts

I'm pleased to say that 'The Last Man on Earth' has been accepted as part of the official selection for the DC Shorts Film Festival. Held in Washington DC this will mark the US premiere for the film which will screen in September.

 Thanks and well done to everyone involved.

Every Time I Think Of You

Due to a lack of blogging activity it may come across to some that things have been rather quiet.  This, though, could be further from the truth and the first of a few projects I've been working on to surface is 'Every Time I Think Of You',  which is a drama documentary I directed for the Blue Print Theatre Company. The film was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and will be released on Monday.

To use the official blurb: 'Every Time I Think of You' is a film about 80s Islington, based on interviews with Islington residents and the traders of Chapel Market. It centres on an urban myth, perpetuated by locals, and harks back to a comparatively innocent era - before mobile phones and the Internet changed our lives forever.

For someone who usually writes and directs and is involved in every stage of the filmmaking process it was an interesting (and a lot less stressful) experience to just come in to direct the drama segments of the piece. From what I've seen the film looks great and it is released this Monday 25th June 2012 and is being screened at the Screen on the Green in Islington, London.

Looking In, Looking Out

From 27 June to 5 July, London's Conway Hall will be home to 'Looking In, Looking Out': an innovative series of screenings and events in which modern and classic cinema is examined and enjoyed in a philosophical context.

The festival's aim is to provide a public platform for the promotion of philosophy, using film as a communicative medium, and hopes to highlight the enormous variety of cinematic culture that audiences consume, and the many different means of approaching that culture.

From Casablanca to the films of the Cohen Brothers, via 'Spiderman' and 'The Seventh Seal', the festival will be exploring some of the most powerful ideas and enduring philosophical themes both on and off the screen.

Exploring free will, identity and consciousness; examining how we define beauty, truth and the nature of morality; the talks and panel discussions will unpack the meaning of art, reflect on what philosophy can add to our understanding of the movies, and ultimately ask: what is film for?

And I'm proud to say that as part of the series 'The Last Man on Earth' will be screened on Wednesday 4th July at 6.30pm. How cool is that?

So get yourselves along to stroke your chin and ponder the deeper meanings of some cinematic gems.

Brain Pickings

I was put onto Brain Pickings by Andy Conway, the Screenwriter moderator on Shootingpeople and it really is rather good.  It advertises itself as:

...a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, culling and curating cross-disciplinary curiosity-quenchers, and separating the signal from the noise to bring you things you didn’t know you were interested in until you are.

It's a first class site with some excellent articles so do check it out and sign up for the newsletter.

What I felt like sharing though was a quote on the subject of why we read and write from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life:

"Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”

Blackmagic and Hitler

Many of you might already be aware of the new Blackmagic Cinema Camera. No doubt it is exciting and could be a game changer, especially for all DSLR users. What made me laugh though and which does appeal somewhat to my anorak sensibilities when it comes to technology, was a link to a 'Downfall' dub of Hitler finding out about its imminent release. I know there have been loads of these for various things but there's a reason why - they're funny.  Watch and enjoy.

The Ritzy Cinema celebrates 100 years

I have fond memories of The Ritzy Cinema in Brixton. One of my first visits there was to watch a midnight screening of 'Trainspotting' when it first came out. The cinema was packed and the atmosphere was buzzing. I must have watched countless films in that cinema with friends over the years since. So I'm pleased to say that as part of the cinema's centenary celebrations they will be screening 'The Last Man on Earth'. Details here so do pop along as a percentage of ticket sales will be donated to the Cinema Museum in London.

'Pretty Things' is complete

My new short 'Pretty Things' was completed in the last few days and we're all pretty pleased with it. It'll be online soon I'm sure but in the meantime thanks to all the cast and crew and especially to Timothy Foxx Clothing for making the film possible. Cheers.

Whirlygig Cinema

If you're out and about this Friday evening then why not pop  down to The Horse Hospital where they are showing my film 'One Other Thing' which is part of a comedy line up of short films organised by Whirylgig Cinema.

Details
Friday 30th March, 7.30pm (films start 8pm)
£5 adv / £6 door / £4 with Whirlygig badge
Venue: The Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London, WC1N 1JD

Plan B and ill Manors

Plan B tackles the riots, the underprivileged and a lot more in his latest music video. It is brilliant. Not since London Calling by The Clash have I heard such an effective politically charged anthem for our times. Have a watch and listen and then check out the interview he gave to BBC 1Xtra.

Some of my films

Vimeo recently had a new make-over and with it comes the opportunity to create video albums. So here's an album of some of my films.

Anthony Minghella

I came across this video earlier and as a great admirer of Anthony Minghella I thought I'd share it with you. It's from a talk he gave to some students at my old uni a few years ago. Enjoy.

Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story

Andrew Stanton, writer of 'Toy Story' and writer/director of WALL-E recently gave a TED talk all about writing. It's a great watch. Check it out by clicking here.

'The Last Man On Earth' on the BBC Film Network

Things have been busy lately. I've been grading 'Pretty Things', polishing a couple of scripts and helping develop a couple of other projects. So it's nice to announce amongst all this business that you can now watch 'The Last Man On Earth' on the BBC Film Network. Nice.

Monday Night Picture Club

There just aren't enough free screening events for short films I feel. So I'm pleased to announce that a new one is starting up in East London. Called the Monday Night Picture Club and run by the talented Kathrine Smith and Ari E Philips the first event kicks off on Monday 23rd January at 7.30pm at Cafe 1001 on Brick Lane. With a strong starting line up of shorts which, yes, does include two of mine ( 'The Last Man on Earth' and 'The Man Who Stopped') the evening promises to be a great opportunity to see some quality shorts and then network in the bar afterwards.

Check out their facebook page for more details and try and get along if you can.

Good luck ladies!

Kevin Curtis is Funny

I know many of you have seen the latest trailer currently doing the rounds called 'Kevin Curtis is a Dead Man', which is a comical and somewhat truthful dig at British films but if you haven't check it out here as it does make you laugh.

I also checked out what else Kevin Curtis has been up to and one excellent short amongst many he has made that is dark, twisted and made me laugh is this, The Last Brownie:

'The Man Who Stopped' shortlisted on Shootingpeople's Film of the Month

We were all very pleased to be shorlisted in December's Film of the Month on Shootingpeople. In case you're not familiar with the competition films uploaded each month are 'liked' by Shootingpeople members and the top three voted films are sent off and judged by a well known industry professional. For December, Andrea Arnold (Fishtank, Wuthering Heights) was judging the competition and she said this about the 'The Man Who Stopped': "I loved the man Derek. I really liked the still shots of him. I understood his desire to be still. The film was funny but made me very sad."

This result marks the second time one of our films has got into the top three as in July 2011 'One Other Thing' won the competition when John Waters was judging.

The winner for December I should add was Ed Lilly's 'The Hive' and our fellow runner-up was Jonathan Harris' 'The Cull'. Well done to you both.

Thank you everyone who liked the film and to all the cast, crew and funders.

More Screenings

Just to let you know that 'The Last Man On Earth' and 'One Other Thing' will be screened at the Shortwave Cinema in London Bridge this Sunday (Jan 15th) as part of a screening night hosted by the New Empress film magazine. For those of you who haven't been to the cinema it is lovely and is where we hosted the cast and crew screening of 'The Killers'. 

Click for details here.

Screen Social Screenings

As part of the 9th London Short Film Festival, the charity music vs film mash-up Screen Social will be spreading its mix of music promos, shorts, animation & experiments, with special showcases and live music guest spots. As part of their line up they will be screening 'One Other Thing' and 'The Last Man on Earth' on Thursday 12th Jan at the ICA and on Wednesday 18th at The Book Club so get along if you can. Details can be found here.

'The Killers' available to view on Blinkbox

What better way to start off the new year than by watching my ultra-low budget feature 'The Killers', which is now available to view on Blinkbox. Go and check it out.