Friday 24 April 2009

End of the Pier Film Festival - Is Worthing England's Cannnes?


Roll out the red carpet, something unique and rather good is coming to Worthing, (our) much maligned town on the South Coast. It is true that even the locals expect Captain Manwaining to march round the corner at any moment and the journalists insist on padding the local papers with old news from World War II, however for one week at the end of April, Worthing plays host to to an international Film Festival - a lot of short films and a few UK and World Premiers of feature films - you might just see actors such as Brenda Blethyn, Christopher Walken and Alfred Molina walk the red carpet at the End of The Pier Film Festival.

The Festival does have a number premiers of feature films - including Undertaking Betty - (a riotous look at small town Welsh country life centered around competing funeral homes) on 1May.


The Festival kicks off tomorrow with the world premier of a new British feature presentation Ambleton Delight:



This all Sussex film, stars local Brighton actor and celebrity Brian Capron, who will be attending the celebrity screening along with, we hope, the cast and crew. The story revolves around a small fictional Sussex village by the name of Ambleton, which is rocked by a government proposal for a nearby motorway. (Sound familiar?) Filmed exclusively in Sussex, the film showcases local talent and scenery. Former Coronation Street star Capron, whose television career dates back to ‘Z Cars’ in the 1970s, plays the role of the village mayor. Ambleton Delight is Dan Parkes feature debut. A native New Zealander, Dan has been developing his Brighton based production company, Parke’s Productions, for several years. The film is supported by the End of the Pier International Film Festival's film development fund.


The festival continues all week at the Ritz Cinema in Worthing and specialises mostly in short and low budget movies
Saturday is the Drama and student shorts,
Sunday is Yong Filmakers competition,
Monday is Made in Worthing day,
Tuesday is documentary films,
Wednesday is European shorts,
Thursday International Films,
Friday is comedy shorts and
Saturday is the Awards ceremony and another UK premier - Photoshoot with John (Nasty Nick) Altman.

In addition to the screening of the shorts there is a feature presentation each day - see website for details.
Tickets available here

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