Five short films that featured in the Bolton Film Festival last year are in the running to win prizes at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).
An Irish Goodbye, Too Rough, WanderLand and The Ballad of Olive Morris have all been nominated for the British Short Film category, and Middle Watch is on the shortlist for British Short Animation.
They are five of the 300 films that were showcased at the festival in October, which has grown from a two-day event to five days such has been its popularity.
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Bolton Film Festival director Adrian Barber said: “It’s great obviously to see the filmmakers doing really well.
"As a BAFTA accredited film festival, our selections are put through to the BAFTAs.
“Films shown at the festival often make it through to the final stages.
“It’s quite a common thing, but of course it is (good to see).
"It’s an endorsement of our festival, picking the right films, and it’s obviously great for the filmmakers.
“You do become good friends with filmmakers and see them time and time again, for example Nicole Pott, who directed a film called WanderLand, she’s been coming for years.”
Adrian also spoke about one of the nominated films having had its UK premiere at the festival.
He added: “We got the UK premiere of Middle Watch. Last year I think we got just over 100 premieres out of 300.
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“Most of our films, the filmmakers tend to work through a certain season of festivals, so we tend to get a lot of premieres.
“Now they’re through to the final stages, which is great, but also reflects well on us.
"We get a good chunk of the films represented, which obviously reflects well on our curation and our choices.
“For the filmmakers, it’s a life-changing event to get through to this stage.
"We have 3,000 entries, which we have to whittle down to 300, then around 50 to be eligible to BAFTA.
“But for these filmmakers to get through to that stage is incredibly important.
"It definitely doesn’t mean they’re going to get money and commissions, but it does mean they get meetings and at least get to pitch to the right people.”
For more information about Bolton Film Festival, go to https://www.boltonfilmfestival.com/.
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