Portobello Film Festival

You may have heard of the Venice Film Festival andthe Cannes Film Festival, glamorous occasions with A-list celebrities from themovie world turning out to promote their latest projects. A festival you mightnot know is the Portobello Film Festival which is currently taking place inPortobello an area of West London. It’s had its own independent film festivalfor a number of years and to learn more about it I spoke to the festival’sdirector Jonathan Barnett. I first asked him when and how it started.
　　Jonathan BarnettWell it started in 1996 because even back in those days there were people making very lowbudget films often using video equipment and there wasn’t really anywhere for them to showtheir films so we thought it would be nice to provide a platform for these filmmakers. We hadthe mad idea at the time of showing every film that was submitted and we also decided not tocharge because I suppose at heart we weren’t rabid capitalists.
　　Callum:  It started in 1996 as a way of giving independent filmmakers somewhere toshow their films. As Jonathan said, to give them a platform. These films hedescribed as low-budget films which means they were made without verymuch money. He also talked about their policy on which films to show in thefestival. He uses the word submitted, the past participle of the verb ‘to submit’.
　　In this case it means to send in. People send in or submit films to the festivalorganisers hoping they will be part of the festival. Which films does Jonathansay they show and how much do the filmmakers have to pay to submit theirfilms? Listen again.
　　Jonathan BarnettWe had the mad idea at the time of showing every film that was submitted and we alsodecided not to charge because I suppose at heart we weren’t rabid capitalists.
　　Callum:  Jonathan says that they show every film that is submitted. They also decidednot to charge. So it’s free for filmmakers to submit their films and it’s also freefor people to go and see the films during the. This he describes as a ‘mad idea’
　　but he explains it by saying that they are not ‘rabid capitalists’ which meansthey are not doing it to make money. After hearing this I wondered just howmany films are being shown and where they do get the money from to run thefestival. Listen out for that information. How many films are being shown andhow do they manage to pay for it? He mentions some sources of funding fromdifferent organisations, but what else does he mention is a financial support?
　　Jonathan BarnettThis year we’re showing 700 films. The money comes in from funding, we get money frompeople like Film London and the Arts Council and also we get a lot of ‘in kind’ support fromsponsors. So we don’t have to pay for advertising, we don’t have to pay for launch parties, wedon’t have to pay for prizes.
　　Callum:  700 films are being shown this year and as well as receiving money fromdifferent arts and local organisations the festival gets ‘in kind’ support fromsponsors. This means that sponsors of the festival get publicity from theirinvolvement with it and therefore don’t charge for the goods and services theyprovide.
　　Over the first three weeks of August 700 films are being shown as part of thePortobello Film Festival. What kind of films can be seen? Are they just shortstudent films or does the festival attract big names as well? Here’s festivaldirector Jonathan Barnett.
　　Jonathan BarnettThe actual films we’re showing are a lot better than anything you’ll see mostly on the tele orin the multiplexes and it’s everything from student films and we also get stuff from topfilmmakers like, for instance, John Malkovich. So I think because we’re a festival that has areputation for a certain amount of integrity and also being a little bit out on a limb we attractthe big names as well as people who are just starting out. The first year of the festival we hadGuy Ritchie’s first film which was called the Hard Case, which was fantastic, it’s exactly thesame as Lock Stock and Snatch but he was kind of formulating his ideas and it was a shortfilm.
　　Callum:  Jonathan believes there is a very high quality of films from new studentfilmmakers to established and well-known artists such a John Malkovich. Healso mentioned the British director Guy Ritchie who had international successwith the films Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. In thefestival’s first year Ritchie submitted a short film called Hard Case whichJonathan said was fantastic, and it showed Ritchie formulating or developingthe ideas that he would later use in those mainstream films. The PortobelloFilm Festival runs until the 21 of August and as well as films there are otherarts events as well. Jonathan wants the festival to be more than just for film.
　　Jonathan BarnettYes, what we want it to be is, we want it to be a bit like a kind of cross between Glastonburyand Edinburgh, but for free and set in Portobello Road.