Hull lights up from tonight with shorts

The biggest British short film festival north of London, and Netribution partner, Glimmer (the 7th International Hull Film Festival), opens tonight with a packed program. I will be at the festival over the weekend for an interesting event on Saturday:

Pay to Play? 25th April, 3.30pm-5pm

This year GLIMMER allowed filmmakers to choose how much they paid in submission fees. This was not only to allow those who would normally be unable to afford to enter film festivals the chance of submitting their films but also to promote a debate about the ethics of charging for entry. From this Glimmer presents a panel discussion that looks at the current financial climate in which film festivals – and the entire film industry – find themselves in with a global recession and, in the UK at least, the Olympics threatening public money for the arts. It will also examine how the industry treats those who work within it: with low pay and many people working for virtually free. Just when should people be adequately rewarded for the work they do and when does the phrase “You should feel lucky that you’re working on something you enjoy,” start to become tiresome?"

Against the backdrop of Pirate Bay tweets, this should be a particularly interesting topic, especially given Netribution's DVD editor and Hull Film head, Laurence Boyce's history of inspiring debate at festivals. Netribution's first public discussion was the now infamous Who Shot British Film?, a provocative chat at Leeds Film Fest under Laurence's drive, then the Never Mind the Celluloid debate he conceived in 2005. This predated and foretold the 'garage filmmaker' renaisance YouTube/Vimeo/DailyMotion presents us with today (and even made it to the pages of Wikipedia!). Check www.hullfilm.co.uk for updated information on speakers and other events.