11-10-11 / RESPECT TO ANDY SESTON
Today we say goodbye to Andy Seston, the ever-cheeky make-up and special effects artist, and a giant amongst men. Cruelly stolen from us by cancer at the age of thirty-four, he is simply one of the most warm spirited human beings I have ever known. A truly calming presence with a big heart and an enviable sense of humour, it is with much regret that I shall never have the pleasure of working with him again. While it is always a cliche to speak in such terms when remembering the deceased, anyone who is lucky enough to have known Andy will know these words are far from empty. You won't be forgotten mate.

25-09-11 / ANOTHER PETEBOX SHOOT
Number eight of nine done and dusted. Well, far from dusted, but, err, done. Shot. Look, I'm tired, okay? The usual thanks go out to Graeme Crowley (for the camera), Graham Forde (for the loupe), Al Clark (for the gels), and John Sampson (for being the bat in the belfry). Oh and Peter, for a truly batnuts track.

My GoPro camera has been dispatched from the States and I'm champing at the bit. I can't wait to have a blast on it, it's like Christmas is coming.

21-09-11 / MILAN FILM FESTIVAL & OTHER STUFF
Well, it's HIGH time for an update. I've been working on a significant series of videos for The Petebox, which will be announced in due course, and also directing a new commercial.

I also just returned from Milano Film Festival, where Jam Today was in competition. It was my fourth visit to this festival, and judging by the amount of people flocking to the screenings it is really starting to outgrow itself, in a brilliant way. I stepped off the plane at 10pm into 27 degree loveliness and immediately felt like I was on holiday. The outdoor screen in the park (below) was bigger than ever and I was very much looking forward to screening there...

... but, as noted in my 22-09-09 entry, the festival has a habit of attracting thunderstorms as the boil of summer starts fighting with the promise of autumn. Unfortunately for me, the lightning started zapping two hours before my scheduled screening, the heavens opened and started weeing over everything, and the screening was cancelled. Bummer. Rain conspired against us during the film's production and it obviously still hasn't finished putting the boot in. As gutting as it was though, the festival had too good an atmosphere to dwell on the disappointment. As small consolation, the film did screen the following day in a fantastic indoor venue (below), albeit in the middle of a 'short film marathon' which saw me half-asleep and somewhat confused by the time I got up for a short Q&A, two and a half hours in.

In other news, I'm all set on the concept for Hamburg Short Film Festival's 2012 trailer and will be going over there to shoot it very soon. It's a pretty exciting idea and I can't wait to get stuck in.llo

28-07-11 / ARCHIVING CONTINUES WITH 'CHOOSE A DIFFERENT ENDING'
As part of my ongoing and masochistic mission to remaster and archive my catalogue, just in case I fall into a big hole any time soon, I have finally cut my own version of a promo for Choose a Different Ending. Although it's only for showreel purposes I thought it worth putting up here. I'd wanted to do this a long time ago but the need to re-encode gazillions of files from Mac to PC format, plus working on new projects, prevented it from happening.

01-07-11 / 'A STORM AND SOME SNOW'
A little film I made in 2006 called A Storm and Some Snow, which is quite mad, gets its online debut. Be sure to watch it in the dark though or you won't see much.

It was shot with a basic single-chip MiniDV camera, which was the only camera to hand at the time. A better camera probably would have been struck anyway.

The "HD" option is simply out of frustration with repeated SD uploads displaying even more ghastly compression in the sky, so depsite the low shooting resolution, please be sure to switch "HD" on (and avoid watching it in a bright room).

27-06-11 / AWARDS FOR 'WHO KILLED DEON'
Who Killed Deon just won a gold at the Clio awards and silver and bronze lions at Cannes.

16-06-11 / 'JAM TODAY' AT PALM SPRINGS / HAMBURG NEWS
Jam Today will receive its US premiere at the prestigious Palm Springs Shortfest on Friday 24th June at 13:30.

Hamburg Short Film Festival was brilliant as ever, and those who pulled out for fear of E.Coli really missed a treat. With sunshine and friends old and new, for me it was like a big birthday-holiday with the best people ever. I spent hours today fannying around trying to get a picture gallery to work but failed miserably. Jam Today enjoyed its first public screening (for me) and I came over all funny in the second Q&A. Of the other films, I have to mention Nicolas Provost's Stardust (Belgium). I'd been fortunate to see this prior to the festival but it was something else on the big screen. For my money he is one of the most interesting experimental filmmakers out there, doing something fresh in the company of impregnable, repetitive indulgences that seem incredibly dated these days and don't actually experiment much at all.

I'm honoured and somewhat terrified that the festival have asked me to make the trailer for next year's edition. Having attended for the last ten years I have seen many previous versions and, whether the audiences love or hate them, they always have an opinion because they are screened so many times each day. It's more unnerving than screening a film but I'll be damned if I'm going to bottle out. Unless I do of course, in which case I'll just come back and delete this paragraph and it'll be your word against mine. Trailer? What trailer? Nah, I think you're confusing me with someone else, pal.

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