It’s been a busy month.
Action On The Side
September 2026: I’ve been running the Action On The Side one-month weekend filmmaking project. This was our 26th one-month project (since 2013 — see I’m tracking that now!), and we made our 34th short film: SpiceGirl
The film has some audio issues, so we are re-synching and should be releasing it tomorrow.
In the meantime, please see the behind-the-scenes video, which just went live.
I’m a bit behind with some other AOTS projects and announcing their results / sharing their videos, so I am on that this week.
We are also in the lead-up to the AOTS 48*Hour Film Competition, which runs 23-25 October 2026.
Again, I’m a bit behind on promoting the competition, and I need to see how much energy and how many funds I have to run it. We have an exciting prize for this year, and I do want it to go ahead, but there’s a lot involved.
Interview
I spoke on the JDH Podcast about filmmaking and the projects I run. The video was released this week. Thank you for your time, JD and Antigone Productions.
Film Festivals (Screening)
Garage screened at the Worcester Film Festival on Saturday 26th September. It was fantastic to see the film on the Odeon screen, with other well-made short films, with a supportive audience. I attended with Director Dympna Jardine, Co-Producer / 1st AD James L. Perkins, and our 1st AC Caleb Saraceni (and Tom and Emma).
This was my weekend: Friday night was the delivery of SpiceGirl. I stayed in to get the colour graded video from our Editor (Hannah) and the sound from our Sound Editor (Lou), whilst I set up the film on IMDb and Letterboxd.
Saturday morning, I updated the credits, synced and exported the video. I drove 3 hours to Worcester, arriving at 2pm, ready for our screening at 3.15. After the screening, I attended (some of) the feature ending the festival, had a lovely dinner with Dympna and Tom, then drove back to London. Tiring, but worth it.
Sunday, I was prepping everything for the premiere. We had the premiere, then drinks at a nearby pub, and today (Mond) is all about rest (which is clearly working, considering I’m writing this blog post).
More festivals
Drone screens at Night Frights LA Horror Film Festival this coming Friday (2nd October). I’m sorry that we can’t attend.
Both Garage and Drone have been selected for the Bournemouth International Film Festival, although only Drone is screening as a Finalist. Please join us for the screening on Friday 9th October at 7PM. I’ll be attending with members of the cast.
Garage screens at the Love & Hope International Film Festival in Barcelona. The film is in the Worlds in Motion block, 10am on Saturday 17th October. I’ll be attending with Director Dympna and Isabelle Clare (Grace).
Festival Judging
I am now a judge for the Bournemouth International Film Festival (don’t worry, I didn’t select my films). I’m watching some of the short films for the festival.
I am a judge with the International Film Festival of the Hague. Announcements of the film selections will come out soon. There have been some interesting discussions with the other judges. I’ll be attending the festival 13-15th November 2026.
In addition to the work I’m doing with the Creative Kiwi Collective (CKC), I’ve been invited to be on the Screen Committee for FANZA, the Foundation for Australian and New Zealand Arts. What that means is that I’m part of the team organising the Australia New Zealand Film Festival, which is held in London in late-Jan / early-Feb 2027. The ANZ Film Festival has been organised by the London Australian Film Society with FANZA, and I volunteered at the London Australian Film Festival earlier this year. I’m very excited to be involved and for the 2027 festival to come together.
