The No.6 Cinema in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard was host to a celebration of young film makers at the end of their University degree. Hosted by Iestyn Jones the night was packed with everything from documentaries and dramas to horror comedy and animation.
The night that a group of up-and-coming directors had been waiting for finally arrived as the No.6 cinema hosted a variety of student productions. Many of the directors, actors, writers and creatives showing their work were in attendance and full of nerves but the night paid off as every film was met with love, appreciation and applause.
The No.6 hosted the event just above Action Stations in the Historic Dockyard, The venue was decorated with balloons and streamers. The No.6 also has its own bar that was serving soft drinks, alcohol, snacks and water to enjoy along side the student films.
Director, writer and creative jack-of-all-trades Iestyn Jones was extremely busy the night of the premier, Jones hosted the night in front of an entire audience along side showing his student work on the big screen. The young film maker seemed both ecstatic and humbled, there was a real sense of pride glowing from him that felt genuinely infectious.
Catching up with Iestyn straight after the premier, He spoke about how “The night went really well, The audience loved it” and that it was “Really good fun, the crowd was great, I’m just so glad we got to do it.”
Fellow writer and director Ellis Jones was just as occupied as Iestyn by being one of the continually re-occurring faces of the night.
Ellis had a part in three of the six films that were showing that night along with being on stage intermittently to introduce his own projects.
Jones’ passion for his film, crew and friends was obvious as the director made sure to give everyone their fair shout outs. After the premier Jones seemed to be walking on air, Saying that “it was quite amazing seeing my films on the big screen” and continued to say “It was amazing, it got such a great reception, I’m extremely proud and pleased of myself.”
Creator of Metal Vengeance Livvy Walker wasn’t able to attend the screening but was represented by myself. Walker did the entire production of Metal Vengeance on her own and drew everything with her own hand.
With voice acting was by Cerys Goode and Tamzin Black. I was there giving out free stickers to fans of the animated film along with passing along praise to the animator.
The film received massive success with many of the audience being baffled and amazed at the fact it was animated by one person. Livvy Walker gave a remote statement saying she was “really glad her film got received well” and that she once again “says thank you to the no.6, her friends, family and her lovely dog clubz.”
Actor Lara Taylor who stared in Ellis Jones’ Blood Like Wine was also extremely enthusiastic about being in a film on the big screen and the opportunity the film gave her.
Lara Taylor is a Portsmouth based actress who played the protagonist of BLW, Sammy, who finds herself in the clutches of three hungry polyamorous vampires and must escape.
After the showing, Lara spoke about the night saying “I’ve done mostly stage stuff so I was really scared coming into this” but continued to say “Ellis and everyone was really good, Its so good.”
The No.6 Cinema has now entered its off-season and will re-open in Autumn 2024, Keep an eye on their website for other upcoming events. UOP's student film makers now get ready to face life outisde of University as they move on to jobs, personal projects and post-graduate studies.
A great big HUGE thank you to everyone involved in the UOP screening, Thank you for allowing me to be part of things and cover the event in detail over three articles.
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