Autumn's definitely here, gloriously damp and leaves crunching in between galoshes…

Shoot Canary Wharf Exhibition, Screening and Quiz

Last Tuesday saw the opening of Shoot Experience's Shoot Canary Wharf exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf. Among the free drinks and discussion about the participants' fine photographic skills, The CWFF Team also put on a screening of the best films from the CWFF 09 programme. Yes, it's the first one to do the rounds and there will be more coming up… And to round the evening off with a bang, we had a Little Big Film Quiz, too.

A grand time was had by all, and photos from the evening are already up on the CWFF Flickr site.

To see photos from the Shoot Canary Wharf event, you can go to Shoot Experience's site HERE.

In fact, the Shoot Experience guys will be at Spitalfields Market this weekend with their last event of the year as part of the East London Photography Festival.

Read all about it at www.shootexperience.com


Exclusive Deal on VET's 'Shoot, Edit, Stream' Course

It won't be long before we are calling for CWFF 2010 entries, so get to work on your film at VET!

Not sure where to start? The CWFF exclusive course 'Shoot, Edit, Stream' can show you how. It covers camera operation, audio recording, FCP, Avid and encoding! It's an action packed course and you don't need a student loan to do it! Call Claire on 0207 505 4747

VET have spoiled us with their production deals this year and we're thankful. After all, filmmaking is what it's all about! Don't miss the chance to take advantage! Find them at www.vet.co.uk and quote CWFF. They're friendly, passionate and committed to helping newcomers to the industry as well as established industry creatives, so we leave you in good hands.

Get cracking; good luck and we'll see you intrepid filmmakers next year!


There'll be plenty more CWFF news on its way soon. Until then wrap up warm!

Well, it's all over with for another year. Crammed full of screenings, workshops, talks, Q&As and events, CWFF 09 really was out busiest and most exciting edition yet! 5 days, over 60 worldwide shorts, 10 premieres, and 6 Golden Canary Awards, presented last Monday night at East Wintergarden...

And The Winner Is...

CWFF 09 wrapped up in fine style last Monday night with the Golden Canary Awards, bringing together industry professionals, partners, and of course the CWFF 09 filmmakers. Photos from the night, and from throughout CWFF 09, are up on the website and the CWFF Flickr.

So, without further ado, the awards went to...

Tweety Canary Award:  Samuel Tholley
For special achievement during the 3 days of our Next Generation filmmaking workshop.

UK Canary Award:  'Noesis', Dir. Sophie Klevenow
"Beautifully done. Impressive and obviously some talent here." - Andy Whittaker - Dogwoof Pictures

International Canary Award:  '¡Neña! / Baby!', Dir. Lluis Segura
"A charming, hilarious domestic satire. Funny, original... A clear winner for me." - Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, film editor, Metro newspaper

Sing Like A Canary Award:  'A Film About Poo', Dir. Emily Howells & Anne Wilkins
"Loved it! I'll be singing that song for ages!" - CWFF 09 audience member

The Golden Canary Award:  'Dear Matthew', Dir. Keith O'Shea
"A deeply upsetting, emotional and personal doc that really gets across the sense of loss and excrutitaing pain the father is going through." - Eran Creevy

Congratulations to Keith for making such a powerful and affecting film, to all the winners, and to all the other filmmakers featured in the programme. It was undoubtedly our strongest programme yet and everyone had their own personal favourites.


TNT Pub In The Park

And after all the excitement of CWFF 09 why not wind down this weekend at TNT's Pub In The Park event at Greenwich Park?

Pub In The Park, in partnership with TNT Magazine, is an exciting new three day outdoor event, which celebrates an essential and unique part of the British culture - The Great British pub.

Over three days, Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September, Greenwich Park will play host to groups of friends meeting up at Pub in the Park to enjoy a day out in a relaxed environment with something for everyone. Alongside the pubs presenting their best pub food and drinks, Pub in the Park will provide a unique experience with a complete mix of entertainment offering the choice of watching; having a go; tasting or just relaxing…

For more info go to: tntonline.co.uk/events


So there you have it. It's been an intense, jam-packed but most of all FUN festival, so we just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who was involved, to the filmmakers, and to the audience, too.

See you at CWFF 10!

Only one week to go until CWFF 09 officially kicks off! And my my, what a packed festival we have for you this year! And it all begins in fine style with…

The CWFF 09 Big Film Quiz!

We've mentioned it before but this is going to be one heck of an experience. The launch event of CWFF 09 will take place at Marriott West India Quay in big screen, big sound, live action style. With video, sound, live music and live interactive rounds everyone's in for a chance of winning all manner of prizes – cinema tickets from the Barbican, booze from Courvoisier, DVDs and much more! And if you join up to the Facebook event page, you may find a couple of clues about what's in store…

We'll let Phil tell you a little more about it in today's latest Video Blog, but if you're already convinced and think you have the One Team To Rule Them All in the movie knowledge stakes, book your places NOW!

More CWFF HQ Video Blogs!

Speaking of video blogs, it's definitely worth checking back to the CWFF homepage regularly. We've got so much going on as we approach festival time there are exciting new updates going up nearly every day!

Also on the homepage you'll find last week's video blog featuring Ben from our wonderful post production partners VET, explaining a little about how they're helping us this year. AND there's a little info about what they can do for the filmmakers amongst you with an exclusive offer to CWFF members, which we'll be revealing in this very newsletter very soon.

Pitching Session Deadline Extended!

Finally, thanks to pesky postal strikes and Bank Holidays, we're extending the final deadline for the Next Generation Pitching Competition. If you're aged 16-25, from east or southeast London and have an idea burning inside you that you want professional feedback on – plus the chance to win a filmmaking masterclass from Central Film School, you now have until 5pm Tuesday 1st September to get a 50 word summary over to karen@cwff.org.uk

Find out all the info here


It's all very exciting, we think you'll agree. See you very soon!

Welcome to the 21st Century! Yes, we know we're nearly 10 years in, but we've pretty much got a handle on things now as we bring you…


Second CWFF HQ Video Blog Up Today!

Yes, the second video blog is up on the CWFF homepage today – we didn't even have time to flag up the first one (unless you’re on the CWFF Facebook or Twitter). We're putting them up pretty regularly so you can have a glimpse behind the scenes of CWFF HQ and so we can tell you all about what's coming up at CWFF 09 in just TWO WEEKS!

Today's blog is all about getting involved. Phil and Ursula are there to let you know how to become part of the CWFF Team as a volunteer, while Karen tells you a little bit about the…


CWFF 09 Pitching Competition

Seamless. There's still time to enter the CWFF 09 Pitching competition!

At the festival, we'll be running a pitching session where young people, aged 16-25, can present their film idea to a panel of experts and win prizes! The top 5 selected to pitch will all receive screenwriting software and the winner gets an invaluable training course courtesy of Central Film School.

The pitchers will also get the crucial top tips to help them in their future career from our industry panel: Bob Portal (Central Film School tutor / Producer), Liz Hobbs (Moviescope Magazine), Eleanor Stanway (VET), Olivia Bellas (CWFF Festival Director).

And we have a special guest for you; local east end boy and 'Shifty' film director Eran Creevy will be giving his feedback and sharing advice on how he made it up the career ladder, to make both low-budget features and ads for big brands like Nike.

If you want to pitch YOUR idea, applications deadline is 27 August. For more information, please email: karen@cwff.org.uk

NB: If you are under 18 please ensure you have parental consent to attend this event.

It's free to attend the pitching session (and all the Next Generation films and events), so reserve your space HERE!

That’s all for now, but make sure you keep up with the CWFF news wherever you are, whether it’s Tweeting, Facing, Spacing or Flicking.

Well, let's take one deep breath to blow the cobwebs off this thing. Been a little while, hasn't it? We had to shy away from the limelight for a spell while we made all our preparations, but now…

CWFF 09 Now Online!

Second deep breath to tell you all the exciting news! We're very very pleased to announce the CWFF 09 programme is now available online! Get over to the CWFF website now to see all the changes:

See the spanking new CWFF 09 trailer on the home page, featuring music from Sportsday Megaphone! Have a quick peruse of the full CWFF 09 programme - lots going on. See it all in more detail on the Films and Events pages. And find out how to get down there (and thanks to some engineering works it could be a challenge) on the Venues page.

And there's an extra special treat up there. This year, CWFF is extremely lucky to have Eran Creevy as festival Ambassador. He's the director of 'Shifty', "saviour of British independent film", and he only lives down the road. We interviewed Eran for a little feature in the CWFF 09 Festival Guide, but he's such a cool guy with so many great stories, we decided to put the whole thing up on the website. Read all about his inauspicious start in the film industry! Who wouldn't he trust with his girlfriend or small animals? Read his tips for aspiring young filmmakers!

Read his exclusive interview, only in CWFF

Is that enticing enough? We're not Heat magazine, you know. We're much more interesting...

We know it hasn't been that long since the last bulletin, but we have some very exciting news...

Shiny New CWFF Website Up and Running!

We bet you've noticed the brand spanking new features and improvements that have sprung up on the site today. You have, haven't you?

The homepage now shows our regular blog/newsfeed with news and pics letting everyone know what we're up to, there are links to all our other social networks (because one web presence just isn't enough these days), and a brand new Press section. Plus there are some empty pages in there awaiting the announcement of the CWFF 09 programme – full of some of the finest films you've never seen (yet). Details of all the great films, events and booking info will be up on the site from early August.

See it all now at www.cwff.org.uk


One Week Until Submissions Deadline!

Aaaaand for just ONE MORE WEEK there's the Submissions page, ready for the last-minute rush of entries before the deadline on Wednesday 24th June! We can't believe it's come round already, and next comes the incredibly difficult task of choosing the select few to go into CWFF 09's programme – but there's still time to get more in!

Remember, if you're submitting your film we MUST receive all DVDs by Wednesday 1st July, so get submitting and get posting!


Final 'Best Of CWFF' Screening at Departure, 26th June

Speaking of last chances, your very last chance to catch the 'Best Of CWFF' will be Friday 26th June, at Departure in Limehouse. Featuring a selection of UK and International shorts, animations, documentaries and music videos from previous editions of CWFF, it's a quality evening's entertainment and will let you know what to expect from this year's CWFF in September. Oh, and it's FREE!

Screening will start at 7pm.

Departure is an arts centre, bookshop and cafe. Most of all it is a place to come and relax, be creative and perhaps meet other like-minded people. So come down and enjoy these great films in one of London's most unique venues: Departure, 649 Commercial Road, E14 7LW

June already? Gosh. Well, CWFF's itchy eyes and runny nose tell us it must be summer, so we've been getting out and about recently…

CWFF, Quiz and Cocktails

We're still getting over last night's small scale trial of the CWFF Film Quiz, a super-special event planned for CWFF 09. Held in conjunction with the Courvoisier Future 500 network (CVTF500) at The Future Gallery, a fun time was had by all as CWFF tested heads, minds and brains with some quizzical film questions, while Courvoisier provided the illustrious prizes. Big thanks to all who came down and joined in the fun and gave us such positive feedback, and to CVTF500 for hosting the night and providing such gorgeous cocktails.

Photos from the event as well as many other things we're getting up to will be up on our new Flickr site very soon. And stay tuned for more news about our bigger, better, harder, faster, stronger quiz event at CWFF 09, 3-7 September.

CVTF500 is an exclusive network of rising stars across the UK. It's a platform for Britain's brightest talents to connect, share their vision, inspire one another and ultimately collaborate to achieve even greater success...

You can apply to be part of the network and make useful connections with people from any number of industries at their regular events. Visit CVTF500.com for all the info.


Best of CWFF Tour Comes to Candid Projection Room

The next date for CWFF's Best Of tour is Tuesday 16th June, when we'll be teaming up with regular short film night Candid Projection Room. It will be in the Banquet Room at the Candid Galleries, Angel:
3 Torrens St, London, EC1V 1NQ

Admission for this event is CPR's regular bargain price of £3

Submissions to CPR's monthly screening events are continuously rolling for short films of any genre up to 20 minutes. Find out more here.


Canary Goes Tweet

We know you love reading these semi-regular updates, but some people have short attention spans. So we've joined the rest of the world and are now tweeting away on Twitter. You can follow us @CWFF for snippets of what we're up to.

Have a great weekend – and remember: CWFF Submissions deadline is Wednesday 24th June, all DVDs must be received by 1st July! If you haven't entered yet, get on it!

Well CWFF 09 submissions have been open for nearly four weeks, and CWFF HQ is already flooded with submissions DVDs for us to get watching. Thanks to everyone who's submitted so far, but for those who haven't:

Only One Day Until Early Deadline!

Yep, the early submissions deadline is already upon us. That means until 11pm (GMT) tomorrow, Wednesday 13th May, the submission fee is just GBP5! After that and until 24th June's final deadline, it goes up to a still-quite-reasonable GBP8. But a saving's a saving, so submit your film via the CWFF website now!


Upcoming 'Best Of CWFF' Screenings

CWFF has some special screenings coming up – a short programme of films exclusively for kids! Featuring some of our favourite animations and shorts from previous CWFF years, the screenings will be at east London's Idea Store learning centres, so come down and enjoy some entertainment for all the family!

The screenings will take place at:

Idea Store Chrisp Street – Sunday 17th May, 11.00am
Idea Store Whitechapel – Sunday 24th May, 1.00pm


CWFF Needs Your Help!

A call to all CWFF's post-producing friends! This year, we need a new post production partner to help us with creation of a CWFF 09 ident and a festival trailer, plus compiling film screenings to include any transfers, encoding and overall quality control.

Unfortunately, as is so widely the case this year, we have very little budget to work with, so we're asking you to do it for the love. CWFF can offer you branding on our website and marketing materials, and access to the festival and events. And of course a great experience working with a small but dedicated team on an exciting new festival!  This is a perfect way of targeting filmmakers directly and letting them know about the services you offer. We're flexible and open to negotiation so any other suggestions welcome.

We do need plenty of commitment throughout July and August to meet our deadlines, maintain our high standards and create a strong visual identity for this year's festival.

If you'd like to know more, please contact Festival Director, Olivia Bellas: olivia@cwff.org.uk

Hope you all had a relaxing long weekend full of chocolate and such. As you can see, we've spent the time giving CWFF HQ a bit of a paint job and spring cleaning to clear some sack space, because it's finally time to announce…

CWFF 09 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Yes, it's time again to see what all you filmmakers have been up to in the last year as we make ready for CWFF 09 – the third and most exciting edition of CWFF yet!

Plans for this year include a selection of award winning shorts from the worldwide festival stage and a spotlight on the Cinema of Serbia, plus workshops, yet more QnAs with established filmmakers and the illustrious (and brand new) 'Golden Canaries' Award Show to cap things off. But of course we need your films!


Here's What You Need To Know:

As usual we're looking for UK & International shorts, under 15 mins, completed after March 2008.

Animation
Live Action
Documentary
Experimental

The Early Deadline is May 13th, 09, with a reduced entry fee of £5.
Final Deadline is June 24th, 09, with the full entry fee of £8.

The entry form and all the info is online at the new CWFF website NOW.

We can't wait to get viewing!

www.cwff.org.uk

March. It's not just a month, it's a verb, and this month the CWFF team have been marching ever forward towards the official launch of CWFF 09, starting with:

CWFF 09 Submissions Launch 15th April

Yes you read it right, CWFF will open up the submissions floodgates very soon on Wednesday 15th April. We'll be accepting short films of all genres under 15 minutes, but with one difference: this year CWFF will have an overlying theme - Identity. So we're looking for films that tie in to that theme, whether it be cultural, personal or anything in between.

We'll have more details of all the entry requirements when we remind you again on launch day, and full rules and regulations will be available on the CWFF 09 website, coming very soon!


'Best Of CWFF' Tour Coming Soon

Next month will also see the start of CWFF's 'Best Of CWFF' screening tour, which will show highlights of the last two editions' programmes at various locations over the coming months. New dates and venues are being confirmed all the time, and you'll be able to see the schedule on CWFF's Myspace, the new Facebook fan page, and probably Twitter, too (once we figure out how to use it).


Shooting People Success For CWFF Films

Trevor Hardy's animation 'Pushkin', featured at CWFF 07, won Shooting People's Film of the Month for February. Clearly the voters loved it as much as we do. Congratulations Trevor!

You can see more of Trevor's work on his website: www.foolhardyfilms.com

This month, there's another CWFF alumnus in the running: Matt Strachan's 'Giraffes and Laughs and Feelings and Things', which received its world premiere at CWFF 08. The charming and bittersweet love story will be up for the March vote until midnight on Tuesday 31st March, so get watching and rating HERE