I spent much of last week hopping on trains to go off and watch The Yellow Monster at its most recent festival screenings. Having been unable to make it to the Document Human Rights Film Festival in Glasgow in October, it was great to be there in person and see/hear the audience's reaction to the film.

At Filmstock in Luton we were programmed with 3 other interesting shorts (about the African film industry, freegans and creationism respectively). This was a very friendly little festival with a dizzying array of beers from around the world (always a plus in my opinion!) and they really looked after us filmmakers.

One of the most memorable moments was being invited to draw my hand on the wall along with those of all the other filmmakers at the festival. Unfortunately I completely messed mine up and it ended up looking like a podgy little alien's hand (!) Even the addition of some 'nail varnish' didn't really help! In the 'hand-on-wall' stakes I was very much outshone by my esteemed editor David. Luckily, my lack of prowess with the felt tip pen didn't affect the screening of the film, which seemed to garner a good reaction.

After Luton, it was off to Leeds for the much larger Leeds International Film Festival. This had a completely different vibe as it was so much bigger. It was also a bit of a treat for me as Leeds was where I got my first ever job in television and I managed to persuade my boss from those days to come along and watch the film. I was unexpectedly nervous about him seeing it - after all, the whole Tenner Films project ultimately leads back to him giving me that first break as a researcher. Fortunately, I think he enjoyed it!

At Leeds we were programmed along with a Swedish feature documentary about Chernobyl and consequently I think the audience were more specifically interested in the subject matter than they were in Luton. Certainly a number of people came up to talk to me about the film afterwards, which was very satisfying.

As the calendar year rolls on, I will be entering The Yellow Monster in a few more festivals, but for now, I shall have to leave the fun of the festivals behind me as  I get cracking on editing the Dounreay footage, and carry on with all the other production and funding efforts needed to keep the project moving forward.

As always, any tenners for the cause are very welcome - so spread the word!!