A couple of excellent recent screenings to report back from, plus some exciting news about forthcoming screenings over the summer.

On Saturday 9th May, Minister was screened at the Greenpeace London Regional Gathering. Following on from an interesting debate in which two Greenpeace staffers went head to head debating the hot potato issue of whether we really do need nuclear power to tackle climate change or not, the film went down really well.

Even for an audience who were already more than averagely informed on the issues surrounding nuclear energy, the film contained a number of revelations I think, not least how even those in power have been kept in the dark about critical questions. I'm hoping to do more of these NGO screenings as the films are just about the right length to serve as a springboard for some juicy discussions...

A couple of days later (screenings seem to be just like buses - you wait ages etc!), The Yellow Monster was screened at a speaker event held by the WISE Women network (http://www.wisewomen.me.uk/WISE_WOMEN.html). There were very interesting talks from David Fleming of the Lean Economy Connection on uranium fuel supply issues, and Paul Brown, formerly environment correspondent at the Guardian, on the thorny economics of nuclear. I think the very personal stories of the Navajos in Church Rock and Red Valley added a thought-provoking and more human dimension to the debate.

Finally, I am delighted to let everyone know that all 5 of the completed atomic shorts have been accepted on to the Groovy Movie Picture House's Solar Cinema summer tour (http://www.groovymovie.biz/). You can catch the films at any of the following festivals:

May - Redbridge Green Fair, Ilford
June - Glastonbury Festival
July - Lounge On The Farm, Canterbury.
July - Stokes Bay Festival, Hampshire.
Aug - Ruigoord Landjuweel Festival, Amsterdam. NL.
Aug - Folkwoods Festival, Eindhoven. NL

Finally, after much anticipation, and a minor hitch courtesy of some Turkish hackers, the brand new Tenner Films website is online.

Go to www.tennerfilms.com to watch all our completed nuclear power-themed short films, and explore a host of other nuclear-related stuff too, including music, movies, art and news stories.

And if you like what you see, why not consider making a donation of £10, or whatever you can afford.

Thanks!

Another bit of positive news. Found out yesterday that The Yellow Monster has been picked up for US distribution by high profile New York distributors The Cinema Guild. They distribute loads of fantastic films, especially documentaries, including last year's Oscar winner for Documentary Short, The Blood of Yingzhou District, so it's really great to be included in their catalogue.

See http://www.cinemaguild.com/ for more info

Exciting news - I have signed up Tony Benn for an interview for the film. I'm really pleased about this because i) the man is a bit of a legend! and ii) he will bring a fascinating perspective as a former cheerleader for the nuclear industry when he was a minister in the 1970s who subsequently, and quite dramatically, lost the faith.

Am really looking forward to meeting him and probing him about why he used to be such a fan of nuclear energy, and why he is now such a staunch opponent...

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!!

Last week, the Tenner Films roadshow was out and about again - this time filming in the far north of Scotland at the UK Atomic Energy Authority's Dounreay site. They are dealing with a jaw dropping legacy of waste up there and we filmed some of the most difficult decommissioning challenges including cleaning up hundreds of thousands of radioactive particles from the sea bed and isolating a waste shaft that has been leaching radioactivity into the surrounding bedrock and ground water.

We had beautiful weather and got some good material. Grateful thanks go to the Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust whose grant enabled the shoot to go ahead.

One for film fans north of the border with a social conscience. The fifth DOCUMENT Human Rights film festival takes place from 17th -21st October at Glasgow's Centre for Performing Arts with a programme of around 70 short and feature length films, including 40 UK Premieres and 15 world premieres, exploring local, national and international human rights issues.

And very excitingly, The Yellow Monster will be among them.

Full details at www.docfilmfest.org.uk/

Thanks to the following who have all recently contributed to the Tenner Films funding pot:

Janet Ferris
Keith Short
Alex Crane
Iain Taylor
Susana Jurado
Paula Wittig
Katie Bates
Ian Philpott
Veronica Pasteur
Emma Bateman
Phillida Shipp
Nathan Lowis

The Yellow Monster has been accepted for screening at both the Leeds International Film Festival (http://www.leedsfilm.com/) and Filmstock International Film Festival in Luton (http://www.filmstock.co.uk/home.html) - both taking place this November. Hurrah!

We're still in consideration at some other festivals too, so hopefully more to follow...