The countdown is on to this year’s Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, with film fans eagerly looking forward to the European premiere of Sir Terry Pratchett’s ‘Troll Bridge’.
Screening on the opening day of the festival on May 27, Troll Bridge is a short film based on a short story by the Discworld author.
It’s been produced by Snowgum films and directed by Daniel Knight,
The film premiere will take place at the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival’s new home – Llanelli’s Ffwrnes Theatre.
This is the eight annual festival, with the previous events all having been held at the Stradey Park Hotel.
Kelvin Guy, the festival chief executive, said: “We will always be grateful to the Stradey Park Hotel for helping the festival get ‘lift-off’ but the time is right now for the festival to venture into new territory with a bigger and better event.”
The Troll Bridge premiere will see director Daniel Knight flying in from Australia to take part in a Question and Answer session after the screening.
Troll Bridge is based on a short Discworld story originally published in After The King. The film is described as ‘a live action, hand-animated hybrid, a 15-year film-making odyssey and a love letter to the author Terry Pratchett’.
Mr Guy said fans of the Discworld books were very excited by the premiere.
He said: “At the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, we have been overwhelmed by the response from the Discworld community. Initially, we only released 90 tickets, which went in a couple of hours. Then, we decided to release a further 75. Still, that wasn’t enough! In the end, we had to move the screening from Stiwdio Stepni at the theatre into the main Ffwrnes auditorium.
“To date, the number attending has risen to 400, with some flying in from Europe! We even have some attending in costume! So, on May 27, there will be an estimated 500 attendees for CBFF #8 – our first festival at Ffwrnes.”
It’s been quite a journey for the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival.
The first festival, in 2012, saw 35 submissions in different film categories.
The 2018 event saw more than 650 entries from 52 different countries.
Mr Guy added: “We have had film-makers flying in from the US, Holland, Italy, France and many parts of the UK.
“The number of festival partners has also grown, with Stradey Park Hotel, BAFTA Cymru, RTS Wales, S4C, University of Wales Trinity St. David, Felinfoel Brewery and many more helping. The festival is now a BAFTA Cymru/Wales qualifying event, which means that any film screened during the festival and made here in Wales is eligible to apply to be considered for a BAFTA Cymru award.
One of the other major highlights of the festival will see the presentation of the John Hefin Award. Named after the legendary producer of the classic Grand Slam TV film, the award is for lifetime achievement in film, television or theatre.
Last year’s recipient was the broadcaster and journalist Beti George.
The president of the festival is Wynford Ellis Owen. Patrons include Arfon Haines Davies, Sharon Morgan, Euryn Ogwen Williams, Julian Lewis Jones and Marc Evans.
The festival runs from May 27-30.
Website for Carmarthen Bay Film Festival – https://carmarthenbayfilmfestival.org/
See what films have been nominated – https://youtu.be/cnfXbbdF5ZE
Link to ‘Troll Bridge’ http://www.trollbridge.film/
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