ONE of the most unusual films shot in the North East in 2011 has been heavily tipped for success at the Bafta awards in February.
Self Made, by the Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing, will compete for honours in seven award categories – best documentary, outstanding debut, outstanding British film, director of photography (Roger Chapman), editor (Daniel Goddard and Luke Dunkley), sound recordist (Malcolm Hirst) and supervising sound editor (Tim Barker).
Billed as a documentary feature, Self Made began with a newspaper advert calling for volunteers and asking: “Would you like to be in a film? You can play yourself or a fictional character.”
Volunteers in London and the North East auditioned and turned up for method acting sessions with drama coach Sam Rumbelow at Hoults Yard in Walker, Newcastle, last year.
Among those chosen were Simon Manley, 32, from Newbiggin-by-the- Sea, Lian Stewart, 28, from Killingworth, and Lesley Robinson, 38, from Sunderland.
They, and others from various walks of life, submitted themselves to Wearing’s highly unusual film-making process. None of them was handed anything so mundane as a script – nor even a plot summary.
But their efforts appear to have been worth it. The finished film was given a premiere last September at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, and the critics raved.
The Times reviewer called it a work of “real originality” while Entertainment News suggested: “The audience sees more naked emotion than a decade of Big Brother has managed to capture.”
In the acting sessions Rumbelow used various methods to encourage his volunteers to access their memories and personal experiences.
Out of these emerged dramatic short scenes that were filmed, ranging from episodes of violence to imagined love.
The film was brought to the region by Northern Film & Media and it benefited from its content fund run in collaboration with venture capital form Northstar Ventures.
Agnes Wilkie, creative director at Northern Film & Media, said of Self Made: “It’s a powerful, distinctively North East film featuring North East locations and characters whose lives are fundamentally changed.
“The documentary deliberately blurs the lines between documentary and drama, providing viewers with a uniquely thought-provoking, emotional experience.
“It’s also a piece that will sit in both a contemporary art gallery and cinema.”
Northern Film & Media have teamed up with Film London and Bafta to organise a conference called Breakthrough: A Guide to International Film Sales & Distribution.
It will give film producers access to some of the industry’s leading sales agents.
Among the speakers at events at Baltic, Gateshead, and in London will be Stephen Kelliher, head of sales at Bankside Films and chair of Film Export UK, Carey Fitzgerald, managing director of High Point Media Group and Nicola Kettlewood of the Edinburgh Film Festival.
The Baltic event is on January 31 from noon to 6.30pm. Discounted early bird tickets are available until January 6 via www.ticketweb.co.uk