On the Hunt: arrows drawn

“I need film-makers,” I said to Hwa Young at our last meeting. “No problem,” she replied. “We’re holding a Short Film Fest at Mad Lab on Friday 2 Sept, come along and you’ll meet some of the directors and producers.” Fantastic!

So, at 17:30 I logged off, locked up and skipped down Oxford Road towards the Northern Quarter. The Film Fest started at 6pm and would go on until the stars popped up in the sky and the drunks stumbled around in the gutter.

First we watched some music videos and then some fascinating short films. I was particularly struck by a black and white film shot in Manchester called Voices. The writer/producer/director, Mat Johns from Zero Facility Films, was sitting on the floor behind me and when the film finished I congratulated him and was amazed to find out that he had produced it in 24 hours from start to finish. I gave him a copy of the Peripheral Vision PDF and we exchanged contact details.

Then, by sheer good fortune, the enigmatic Michael Barnes-Wynters, of Doodlebug fame, sat down next to me. I first met Barney at the Noise Lab launch in 2009 when I was scouting around for interesting events and people for the Just the Ticket project. You can see a tiny video of me at the launch here.

Baekdu

By 8pm our stomachs were rumbling and we headed off to Baekdu (by Shudehill Station), a Korean restaurant. It was full to brimming and we had to wait to get a table. We love the chef there: he always takes such care over his cooking and often presents the food himself with a huge smile. It was absolutely delicious. Here’s a photo of my chicken Bibimbap with an egg on top: