We like to think that Nottingham punches way above its weight in terms of culture and filmmaking is an ample part of that - with filmmakers born, residing or just choosing to base their productions here as well as a local creative infrastructure and organisations of all shapes and sizes. Here we explore some of those people and groups...
Young Film Makers Nottingham
The Young Film Makers was established in Nottingham in 2005 in order to provide 8 to 16 year olds with the opportunity to learn all about the enjoyment of film making. They run Saturday schools and summer schools which allow the children to explore their creativity both behind and in front of the camera through performances, camera work and directing. Young Film Makers Nottingham is a fantastic way to encourage future directors and to provide them with a solid foundation of the fundamentals to film making which will allow them to succeed in the future.
Jeanie Finlay
Jeanie is one of Britain’s most iconic documentary makers and has created award-winning work for cinema and television. For example, her work includes Emmy nominated Game of Thrones, The Last watch; BIFA nominated & Cinema Eye Honours ‘Unforgettable’ winning Seahorse; and BIFA winner ORION: The Man Who Would Be King. Her films were showcased in a retrospective at the Museum of Moving Image, in New York City in July 2020, curated by Eric Hynes known as People Every day: The Films of Jeanie Finlay.
Jeanie studied art at Cleveland College of Art and Design and studied Contemporary Arts at Nottingham Trent University. She had her first film commissioned when she was 6 months pregnant and she is a vocal supporter of Raising Films, which advocates for parents working in the media industry. Jeanie regularly writes about film for The Talkhouse and was a director of Nottingham’s flagship cinema and media centre, Broadway for many years. She set up Glimmer Films in 2008 to develop and deliver ambitious, engaging documentary works, made for an international audience. Glimmer Films aim to creatively challenge the form of documentary by celebrating untold, intimate stories and further exploring “wraparound filmmaking”. This allows for continued ground-breaking practise of engaging with audiences in innovative and meaningful ways throughout production and distribution.
Shane Meadows
Shane is a director, screenwriter and actor who has dominated the feature film industry for many years. He is not originally from Nottingham but is someone who the city has claimed its own since he has consistently made films that reflect the social life of the Midlands combined with surreal situations and quirky characters. He is known for Dead Man's Shoes (2004), This Is England (2006) and TwentyFourSeven (1997). Meadows did not become successful overnight, he worked his way up by producing a large collection of short films which is how he developed his style and talent to produce these iconic flicks.
Chris Cooke
Chris, well known for directing the comedy ‘One for the Road’, is another film maker involved in the Nottingham film community. He got into film making from an unemployment scheme training people in film and video which led him to make short films such as his ‘Map of the Scars’ set in his hometown Jersey. Chris headed up his own Production Company based at the Broadway Cinema and the success from his ‘One for the Roads’ provided him with the platform to develop more feature film projects. Cooke remained true to his digital roots by consistently using this format in his films which he obviously feels comfortable with and is also great for keeping the budget low. In an interview with Left Lion, back in 2004, Chris opened up about how the film making community in Nottingham was what kept him going during his tough five years as being unemployed. In this time, he continued to help out with the filming and lighting in other productions going on.
Jayne Slater
Jayne was fairly new to the film making scene two years ago after graduating from the University of Derby with a BA (hons) in Film Production and she is now located near Nottingham and Sheffield. Jayne is a producer Director, who also writes her own films and has a passion for storytelling. Jayne has worked on various productions including Darkest Hour (Joe Wright, 2017) and The Worst Witch (CBBC, 2018). She has directed and produced music videos and short films with success in worldwide festivals.
Dee Hackett
Dee is a writer and director based in Nottingham who looked to start a collaborative of aspiring film makers in the East Midlands two years ago. In 2019, he wrote and directed a short drama known as Natural where a women called Kate agrees to meet an apparent good Samaritan in a hotel room but quickly learns what realising this dream may cost. The drama was released on 23rd August 2019 and was filmed in Nottingham.
BFI Film Hub Midlands
BFI Film Hub is a partnership between Broadway, Nottingham and Flatpack Projects in Birmingham and it is the driving force behind film culture in the midlands. This partnership provides funding and training which as a consequence helps more people in the region to watch, show and make films.
Nottingham Moviemakers
This was a Nottingham Video Club which was established in 1924 but unfortunately closed in 2011. The films produced by this club was short stories which are now available to watch on YouTube.
University of Nottingham Film Making Society
The University of Nottingham Film Making Society provide an informal environment where students can improve their filmmaking skills. These skills include writing and developing scripts, editing and cinematography and in order to hone these skills, our members meet regularly on Monday evenings and take part in two-week projects; a bi-annual "24 Hour Challenge" and a "Big Picture" projects.
The society also works outside of the university environment, this includes working with clients and also the community. An Example of such is filming at Crisis, the largest student night out in Nottingham and also getting involved with our local film festival in Beeston.
