Scott Hillier

Hi! Our early deadline is getting near so if you directors want your film to be in competition at ÉCU 2010 you’d best work on locking that picture and send us a screening copy as soon as possible! You’ll find submission details at www.ecufilmfestival.com.

While everyone seems to have spent the year being battered from pillar to post due to the World’s economic implosion, submissions have been coming in to us at a steady stream. As usual we are impressed with the quality of the films coming through our door and we’re blessed to be amongst the first to view the very best Indie cinema being made on the planet today.

My desire is to write only of the cool and creative aspects that I’m observing in the independent film world today, but seeing as how money is one of the overriding stress points that Indie filmmakers have to deal with, I’m going to briefly talk about that. According to the Financial Times, Europe has finally managed to ‘crawl’ out of the current recession. This is of course good news but experts say that it won’t be felt on the streets, which also means our potential film investor’s pockets, for some time to come. There is no doubt the independent filmmaking world has been affected by the crisis and this has led to a lot of discussion on our blog, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages, about the need for film festivals. Are we just a costly diversion for filmmakers searching for distribution, or a much-needed venue to show films and help them to be discovered – by offering audiences, awards and press coverage? I stand firm in believing that the latter is the case, but please go and have a look at our blog and please don’t hesitate to give us your thoughts.

We were under pressure early this year to be like a number of other festivals and take a self-imposed hiatus. There were several reasons for this but the over-riding one was the untimely death of my good friend, business partner and ECU’s General Manager Jean-Marie Allin in August. JM had been battling cancer for the last two years and while he fought it with the most inspiring bravery, he died at 34 years of age. He was too young. Too good. And his heart was too true. He’d also would not have wanted us to take a sidestep from our goal of being THE place to find the very best Independent cinema.

So we go on and ÉCU 2010 will again be an invigorating and creatively stimulating event where we will screen the very best indie films, help them to get distribution deals, offer great entertainment and networking opportunities for attendees and bring together wonderfully creative and talented people. We look forward to you joining us!