News

Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle has been made a Member Of The Order Of The British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours.

Tuttle, who presided over her first festival in Berlin this year, is recognised for services to film. She previously led the BFI London Film Festival for five years.

Festival and film world MBE honourees also include Lisa-Marie Tonelli, founder and festival director of North East Film Festival, for services to film and charity; and Paul Cotgrove, founder of Southend-on-Sea Film Festival and Horror-On-Sea Film Festival, for services to film and British film heritage.

Allison Dowzell, managing director of Screen Alliance Wales,...

Actor Robin Askwith is celebrating 50 years in show business doing what he does best. In a new stand, up tour ‘Robin Askwith Gives It One’ as he returns to Southend on 23rd May at the Grosvenor Casinos. A unique night of comedy entertainment where he takes a hilarious look back over his life with some “Extremely famous people, in extremely famous situations”.

Presented in association with The Southend Film Festival and Misty Moon this promises to be a great night of entertainment that you won’t want to miss.

How are you?

Yeah long show last night as you know you have probably seen from my tweets.

How did it go?

Fantastic! The Half Moon, Putney, a rock venue and two hours. It’s supposed to be around one hour twenty, I looked at my watch and it was one hour forty, still rambling on. I said, Look I’ve...

Two early short films featuring legendary British comic actor Peter Sellers have recently been unearthed and are being prepped for festival screenings next year, according to Deadline. The two half-hour movies, titled "Insomnia is Good For You" and "Dearth of a Salesman," were made back in 1957, six years before Sellers took on the iconic role of Inspector Clouseau in "The Pink Panther" and ascended to international stardom. The newly discovered works will be presented on the opening night of England's Southend Film Festival on May 1. BBC reported on how the film's were actually first uncovered in 1996 during the clear-out of a film company's office by building manager Robert Farrow, who thought the cans could be used for his own super 8 film collection and unknowingly stored them away. Only recently did he discover that the cans contained the titles, show prints, master print and outtakes of the two works. Farrow then...

Thought to be lost for ever, short films co-written by Mordecai Richler to have first screening in almost 50 years

Two long-lost short films starring Peter Sellers will be shown in public for the first time in 2014, more than half a century after they were made.

In 1957, the iconic comic actor starred in the 30-minute shorts, Dearth of a Salesman and Insomnia Is Good for You, for the now-defunct Park Lane Films. They were discovered in 1996 in a skip outside the production company's headquarters by the building manager, Robert Farrow, who says he "put them in a cupboard and pretty much forgot about them".

He continued: "During a recent clear-out, I found them … and decided to see what the tins contained. It was then I realised they were two Sellers films, including the negatives, titles, show prints, outtakes and the master print. It was amazing."

The shorts were made early in Sellers's career,...

Two lost Peter Sellers films from 1957 have been found in a skip in London.

Dearth of a Salesman and Insomnia Is Good for You were thought to be lost when they were found by Southend-on-Sea resident Robert Farrow when he was cleaning out a now-defunct Park Lane Films property.

"As the building manager it was my job to oversee that each floor of the property was properly cleared prior to refurbishment back in 1996," Farrow said.

"I spotted 21 film cans in a skip outside the office block and thought they would be good for storing my Super 8 collection in. I took them home, put them in a cupboard and pretty much forgot about them."

He continued: "During a recent clear-out I found them again and decided to see what the tins contained - it was then I realised they were two Sellers films including the negatives, titles, show prints, outtakes and the master print.