Film festival bringing Hollywood to Tamworth

Tamworth will be plunged into the cinematic spotlight next week when the country's biggest film festival comes to the town, bringing with it all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.

From next Monday (June 8) to June 13, the town will become the centre of the largest movie-making event in the UK as it hosts the first ever Heart of England International Film Festival.

"Here is an opportunity for people of Tamworth to walk up Lower Gungate and step into another world – Hollywood," explained festival director Nick Hudson.

"And that is exactly what this will achieve. Plus it will all be free. Where else can you see the world's latest films and it won't cost you a penny?

"I am really excited by it and I want people to realise just how exciting it is," Nick told the Herald.

"Hollywood directors will be walking up and down the streets of Tamworth, taking in what is on offer while people are watching their films. It's that exciting."

Hand-picked to become the home of the six-day spectacular, Tamworth will be transformed into a film paradise, screening movies at venues for free.

Submissions include Oscar winning actress Marcia Gay Harden’s directorial debut Home; and Jackson directed by Pretty Woman writer JF Lawton, starring Steve Guttenburg.

The movies will be shown along with Larry Grossman’s debut film, The Hipsters, which gets its English premiere at the festival and stars entertainment legends Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller.

Also being screened is the award-winning documentary An Unlikely Weapon featuring Keifer Sutherland, Bill Clinton, Rod Steiger and Tracy Ullman.

“Now the festival has been extablished in Tamworth I intend to keep it here,” Nick added.

“It can grow from here to a fantastic event where the rest of the world will look at Tamworth and say, ‘I want to be part of that’.”

Around 200 submissions will be shown at venues in the town including Casa Bar and The Globe Inn on Monday to Friday, and on Saturday at Bosworth Battlefield.

* See pages 30 and 31 of this week's Tamworth Herald (June 4, 2009) for the full run down of events, including which films will be screened and when.

For further details visit: www.heartofenglandinternationalfilmfestival.com