films and film festivals. You may have heard of the Venice Film Festival and

the Cannes Film Festival, glamorous occasions with A-list celebrities from the

movie world turning out to promote their latest projects. A festival you might

not know is the Portobello Film Festival which is currently taking place in

Portobello an area of West London. It’s had its own independent film festival

for a number of years and to learn more about it I spoke to the festival’s

director Jonathan Barnett. I first asked him when and how it started.

Jonathan Barnett

Well it started in 1996 because even back in those days there were people making very low

budget films often using video equipment and there wasn’t really anywhere for them to show

their films so we thought it would be nice to provide a platform for these filmmakers. We had

the mad idea at the time of showing every film that was submitted and we also decided not to

charge because I suppose at heart we weren’t rabid capitalists.

Callum: It started in 1996 as a way of giving independent filmmakers somewhere to

show their films. As Jonathan said, to give them a platform. These films he

described as low-budget films which means they were made without very

much money. He also talked about their policy on which films to show in the

festival. He uses the word submitted, the past participle of the verb ‘to submit’.

In this case it means to send in. People send in or submit films to the festival

organisers hoping they will be part of the festival. Which films does Jonathan

say they show and how much do the filmmakers have to pay to submit their

films? Listen again. 

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Jonathan Barnett

We had the mad idea at the time of showing every film that was submitted and we also

decided not to charge because I suppose at heart we weren’t rabid capitalists.

Callum: Jonathan says that they show every film that is submitted. They also decided

not to charge. So it’s free for filmmakers to submit their films and it’s also free

for people to go and see the films during the. This he describes as a ‘mad idea’

but he explains it by saying that they are not ‘rabid capitalists’ which means

they are not doing it to make money. After hearing this I wondered just how

many films are being shown and where they do get the money from to run the

festival. Listen out for that information. How many films are being shown and

how do they manage to pay for it? He mentions some sources of funding from

different organisations, but what else does he mention is a financial support?

Jonathan Barnett

This year we’re showing 700 films. The money comes in from funding, we get money from

people like Film London and the Arts Council and also we get a lot of ‘in kind’ support from

sponsors. So we don’t have to pay for advertising, we don’t have to pay for launch parties, we

don’t have to pay for prizes.

Callum: 700 films are being shown this year and as well as receiving money from

different arts and local organisations the festival gets ‘in kind’ support from

sponsors. This means that sponsors of the festival get publicity from their

involvement with it and therefore don’t charge for the goods and services they

provide.

Over the first three weeks of August 700 films are being shown as part of the

Portobello Film Festival. What kind of films can be seen? Are they just short

student films or does the festival attract big names as well? Here’s festival

director Jonathan Barnett. 

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Jonathan Barnett

The actual films we’re showing are a lot better than anything you’ll see mostly on the tele or

in the multiplexes and it’s everything from student films and we also get stuff from top

filmmakers like, for instance, John Malkovich. So I think because we’re a festival that has a

reputation for a certain amount of integrity and also being a little bit out on a limb we attract

the big names as well as people who are just starting out. The first year of the festival we had

Guy Ritchie’s first film which was called the Hard Case, which was fantastic, it’s exactly the

same as Lock Stock and Snatch but he was kind of formulating his ideas and it was a short

film.

Callum: Jonathan believes there is a very high quality of films from new student

filmmakers to established and well-known artists such a John Malkovich. He

also mentioned the British director Guy Ritchie who had international success

with the films Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. In the

festival’s first year Ritchie submitted a short film called Hard Case which

Jonathan said was fantastic, and it showed Ritchie formulating or developing

the ideas that he would later use in those mainstream films. The Portobello

Film Festival runs until the 21 of August and as well as films there are other

arts events as well. Jonathan wants the festival to be more than just for film.

Jonathan Barnett

Yes, what we want it to be is, we want it to be a bit like a kind of cross between Glastonbury

and Edinburgh, but for free and set in Portobello Road.

Callum: They would like it to become a big arts festival, something like the huge

Glastonbury music festival and the Edinburgh international arts festival, only

free and set in Portobello Road.