Staffordshire University to play starring role in Stoke Your Fires Film Festival

“Festivals such as Stoke Your Fires are the lifeblood of creative industry. They provide a great opportunity to showcase up and coming talent and have the power to create a great buzz within the city."

Natasha Carlish, CEO of the Producers Forum

Staffordshire University will play a starring role when Stoke-on-Trent’s very own film festival returns on February 10.

Now its fifth year, The Stoke Your Fires Film Festival has teamed up with the Producers Forum, Staffordshire University and the Animation Forum West Midlands to shine the spotlight on the best films from across the world.

Following the festival’s continued success and growth, the newly refurbished Mitchell Arts Centre and the Stoke Film Theatre, based at Staffordshire University, will play host to all festival activities this year.

Award-winning Staffordshire University graduate, Chris Stone, will open the festival with the world premiere of Blood and Bone China, a feature film based on his 12 part Victorian vampire web drama series.

Chris, 27, from Burslem, said: “It is a fantastic platform for not only the filmmakers of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to showcase their hard work, but also for the people in the area to engage with them and support the film industry in the region.”

From its origins as an animation festival, Stoke Your Fires has expanded to include film, the digital arts and workshops delivered by industry professionals.

Staffordshire University Honorary Graduate, Natasha Carlish, who is the CEO of the Producers Forum, believes the festival is vital to Stoke-on-Trent.

She said: “Festivals such as Stoke Your Fires are the lifeblood of creative industry. They provide a great opportunity to showcase up and coming talent and have the power to create a great buzz within the city.

“We have worked to make Stoke Your Fires a festival with creativity, entrepreneurship and professional development at its heart but the audiences are what will give it soul!”

Staffordshire University Film Technology lecturer, James Fair, will hold a Q&A session following the screening of his documentary “A Saharan Diary”.

Shot across Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya, using consumer cameras, the documentary follows unlikely travellers as they explore the Sahara over three separate trips.

The festival will also play host to the first public screening of Staffordshire University’s first-year film project, Farmers on Film: Feeding the Olympic Dream.

The project, which features 23 profile films, aims to put the spotlight on the regions farmers and food producers at the Olympics, was created by first-year BSc Film Production Technology students from Staffordshire University in conjunction with the Olympic Co-ordinator’s for Stoke and Staffordshire and the National Farm and Food Union. 

Jon Fairburn, of Staffordshire University’s Business School, who was instrumental in the getting the project of the ground, said:

“Our aim is to get these films to the Olympic Games and the screening at Stoke Your Fires will give everybody in Stoke the chance to get behind the project and make that happen.”

The Stoke Your Fires Film Festival will run from February 10 – 24.
 
Information on all events is available at www.stokeyourfires.co.uk