Independent film-makers chase honour of an Imp in Lincoln’s new festival

A new international film festival for micro-budget film-makers will open at the University of Lincoln, UK, with more than 30 new productions vying to ‘win an Imp’.

The inaugural Indie-Lincs Festival will take place on 11th and 12th March 2016 at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre on the University’s main Brayford Pool Campus.

Established by the University’s Lincoln School of Film and Media, the festival aims to showcase the talents of original and creative film-makers operating on low budgets, including media students from across the UK and overseas.

Awards will be presented across six categories – Best Feature Film, Best UK Short, Best International Short, Best Student Short, Most Challenging Film and Best Actor – with the most acclaimed entries winning a coveted Imp, an award referencing the legend of the mischievous Lincoln Imp.

Tickets are available for the public to see all the screenings and the festival will include a range of workshops, Q&A’s and networking events.

Dr Mikey Murray, Lecturer in Film Production in the Lincoln School of Film & Media at the University of Lincoln, said: “We have been delighted by the response to our new festival and we are screening over 30 films from all over the world.

“It’s the first year of the festival, which we have created in order to champion low and micro-budget films and their film-makers.  We genuinely hope that the local community will get behind us and come down to join in.

“Cinema can be dominated by sequels, remakes and novel adaptations, but at our festival our audience will see dynamic, inventive and original films that were made by creative filmmakers working with shoe-string budgets.

“We decided to award Imps, because it is the perfect embodiment of the independent filmmaker’s spirit, someone who dares to upset the equilibrium and do things their own way.”

Festival highlights will include a screening of Aaaaaaaah! (2015)’ by director Steve Oram, the star and co-writer of the successful British black-comedy feature Sightseers (2012)which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and went on general release in UK cinemas. ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ a touching Scottish comedy feature, winner of Best Film at the Sydney Indie Film Festival, will close the festival.

Day and weekend tickets for the inaugural Indie-Lincs Festival can be purchased at:  www.lpac.co.uk. Tickets are £10 for a weekend pass (£6 concession) or £6 (£4 concession) per day. Age restrictions apply. For more information on the festival visit: http://www.indie-lincs.com/