Minghella

Hello, hello,

I signed on today! A bit slow off the mark. I suppose I thought my luck would run faster.

This weekend I went to the Minghella Film Festival, which proved moving. Like most people, I never met Anthony Minghella, but when you've spend any time at these events you suddenly miss him, quite acutely.

Notable, too, was the oceanic melancholy of independent film-making. I sat in on a Ventnorblog interview with two scriptwriters, who said they collaborate on projects to stave off loneliness and despair.

"It's the most frustrating job in the world," one concluded, eyes brimming, I kid you not. I hope a little optimism will ensue for them. After all, they'd just had their first successful public premiere of their film and it got an excellent response.

My highlight of the festival was a screening of Minghella's writing for childrens' television: 'The Storyteller', starring John Hurt. An unorthodox choice for a film festival but it proved charming and was followed by a conversation with John Hurt and Duncan Kenworthy. I took shorthand and asked a question to feed into what I hoped would be a lively arts piece, read my write-up here.

I've been doing plenty of work for VB lately so will post more links shortly. Right now, though, it's sunny so I intend to make a big sculpture out of beach clay… Photographic evidence will follow.