The 2023 edition of Yarns, Stitch Editing's short film competition for unsigned directors, has now launched, with a brief titled The Ends, in a collaboration with acclaimed spoken word artist, poet and writer Miss Yankey.

This year's Yarns asks entrants to think about the end of their short film first. Miss Yankey - one of the UK’s leading spoken word artists, known for her work on BBC Radio 1XTRA, BT Sport and BAFTA-winning show Life and Rhymes - has selected three excerpts of her poems for the brief, from which competitors will be asked to take their inspiration. Entrants will be asked to use the excerpts to create the ending of their film - in the form of dialogue, script direction or another creative idea. But how the story leads to that point is entirely up to them.

On her involvement in this year's competition, Miss Yankey explains: "I paint pictures with words, and bring them to life with Spoken Word performance, with much of my work beginning as free writes written in response to prompts. Yarns have created a space for up-and-coming talent to do something remarkable, and to know that this year's prompts have been taken from
my work is an absolute honour.

"I am incredibly passionate about bringing Spoken Word into new spaces, so to have an opportunity to inspire filmmakers to create from the seeds of my poetry blows my mind. I cannot wait to see what comes from this year's talent!"

Above: Spoken word artist Miss Yankey, who is collaborating with Stitch Editing's filmmaking competition Yarns this year 

To have an opportunity to inspire filmmakers to create from the seeds of my poetry blows my mind.

Having returned with a bang last year after a two-year break due to the pandemic, Yarns will again look to uncover the country’s best unsigned directors - in association with Kodak and Sling Shot Intergalactic. The competition has regularly discovered new directing talent, by giving entrants the chance to create a professional short film - including last year's winner Emma Parkinson, who then signed with Blink Productions. 

“Without sounding super cheesy, Yarns quite literally changed my life," says Parkinson. "It enabled me to take some massive steps forward in my career as a director, and importantly, you get the means to actually make a film with some of the industrys best (and have fun in the process).”

Owner of Stitch Editing, Leo King adds: “We’re so excited to launch our brief for Yarns this year and to be collaborating with Miss Yankey is a real privilege. We have long been fans of her work, so to be using her pieces as our brief is such an exciting new avenue for the competition. We had an amazing group of finalists last year, so we’re looking forward to continuing that momentum and uncovering the next generation of directing talent."

Entrants have until 11:59pm on 5th May 2023 to submit their idea, in the form of a script, treatment and short video about themselves. Three finalists will be shortlisted, and Stitch will provide £2,000 funding, plus production and post-production support to make each film from concept to final edit. Finalists will be announced in June, following in-house judging from the
entire Stitch team. An awards night will take place in November where the final three films will be screened and winner announced.

The brief can be downloaded at ends.yarnsfilm.co.uk with further information about the competition available at yarnsfilm.co.uk.