Editing company

Stitch Editing

The four mentors who will guide the finalists for this year's <a href="https://yarnsfilm.co.uk/" target="_blank">Yarns</a> - Stitch and Homespun's prestigious annual short film competition - have been announced.The mentors are Meji Alabi, director at RSA/Black Dog Films; Marta&nbsp;Bobic, executive producer and MD at CANADA London; Ninian Doff, director at Pulse Films; and Keith McCarthy, director at Stink Films. As with previous years, each of the mentors will partner with the four finalists of this year's competition - Tom&nbsp;Gentle and Sam Brain, Holly Hunter,&nbsp;Juliet Klottrup,&nbsp;Doug Redfern and Joe Roberts&nbsp;- to help them navigate the process from&nbsp;script development to post-production, and create the best possible short film.The scripts of the four short films have all been written inspired by the brief for this year's competition,&nbsp;titled The Ends. After they have been shot, each film will be cut by one of four editors on the <a href="https://homespun.tv/" target="_blank">Homespun</a> roster:&nbsp;Luke Anderson, Chris&nbsp;Hutchings, Laura Reyes and Laura Zvarikova.[imgtoken data:1]A former Senior Creative and Director at Channel 4’s award-winning 4Creative, Keith McCarthy is a masterful&nbsp;visual storyteller, with a distinctive style that combines stunning cinematography and a wry&nbsp;sense of humour.&nbsp;His work for C4’s The Grand National&nbsp;struck a chord globally, and recent&nbsp;collaborations have brought wins and nominations at BAFTA, D&amp;amp;AD, British Arrows, Cannes Lions&nbsp;and Creative Circle.McCarthy&nbsp;returns to the Yarns process having&nbsp;been a mentor on last year’s winning Yarns film, Emma Parkinson’s&nbsp;Dishes, Dishes, Dishes.&nbsp;&nbsp;This year, he will be working alongside director Holly Hunter on her film&nbsp;Banana Boat, cut by Homespun editor Laura Zvarikova.“Mentoring a Yarns finalist is always a brilliant experience, and I feel very lucky that I’ve been asked back for another year," says McCarthy.&nbsp;"Getting the chance to be involved with one of the best independent short film competitions in the UK is a special thing, but it’s also great to learn a few things from the amazing talent that has made it through to the final. I can’t wait to get started and hopefully continue the winning streak!”[imgtoken data:2]Marta Bobic is also returning for a second stint as mentor at Yarns. Having joined CANADA in 2015, she has helped&nbsp;to bring an expanding roster of directors to British shores as EP and MD of CANADA London. She will be working alongside Juliet Klottrup on her film ‘Travelling Home’. The short will be edited by Luke Anderson, who cut last year’s winning film.“I’m so excited to be returning as a Yarns mentor for a second time," she says. "It’s a real honour to help support talented filmmakers and I can’t wait to see Juliet’s vision come to life. I've always admired Yarns and its mission to support new talent, not to mention watching the great films that are produced each year. It's such an important project for bringing new voices and ideas to our industry, so I can’t wait to see what gets produced this year."[imgtoken data:3]Meji Alabi&nbsp;is a director and photographer who bridges the gap between African and Western markets.&nbsp;Creating everything from music videos to advertising campaigns, he is also a co-founder of Lagos-based creative production company JM Films. Signed in the UK to Ridley Scott's RSA Films, Meji’s&nbsp;recent work includes music videos for Stormzy,&nbsp; Wizkid ft Burna Boy, and Leigh-Anne ft Ayra Starr&nbsp;as&nbsp;well as campaigns for Disney, Fanta, Guinness and&nbsp;KFC.He will be working alongside Tom&nbsp;Gentle and Sam Brain on their film&nbsp;Do You Have Kids, to be cut by Homespun editor Chris&nbsp;Hutchings. He is also another returnee as a Yarns mentor."It's my pleasure to be working with Yarns again, especially when the filmmakers&nbsp;are as talented as Tom and Sam," he says. "Yarns is a unique opportunity for young directors to get their start,&nbsp;and their short has both an amazing idea and script. To be collaborating with a writer and director&nbsp;has been an awesome experience, and hopefully we’ll see more of these competitions that help&nbsp;filmmakers of all types get their ideas out there!”[imgtoken data:4]Ninian Doff is an award-winning director whose body of work spans music videos, commercials, and&nbsp;feature film.&nbsp;&nbsp;Previously winning Best Director at the UKMVAs, and several awards&nbsp;for his Run the Jewels&nbsp;promo&nbsp;Love Again, he has since created a string of blockbuster commercials for brands such as&nbsp;Apple, McDonald’s, Three, Ikea and Sainsbury’s.Doff is celebrated for his cinematic approach, intertwining comedy with the surreal, his debut feature&nbsp;Get Duked&nbsp;earned the SXSW Audience Prize. He is also returning as a Yarns mentor, and&nbsp;he will be lending his vast&nbsp;experience to Doug Redfern and Joe Roberts on their film&nbsp;Mr. Biscuit.&nbsp;The film will be cut by&nbsp;Homespun editor Laura Reyes.<blockquote>Each of the mentors is an industry powerhouse.</blockquote>“I'm super happy to be mentoring at Yarns again," he says. "It's such a great opportunity for new directors. Doug and Joe wrote a great script and can't wait to&nbsp;see how it turns out and hopefully I'm of some help along the way!"Homespun co-owner Tim Hardy has added that he is delighted to welcome back the four mentors&nbsp;for another year of Yarns. "Each of them is an industry powerhouse, with wins at BAFTA, Cannes Lions and British Arrows to name but a few," says Hardy.&nbsp;"Our young filmmakers are already working hard shooting their films, and getting to work alongside such a talented group of mentors is an experience I know they won’t forget!”Together with the support from their mentors, Yarns also sees the aspiring directors’ partner with some of the industry’s foremost talent to create their film. The finalists will benefit from experts across production and post, including sponsors Kodak and Slingshot Intergalactic, as well as post-production partners Freefolk, nineteentwenty, Absolute and Sine.“We’re delighted that our finalists will again have some of the best in the business working on their films,"&nbsp;says Homespun co-owner Leo King. "From post to sound, our finalists have always worked with the best up-and-coming talent from across the industry."It’s long been a cornerstone of the Yarns mission, and we’re very proud to say that this will be the case again this year. We can’t wait to see Yarns give a platform to another cohort of talented people.”• More information about the Yarns finalists&nbsp;<a href="https://ends.yarnsfilm.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>; and about Homespun's editors&nbsp;<a href="https://homespun.tv/" target="_blank">here</a>

Homespun

Black Dog Films

CANADA

Pulse Films

Stink Films

Mentors unveiled for finalists of this year's Yarns competition 

The 2023 edition of Yarns, Stitch Editing's short film competition for unsigned directors, has now launched, with a brief titled The Ends,&nbsp;in a collaboration with acclaimed spoken word artist, poet and writer Miss Yankey.This year's Yarns asks&nbsp;entrants to think about the end of their short film first. Miss Yankey -&nbsp;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 -&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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!"[imgtoken data:1]Above: Spoken word artist Miss Yankey, who is collaborating with Stitch Editing's filmmaking competition Yarns this year&nbsp;<blockquote>To have an opportunity to inspire filmmakers to create from the seeds of my&nbsp;poetry blows my mind.</blockquote>Having <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/news/2022/11/18/yarns-crowns-2022-winner-emma-parkinsons-dishes-dishes-dishes/79347" target="_blank">returned with a bang last year</a> after a two-year break due to the pandemic, Yarns will again&nbsp;look to uncover the&nbsp;country’s best unsigned directors -&nbsp;in association with Kodak and Sling Shot Intergalactic. The competition has regularly discovered new directing talent, by giving entrants the chance to create a&nbsp;professional short film - including last year's winner Emma Parkinson, who then signed with Blink Productions.&nbsp;“Without sounding super cheesy, Yarns quite literally changed my life," says Parkinson.&nbsp;"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.

Yarns 2023 opens - with The Ends

Hector Dockrill directs a heartwrenching promo for new Lewis Capaldi track Pointless.&nbsp;The narrative for the video captures a mother-son relationship with beautiful and heart-breaking intimacy. Spanning a couple of decades, the concept follows a&nbsp;single mother who strives against all odds to give her son the life she never had, and is packed with an emotional punch.&nbsp;With a wonderful performance&nbsp;from&nbsp;BAFTA winner Niamh Algar (The Virtues, Raised by Wolves)&nbsp;and three actors playing the son at different stages of his life - including Charley Palmer-Rothwell as her grown-up son -&nbsp;the video reinterprets the song's lyrics to explore a different type of relationship, and it works perfectly.[imgtoken data:1]The naturalistic cinematography and relatable themes help make the video feel incredibly realistic and universal, and it will no doubt have viewers thinking about their own loved ones as we enter the festive period.&nbsp;With mixed dialogue throughout, we both hear and see glimpses into the ups and downs of their daily lives over the years including financial hardship and the tightrope of being a working single parent. And in keeping with the theme of family, Laura Dockrill – Hector’s sister - wrote the script, making this a family affair both on and off screen.“Lewis had a beautiful idea that focused on the mother/son bond, and how responsibility shifts as you grow older," says Hector Dockrill. "Niamh Algar is a phenomenal talent and we’re already chomping at the bit to work together again. With only a week’s prep, she managed to immerse herself into the role and completely make it her own. This is definitely a special film that everybody can connect with – a shout out to every mother.”

United Kingdom

Hector Dockrill

Nnena Nwakodo

Joseph J Goldman

Hands 

Zoe Gunn

Ty Hack

Patrick Golan

Anthony Mchugh

Steve Cameron

Robyn Wilton

Verity May Lane

Natasha Lawes

Begona F Martin

Holly Shearn

Sarah Adewunmi

Rich Woolway

Electric Theatre Collective

Oscar Wendt

Jason Wallis

Lane Casting

Caroline Clayton

Lewis Capaldi 'Pointless' by Hector Dockrill 

Lewis Capaldi - Pointless (Official Video)

Brock Neal Roberts directs a visual essay on family and music for Berwyn's Vega.The film explores&nbsp;the depth of who Berwyn is,&nbsp;and features all of the tracks contained in Berwyn's debut EP&nbsp; Demotapes - whilst also exploring his self-affiliation with the Vega star system.Effortlessly poignant and reflective, the documentary-style structure and touching vignettes build an engaging&nbsp;narrative of Berwyn's life story so far. When contrasted with&nbsp;images of the inconceivably vast universe around us, it also reminds viewers&nbsp;how important our individual stories are, and how they build the fabric of the world we inhabit.&nbsp;

Brock Neal Roberts

Hayley Williams

Femi Anderson

Agile Films

OB Management

Spike Morris

Raul Menendez

Jake Whitehouse

Genki McClure

Mel Hayward

Phil Currie

Alexander Wells

Sam Brady

Alex Gregory

No.8

Singer-songwriter

Hip Hop

Berwyn 'Vega' by Brock Neal Roberts

Berwyn-'Vega-'-by-Brock-Neal-Roberts

Rebecca Lucy Taylor presents the first chapter in her trio of&nbsp;self-directed promos for Self Esteem.&nbsp;The video for I Do This All The Time is stripped-back and assured, taking cues from the introspective lyrics and themes of self-love.&nbsp;Moving from a slow, deliberate track out as Taylor performs, to moments of her reassuring herself - by way of a stand-in - the video builds in energy whilst remaining emotional and celebratory throughout.&nbsp;This is the start of what promises to be a captivating series of visuals, ahead of the release of the second Self Esteem album Prioritise Pleasure&nbsp;- an indication of the blossoming of Taylor's versatile talent.&nbsp;

Rebecca Lucy Taylor

Rosie Brear

MrMr

Ali Copland

Jake Gabbay

James Hills

Georgia Lee

Fraser Craig

Kelli White

Jess Summer

Sam Allen

Luke Morrison

Fiction Records

Indie

Self Esteem 'I Do This All The Time' by Rebecca Lucy Taylor

Self-Esteem-'I-Do-This-All-The-Time'-by-Rebecca-Lucy-Taylor

Nathan James Tettey returns to directing for Dave, and creates another distinctive&nbsp;showcase for the charismatic South London rapper - and now Top Boy star.And this time Dave's showing off his mutant powers in Professor X...

Nathan James Tettey

Natalie Steiner

Untold Studios

Alex Chamberlain, Tessa Wood

Lana Henry

Daniel Smith

Alexandre Jamin

Ben Fyfield

Kieran Brown

Ciaran Beale

Holly McDonald

Chris Wilson

Aubrey Woodiwiss

Carbon La

Tom Igglesden

Rae Elliman

Neighbourhood Records

Dave 'Professor X' by Nathan James Tettey

Dave-'Professor-X'-by-Nathan-James-Tettey

Allegra's All About Us is a&nbsp;mixture of wheels, a dash of sunshine and a sprinkle of smoke, in an upbeat video directed by Rupert Bryan.Utilising various modes of solo transport, includings hoverboards, Onewheels and good old fashioned roller skates, the visual focuses on energetic performances and choreography. Stephan Knight makes use of drones and rigs to keep the concept fresh throughout, and the colourful art direction keeps you transfixed.&nbsp;It's bright, breezy and colourful. Pretty much&nbsp;a perfect complement to the current heatwave...&nbsp;

Rupert Bryan

Mph Film

Louisa Edwards

Ben Loyd Holmes

Stephan Knight

John Corcoran

Ben Corfield

Audiofreaks Music

Allegra 'All About Us' by Rupert Bryan

Allegra-'All-About-Us'-by-Rupert-Bryan

Apprehensive conversation between two young lovers&nbsp;sets the scene for&nbsp;Never Letting Go, directed by&nbsp;Courtney Phillips for the&nbsp;new Zac Samuel annd&nbsp;Moon Willis collaboration featuring vocals by Taya - following a&nbsp;young biker and&nbsp;his girlfriend&nbsp;in their tumultuous, high-powered romance.&nbsp;Following the ups and downs of a&nbsp;young&nbsp;pair when they are together as well as apart, the&nbsp;struggles each one faces become crystal clear. The young man, torn&nbsp;between&nbsp;his fleeting love,&nbsp;biker life and his chase for excitement&nbsp;and for the young woman, the anxiety that something so good yet volatile&nbsp;is likely to&nbsp;crash and burn.&nbsp;

Courtney Phillips

Matt Posner

Katharine Cowell

London Alley

Grant Sandy Phillips

Joe Cook

James Rhodes

Jamie Jarvis

Robyn Rowan

Nina Igbino

Cami Starkman

Houmam Abdallah

Sunset Edit

Ellie Johnson

Speade

Otis Bell

Jess Bell

Emily Ann Sonnet

Dance

Zac Samuel, Moon Willis ft. Taya 'Never Letting Go' by Courtney Phillips

Hector Dockrill&#39;s spare treatment of South London singer RAY BLK&rsquo;s autobiographical My Hood, where people and scenes loom out of the darkness, serves&nbsp;to focus upon RAY&#39;s performance and the reflective&nbsp;lyrical content - and Stormzy&#39;s contribution later in the track.It works well, treading a fine line between realistic&nbsp;and theatrical, and not overstepping the mark as it&nbsp;replicates&nbsp;the essence of growing up in South London.

Maurizio Von Trapp

Sarah Boardman

Andrew Richards

Evelin van Rei

Emily-jane Robinson

Kelly Smith

Esteban Gimpelewicz

Elliot Lipley

Natasha Abeyie

Michaela Selway

Charlie Reddie

Hal Hudson

Ray Blk

Rik Green

Urban

RAY BLK ft. Stormzy 'My Hood' by Hector Dockrill

RAY BLK - My Hood ft. Stormzy (Official Music Video)

Sam Smith&#39;s theme for the latest James Bond film&nbsp;Spectre&nbsp;has been released with this ultra-slick&nbsp;video by&nbsp;Luke Monaghan,&nbsp;featuring exclusive clips from the film as well as cinematic shots of the singer performing on&nbsp;some of the&nbsp;film&#39;s most stunning locations in Rome.Editor Paul O&rsquo;Reilly was forced to relocate&nbsp;to Pinewood Studios&nbsp;in order to edit the video, due to the security surrounding&nbsp;the movie, released later this month.&nbsp;O&#39;Reilly was required to&nbsp;complete all his work at the&nbsp;studios,&nbsp;and the film footage had to stay on site for the duration.&nbsp;&ldquo;Obviously there was incredibly tight security on the footage we were given,&rdquo; says Paul&nbsp;O&rsquo;Reilly, based at Stitch Editing and Homespun.&nbsp;&ldquo;Initially we were only provided with the footage from the official trailer to make the first&nbsp;cut. However we were given the unexpected but wonderful privilege of meeting Sam Mendez and&nbsp;Barbara Brocolli. We were all understandably nervous for them to view our work but they were&nbsp;lovely - really positive about our ideas - and after a pitch with them and their production team they&nbsp;granted us an additional forty&nbsp;minutes of footage&nbsp;to help support the narrative of the music video.&rdquo;The footage provided had a limited amount of frames per shot, so&nbsp;had to be carefully curated to slot into the music video, without revealing too much of the film&rsquo;s plot.&ldquo;The extra footage gave us an opportunity to intertwine moments that really spoke to the narrative&nbsp;of the song and Luke&rsquo;s footage. It&rsquo;s been an amazing project to work on. An unforgettable&nbsp;experience, with some rather&nbsp;unforgettable rushes!&rdquo;

Luke Monaghan

Mikey Levelle

Riff Raff Films

Matthew Fone

Benjamin Kitchens

Lauren Armes

Lottie Brooksbank

Paul O'Reilly

Tareq Kubaisi

Raised By Wolves

Gin Godden

Jon Hollis

John Moule

Capitol Records

Roberto Malerba

Sam Smith 'Writing's On The Wall' by Luke Monaghan

Rollo Hollins&#39;s solemn and dramatic&nbsp;promo for The Beach&#39;s&nbsp;Maybe?&nbsp;which sees the singer amongst&nbsp;a group of young detainees&nbsp;handcuffed to a table, letting the emotions rip rather than&nbsp;answering any questions.&nbsp;

Rollo

Rob Jelley

Kode Media

Nathan Killham

Kerry Green

Tim Sidell

Joseph Mastrangelo

Chris Hayden

Nic Britt

Elliot Scott

Grace Snell

Gemma Stafford

Duncan Russell

Glassworks

Carrie Sutton

Mike O'Keefe

Jamie Whymark

Acoustic

The Beach 'Maybe?' by Rollo Hollins

The-Beach-'Maybe?'-by-Rollo-Hollins

He&#39;s done animation and he&#39;s done live action. He&#39;s even combined the two. But now David Wilson joins up with animator Christy Karacas (of Superjail! fame) to mix-and-mash the two media in an outstandingly effective and upfront way for Royal Blood&#39;s Out Of The Black.It&#39;s simply the best way to tell this full-throttle super-violent comedy&nbsp;action-horror - involving a gas station heist by psychotic alien inside a giant Easter bunny suit - and his buddies:&nbsp;a snowman, pumpkin, ice cream cone and walking heart. After the animated TV titles intro, the live action centring around a Doofus-like clerk sets the scene, before Karacas&#39;s extravagantly gory alien-revealing animation takes over...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;I became a fan of Christy&rsquo;s show&nbsp;Superjail! a few years ago,&quot; says David. &quot;It was Christy&rsquo;s incredibly inventive fight sequences and love of hand drawn animation that made me obsess over his work. I love hand drawn animation. It&rsquo;s where my&nbsp;directing career began, and I still fill my free time over a light box, drawing away.&ldquo;I wanted to give Christy as much creative freedom as possible whilst making sure&nbsp;the animation and the live action would still sync together. I would give Christy the starting point of which characters were fighting, where their geographical placing was on the set, and which characters&nbsp;would die. It was then up to Christy to create fight sequence, knowing the in-and-out points.&rdquo;Post-production was carried out at Finish, who provided the colour grade and extensive visual effects work to knit the promo together. &quot;&ldquo;One of our key jobs was to create several big matte paintings, the main one being the backdrop for a scene where the service station employee confronts the aliens in costumes,&quot; explains Flame artist Judy Roberts.&nbsp;&quot;A smashed up helicopter, cars and a dead body, were all added to the clean plate using hand textured CGI renders, and various supplied photographic elements.Colourist Julien Biard adds: &ldquo;David is based in LA and he couldn&rsquo;t be in the grading suite with me so we used a remote grading system, where I&rsquo;m grading in London and David is at another facility in LA. It&rsquo;s great because both suites are linked up by an almost instantaneous feed so he could see every adjustment of the grade in real time.&quot;&ldquo;They worked tirelessly to elevate the piece,&quot; says David of FInish&#39;s input.&nbsp;&quot;Like with the majority of Post Production this is done in ways that are often very difficult to spot, but that&rsquo;s only because they did an incredible job. The result lived up to my dreams. I dreamed BIG on this one!&rdquo;&nbsp;

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