Exposures - New Talent in Moving Image

Background

This year will be our 15th festival. In the spirit of adolescent discovery we’ve thrown open our doors to any moving image work on any platform, with only two simple rules – under 30 minutes, made whilst a student at a UK educational institution.
exposures is a truly unique festival: its administrative home is at Cornerhouse; its creative heart at Cornerhouse and Urbis; and its body is a collaboration across creative, cultural, commercial and academic organs. Long standing supporters include Corona Extra, University of Salford, BBC, Northwest Vision & Media, Mackinnon & Saunders, and Manchester City Council.

Still the only regular UK-wide competitive festival for student film and moving image, exposures is a crucial showcase for new talent and a vital celebration of UK talent development.

Originally titled ‘Northern Exposures’, the first installment of the festival was a modest affair: two two-hour screening slots in Cornerhouse’s Screen 3, on a Wednesday afternoon in December 1994. The event was called into being at the request of student filmmakers themselves and put together to reflect the nascent filmmaking courses appearing in the city and beyond: the Workers Film Association, Salford University’s new Media BA and other isolated courses around the region.
Over the year, the festival has grown in size and in calibre. In 1998 the festival dropped the ‘Northern’ in its title to become simply ‘exposures’. Due to the growing demand both from filmmakers, professionals and the public, the festival expanded in length (it is now 4 days) and remit. In 2003 exposures introduced ‘underexposed’ – the strand aimed specifically at young filmmakers (19 and under) in the North West – and in 2005 it opened its doors to entries from all over the country, making it the UK’s only student film festival of its kind.

For the last three years we’ve even produced the popular Best of Fest DVD link to the DVD page, and screened exposures work across the country, and even the world, from FACT (Liverpool) to Toronto (Canada).

The festival has always prided itself on keeping up with new demands and changes in the industry: from the early days it held masterclasses on digital technology, internet distribution and computer generated imagery. Its roll call of guests over the years has included feature directors Michael Winterbottom, Jamie Thraves, Danny Boyle (twice), Marc Evans, Richard Kwietniowski and Richard Jobson; scriptwriters Frank Cottrell-Boyce (twice), Russell T Davies and Paul Abbott; and documentary makers Brian Hill, Carol Morley, Paul Watson and Marc Isaacs – to name but a few.
There are also many people who work on exposures including our much valued student assistants. We’re not overly interested in titles and hierarchies but you could say the main people behind exposures are Sarah Perks and Rachel Hayward at Cornerhouse and Beth Hewitt at Urbis. See CONTACTS.

Make sure you join us to blow out 15 candles in 2008!

Practical information

Dates
festival: 23 – 27 November 2008
call for entries deadline: 31 July 2008 – see the ENTER YOUR FILM section for more details.
Location
The festival will take place at Cornerhouse and Urbis in Manchester City Centre
Who are we?
There are also many people who work on exposures including our much valued student assistants. We’re not overly interested in titles and hierarchies but you could say the main people behind exposures are Sarah Perks and Rachel Hayward at Cornerhouse and Beth Hewitt at Urbis. See the CONTACT section if you want to get in touch.

Archive

exposures 2005
coming soon, sorting out our archives as you read this…
exposures 2006
coming soon, sorting out our archives as you read this…
exposures 2007
coming soon, sorting out our archives as you read this…