Cofilmic: A New Era Of Comedy Film Making
Cofilmic Comedy Film Festival
On Tuesday I attended the launch of Cofilmic at The Comedy Store in Manchester. Cofilmic is a competition, comedy film festival and talent development programme, however on closer inspection it’s a lot more special. Cofilmic does not only wish to run a competition for financial gain like so many companies out there, jumping on the comedy bandwagon; instead they wish to create a whole new era in comedy film. This may seem too ambitious but when given the facts and research it becomes more of a reasonable target. Manchester has the biggest functioning comedy circuit in the UK; the Manchester circuit is the only comedy circuit where you can properly thrive as a newer act; as well as being a comedy hub, Manchester is also home to an abundance of TV studios such as Granada, BBC Manchester and soon Media City. With all these resources and talent at the ready creating a new era in comedy film making becomes very plausible.
Cofilmic will be running a comedy film competition, and you can submit your entries from 1st May. One thing that really makes Cofilmic stand out is the people they’ve got on their judging panel, who are not only willing to help but truly passionate about their mission. The Judging panel includes a BAFTA winning producer, the co-founder of Baby Cow, the founder of the Comedy Store, an agent to prime-time TV talent and a handful of other equally talented individuals. With people like this onboard it’s hard to see a reason why Cofilmic can’t help get some important comedy films of the ground.
Whilst Cofilmic will be directing a lot of attention to the competition they’re also setting an incredible amount of opportunities. In May they’ll be starting their ‘funny business’ networking meetings; a chance for comedians, broadcasters, film makers and businessmen to get together and exchange details. I think this could be massively useful – in the current cultural climate it isn’t often that comedians mix with people on the business side of film and TV so if you get these together it makes it far more likely for comedy films to get off the ground.
As well as the networking events Cofilmic shall be joining forces with the Manchester Comedy Festival. The festival has gone from strength to strength, making every year more profitable and prestigious than the last; adding a comedy film festival to the already established live festival should help further cement Manchester as the comedy capital of the UK.
It’s really nice to see an organisation giving people opportunities not for financial gain but to create something culturally significant. With the ridiculous amount of comedians living in Manchester teaming up with award-winning industry types, I believe it’s very plausible that Cofilmic will succeed in making a new era of comedy film making.
More information on Cofilmic Festival will be available on Giggle Beats later on the year.
