Living With It and Pembe Ay (Pink Moon) to screen at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2023

Bombito Productions is delighted to announce that 'Living With It' and 'Pembe Ay' (Pink Moon) will be screening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2023!

Living With It

Conceived, directed, edited and animated by Holly Summerson - and written by Nikki Rooney - 'Living With It' sees perfectionist Lee (Annabelle Davis) needing to adapt to the imperfect reality of living with a disease brought to life as a chaotic supernatural flatmate, Bug (Lawrence Chaney). Narrated superbly by actor/comedian Rachel Jackson.

Director Holly Summerson:

“Accepting disability as an important, normal part of your life is a complicated feeling - it’s incredible to have the opportunity to explore this with humour, strangeness and sensitivity in 'Living With It'.

“I am so lucky to have worked with this brilliant team, who’ve brought their own experiences, insights and exceptional skills to this film. It’s so exciting that we get to share it at Edinburgh International Film Festival!! Just down the road from where a lot of 'Living With It' was animated, shaped and dreamed about - and as part of such an outstanding, inspiring festival selection.”

Pembe Ay

During the Pink Moon season - which sees rebirth after winter - Meray leaves Scotland and revisits her childhood home to be with her father, and work through their garden, as it blossoms on the politically and physically divided island of Cyprus. While this once gave her nightmares of the conflict, Meray now finds this ignites her conversations with her father. The filmmaker digs into the intergenerational trauma, and how the conflict, opposing views to her father, and restrictions in north Cyprus affected her migration.

The film is in Turkish and will have English descriptive subtitles in all screenings.

Director Meray Diner:

“To my knowledge, I am the first Turkish Cypriot filmmaker who is showing a film in EIFF, so I can't help but feel very emotional and a great sense of empowerment through this film and the event. I am excited about the world premiere of Pembe Ay (Pink Moon) in my second home Scotland, a place that gave me the opportunity to tell my story.”

Book Tickets

Pink Moon Screening Times:

• 19.08.2023 15:00 VUE Screen 10 (sold out)

• 19.08.2023 15:10 VUE Screen 11

• 19.08.2023 15:20 VUE Screen 12 (with AD)

Book tickets here via the EIF website.

Living With It Screening Times:

• 23.08.2023 19:10 VUE Omni Screen 10 (sold out)

• 23.08.2023 19:20 VUE Omni Screen 11

• 23.08.2023 19:30 VUE Omni Screen 12

Book tickets here via the EIF website.

Who I Am Now to premiere in competition at the 75th Edinburgh International Film Festival

We are pleased to reveal that 2 films produced by Bombito Productions will receive their world premieres at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2022. Live action and animated film 'Who I am Now' from director Jack Goessens and Miranda Stern's personal documentary 'Clean'.

Who I Am Now

Two trans refugees share their stories in this short film about family - the families we are born into, and the families we make out of our friends.

With Tariq’s older brother arriving from Egypt - the first time he’s seen him since he came to the UK - he’s forced to confront his complicated feelings about family. Denise, his friend and teammate, shares her own story.

The story's setting and main conversation takes place between Tariq and Denise as they get ready to play a game of football for LGBT football team 'Spectrum FC'. They share stories from their past and bond even further as friends and part of each other's chosen family.

Who I Am Now is a short film about queerness and family - the families we’re born into, and the families we make out of our friends.

Written by Michael Lee Richardson, based on a story by Adam Kashmiry and Zan Scott.

Screening date and competition

The film is in competition for the McLaren award for Best Short Film.

Who I am Now will premiere on 13 August at 15:30 in Filmhouse 1. As part of the New Shorts: Scotland's Voices strand.

The trailer

Get tickets

You can buy tickets, directly from Edinburgh International Film Festivals website.

The background

Funded by Creative Scotland via the Create: Inclusion fund and LEAP sports.

The film uses flashback, dream and memory to tell a complex story, and comment and critique the way that queer people are asked to perform their trauma and recount negative experiences in order to be understood by mainstream audiences.

Animation

Animator Holly Summerson helped shape each flashback scene as a bespoke animation designed specifically for the film in collaboration with director Jack Goessens

The team

Starring accomplished actors Adam Kashmiry as Tariq & Talisa Garcia as Denise.

• Adam Kashmiry who also developed this story, starred in the BAFTA winning National theatre of Scotland film 'Adam', Inspired by his life.

• Talisa Garcia was recently announced as the first trans actress to be cast by Disney in a Lucasfilm production - 'Willow'.

Crew

• Writer: Michael Lee Richardson - based on a story by Zan Scott & Adam Kashmiry

• Producer: Reece Cargan

• Director: Jack Goessens

• DOP: David Lee

• 1st AD: Juan Melendez Herrera

• Production Designer: Cara Roxburgh

• Animator: Holly Summerson

• 1st AC: Sefa Ucbas

• Grip: Gordon Eddie

• 2nd AC: Connor Wilson

• Editor: Jack Goessens

• Sound Recordist: Seamus Stewart-Skinner

• Sound: Sean McGee

• Makeup Artist: Francesca Hynd

• Make up Assistant: Niamh Carden

• Costume Assistant: Oksana Makowska

• Production Assistant: Hannah McKelvie-Whyte

• Runner: Sarah Manson

• Catering: Clementine Catering

• Insurance: WK Film Insurance

• Dumbarton F.C: Antonia Love & Jacqui Sibbald

• Spectrum FC: Michael Lee Richardson, Pip Wright, Rebecca White, Kol Mulligan & Callum Denovellis

• Plus a cameo from some of the Saltire Thistle team - Scotland's inclusive football team.

Further collaborations

• As a team, Reece, Jack and Adam also worked on Jack Goessens' short documentary Everyman - commissioned by Scottish Documentary Institute. Everyman is a personal story about transitioning, exploring how the world is different living as a female to being perceived as male. It was nominated for a Grierson award and won best film at SQIFF and Euregion film festivals.

• Writer Michael and producer Reece have an LGBT feature film 'A Good Spell' in funded development which is set in 70s Glasgow.

• Director Jack and Reece also have a feature film in development – Jack’s first feature ‘Boifriend’.

• Reece and animator Holly Summerson have a funded short 2D animation Living With It - currently in production.

Director Jack Goessens

As a trans person who is an immigrant in the UK, I was interested in exploring the intersectionality of identity on screen in ‘Who I Am Now’. This story shows the complexity of being both trans and a refugee. It highlights another barrier that has to be crossed to be able to be yourself and be so safely.

Producer Reece Cargan

I’m thankful to both Creative Scotland and LEAP sports for allowing us to be able to create this short via funding from the inclusion fund. This funding was vital in allowing me to work with queer collaborators and expand my slate as an LGBTQI+ filmmaker – yet much more importantly, the film will hopefully give insight to audiences on the extra barriers trans people face when seeking asylum in the UK.

Screening of Bombito produced project 'Clean'

Director Miranda Stern's documentary will also be screening at its World Premiere at Edinburgh on 16th August. More details are available on the film and screening.

Prosopagnosia wins at Academy Award qualifying festival and wins a Marvel of Media award

We are pleased to announce that Prosopagnosia by Steven Fraser won best film in its category at the 15th edition of the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival (SDFF) and has also won a Marvel of Media Award from the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI).

Academy Award qualification at Sebastopol

This festival is an annual celebration of non-fiction filmmakers from around the world.

Winners of SDFF's Jury Award and Audience Award are academy award qualifying in the short film category.

The short film jury selected Prosopagnosia as best film and the jurors said:

“A personal, vulnerable, and vibrant exploration of a fascinating yet little known topic – face blindness. The jury was impressed by the visually rich design and stop motion animation, poignant narration, and profound questions raised.”

This is great news for the film and for what happens next. Bring on the OSCAR race 2023!

Marvels of Media Award

The Museum of the Moving Image recently unveiled the winners of its inaugural Marvels of Media Awards, which are:

“the country’s very first media awards ceremony, film festival and exhibition celebrating media-makers on the autism spectrum,”

The awards were developed by the museum’s education department and leadership in partnership with Josh Sapan, a longtime member of New York-based MoMI’s Board of Trustees and the executive vice chairman of AMC Networks.

The award for Prosopagnosia

3071 submissions were entered from 117 countries and Prosopagnosia was selected as the winner of the Experimental Film Award.

Director Steven Fraser will attend the ceremony in New York. There is also a screening and exhibition running alongside this with artefacts from the film. More information is available in the Hollywood Reporter article.

The screening and exhibition at MOMI

The screening is via the ReelAbilities Film Festival and takes place on Saturday, Apr 9 at 13:00 in the Bartos Screening Room.

Catch the exhibition from Thursday, Mar 31 - Sunday, May 1 at Amphitheater Gallery.

Future Festival screenings for Prosopagnosia

After all this success, the film is still going strong and we are continuing the festival journey of the film with the following upcoming screenings:

Reel Abilities: New York

We are elated that Reel Abilities supported the film as they are the largest festival in the USA dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expression of people with disabilities. They were also instrumental in the submission regarding the Marvel of Media Award.

These screenings are supported by AMC Network and you can watch the film at Reel Abilities where it is showing both virtually and live across two venues.

1. The Museum of the Moving Image - Saturday April 9th 13:00

2. Marlene Meyerson ICC Manhattan - Sunday April 10th, 12:00pm

Steven will be in attendance at the Museum of the Moving Image screening when he receives his Marvel of Media Award.

European Independent Film Festival: Paris, France

On Saturday 9th April - Prosopagnosia heads to Paris for the17th edition of ÉCU – The European Independent Film Festival. The festival’s mantra is to discover, project and promote the best independent filmmaking talent from around the world.

Steven was interviewed by The New Current about his selection at the festival.

Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF): Seattle

Prosopagnosia heads back to North America where it will screen at the 48th Seattle International Film Festival, April 14–24, 2022. Everyman by Bombito will also be screening at the same festival!

Both films will screen as official selections of SIFF's ShortsFest Weekend, April 15–17.

• Prosopagnosia at SIFF

• Everyman at SIFF

Annecy International Animation Festival: Annecy, France

Showing in competition at Annecy - the premiere Animation Film Festival and Market in France from 13-28 June.

The film

Prosopagnosia uses expressive animation to investigate intimacy, communication and memory.

Prosopagnosia means face-blindness and to understand this neurodiverse behaviour, the contents of a memory box are intricately explored.

Sketchbooks, photographs and diaries unravel to tell a unique and personal story.

Further information

• Developed and supported by the Scottish Documentary Institute's Bridging the Gap programme and Screen Scotland

• Written, animated and edited by Steven Fraser

• Produced by Reece Cargan

• Composed, sound designed and mixed by Tom Drew

• Colourist: Jack Lang

What's next

As we make plans for a potential Academy Award longlist in the future - there are still more festival selections, award announcements and a very exciting way to watch the film online -coming very soon.