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   The end of Chapter 5 in the Salford Story
Reporter: Martin Baxter
Salford’s 5th annual film festival finished on a high note on Sunday November 23rd, with a showing of Animation and Innovation: A Halas and Batchelor Retrospective at The Lowry. The festival spanned across nine days, celebrating Salford’s cinematic history and its exciting new talent. The film festival website boasted there had been something for everyone to enjoy, from local community films and cutting-edge new shorts, to international premieres and difficult to see cult classics, but the main premiere that had film buffs itching was ‘Lookin’ For Lucky,’ a tale of fate, luck, sex, greed and revenge on an estate, directed by part-time Salford University lecturer Chris Leonard. In his first film submitted to the festival, Stockport-born Chris and critically acclaimed writer Joe O’Byrne received praise not just for the quality of the film, but also for their persistence, after filming most scenes on open-sets in areas around Salford. As any writer and director will tell you, it is hard to gauge the type of response you will get from the community in an uncontrolled environment. For Chris, fate played a bigger part than luck: “Where you would expect a challenge, actually the response was on the contrary to that, it was really embracing and people loving to see people shooting a film on their back door and getting out and being creative.” And it seems he faces the same uncertainty when he arrives at Salford University for a day of teaching, but said that the future is bright for Salford film and its students. “In any classroom, you get a spectrum of abilities, the thing is making sure you’re encouraging that creativity on every level. [I’m] lucky to have some really switched on students, a good number will have a great career in the industry.” The acclaimed director also said that Salford Film Festival was “well received” and hailed programmer Steve Balshaw’s energy and commitment to putting Salford Film Festival on the map. Chris said this would help the festival to become a more prestigious event when coupled with the arrival of media city in 2011 at Salford Quays. He said “If relationships are forged and developed between the city council and between film festival organisers, the BBC and other production companies that will be based in media city, then Salford could quite easily outshine other regional festivals.” An exhausted Chris had just come back from Los Angeles, at the American Film Market where he publicised the movie to try and secure distribution of the film. Like him, all of those involved in the festival, from directors to cast, from organisers to members of the council, are taking a well-deserved few days' break, and then work will start again on next year's festival to keep up the momentum on what is becoming Salford’s most sought after event.
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