Media Festival Gets Its Kicks

Visitors to a two-day Manchester festival featuring leading speakers from television, film, advertising, gaming, online and emerging media sectors, are to get their Kicks – quite literally – with a screening of the prestigious Digital Departures feature film, Kicks.

The Media Festival, which runs from 26-28 November, will also include masterclasses, lectures and discussions with the industries leading professionals. The November 27 screening of Kicks, at Manchester’s Cornerhouse, will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s writer, Leigh Campbell (Big Stella, Little Stella), director Lindy Heymann (Showboy) and producer Andy Stebbing (Brick Lane).

“It’s a marvellous coup for us to be able to secure a screening of Kicks just days after its world premiere in Liverpool,” explains Alice Morrison, Chief Executive of Northwest Vision and Media, which spearheaded the Digital Departures initiative, and is a leading sponsor of The Media Festival.

Kicks is a powerful tale about two teenage girls obsessed by celebrity and fame, featuring a fresh ensemble of new, Northwest acting talent led by Kerrie Hayes, Nichola Burley and Jamie Doyle. Teenagers Nicole and Jasmine bond over their mutual obsession for Premiership footballer, Lee Cassidy. Fuelled by their fantasy of meeting him, they track him down, but before they know it their dream has become a nightmare.

“The Media Festival is an opportunity for today and tomorrow’s media industries to unite in a celebration of great and innovative digital work and the latest thinking,” says Alice. “Kicks is a wonderful example of just what can be achieved when micro-budget digital feature filmmaking comes of age. I can guarantee The Media Festival audience will be mightily impressed with the results.”

The Media Festival is for everyone working in digital media such as executives in TV production, film production, commercial production, music companies, broadcasters, advertising agencies, games companies, web developers, mobile content providers, post production companies, interactive service providers, content aggregators and distributors.

· For more information, go to www.themediafestival.com