Close-Up Film is a site for people who are serious about film, be it watching or making, and who are passionate about film in all its aspects. 

Close-up Film began life as a quarterly print magazine for Kent in December 2002 before fully embracing the dynamic medium that is the web in March 2005 to become purely an up-to-the-minute online Publication. In 2004 it was awarded funding from the UK Film Council from its Publications Fund, in acknowledgement of the magazine’s importance in helping to sustain a diverse and comprehensive film community in the UK.

Close-Up Film currently enjoys approximately 15,000 unique visitors per month, and has a writing & editorial base of more than 40 professionals.

The Team:

Jean Lynch (Editor) – Besides founding and owning Close-Up Film, Jean has rolled up her sleeves and steered the way as editor since day one.  Birmingham born, she moved to Kent in 1999 to become a mature student at the University of Kent, graduating with honours in Film in 2002.  Along the way she was a founding member of the Film Society, founding editor of its magazine ‘Big Lens’ and press officer for the Kent International Film Festival.  She spent four years as House Manager for Cinema 3, Kent’s then regional cinema, including six months as Operations Manager.  Jean helped set up the Summerscreen Film Festival for Young People, for which she programmed and handled press & pr, and also looked after the regional press for Andrea Arnold’s Oscar campaign for ‘Wasp’, for which she won the award.  From 2005 – 2007, Jean was a key founding member of Digital Delicatessen Ltd, an online marketplace and networking resource for creatives. She also co-founded 2 Days Later, the successful short film competition and now festival which she set-up in 2003 with Beeping Bush Productions, and the new 2 Days Laughter Comedy Shorts competition, which launched December 2007, and served as co-director to both events until October 2008. She has produced several short films, including ‘Three Way Split’ which was broadcast by ITV in Autumn 2002. Jean has now returned to her native Birmingham where she lives with her partner and two Labradors, Barney and Sophie.

Dave Smith (Assistant Editor/Web Manager)

Carol Allen (Reviews Editor) - Carol has been a writer and broadcaster on cinema for over 20 years, working for the BBC (2,3, 4 and World Service), LBC (cinema specialist), The Times, The Independent, Independent Magazines, Sunday Times, New Woman etc. She is a member of the Critics’ Circle Film Section and the Film Awards Committee and was part-author of the ‘Virgin Encyclopaedia of the Movies‘ (published Oct ’95). Besides these, she is a trainer for film, media and storytelling/drama workshops and has been the script supervisor for a number of short films.

Philippa Bradnock (Assistant Reviews Editor)

Events:

Close-Up Film co-ordinated the Close-Up Student Film Festival in November 2004, with a touring programme of over 50 films being screened at seven venues across East Kent. It also collaborated with the University of Kent for a Film Journalism Workshop, with guest speakers from Empire Magazine, Hot Dog, Film Education and Yahoo Movies.

2 Days Later / 2 Days Laughter:

2 Days Later is an annual 48hr horror shorts competition that was co-founded by Close-Up Film and Beeping Bush Productions in Margate. It began in 2003 and now, in its seventh year, it attracts entries from across the UK and beyond, and was recently ranked one of the top five events in the UK for new filmmakers by Digital Video Magazine. Generously supported by Screen South, Thanet District Council, Canterbury Christ Church University, VMI HD Equipment Hire and Raindance, judges have included James Moran , the screenwriter for ‘Severance’, ‘Dr Who’ and ‘Torchwood”; Kim Newman , the multi award-winning writer and broadcaster; Jon Holmes , writer and broadcaster, ‘Dead Ringers’, ‘The 11 O’Clock Show’, Louis Savy , director of Sci-Fi London Festival, and Philip Ilson, of the Halloween Short Film Festival and short film programmer for the Curzon Soho and the London Film Festival.

www.2dayslater.co.uk

2 Days Laughter launched December 2007. It takes the 2 Days Later model and invites filmmakers to make a funny short film of no more than 5 minutes duration. It enjoys a successful strategic partnership with London-based Comedy Club, Electric Mouse, who boast 15 venues across the UK. Judges for 2008 included Jon Holmes, Brenda Blethyn, Tim Arthur (Time Out’s comedy critic), Oliver Double – stand-up comedian and leading academic on comedy, and Richard Coughlan, of Kent Comedy Inc. Patrons for the event are Brenda Blethyn, Omid Djalili, Jon Holmes and broadcaster and TV Times film critic, Andrew Collins.

www.2dayslaughter.co.uk