THE HOLLYWOOD lustre looks to have sprinkled stardust on the local movie-making scene – for all time.

And now the cinematic spotlight is set to fall on Tamworth not just once a year – but over the next 12 months.

That’s one the most positive aspects to emerge from the 2009 Heart of England International event, according to festival boss Nick Hudson.

“The future’s bright, the future’s the red-and-white of the festival flag – and most definitely Tamworth,” said director Hudson.

The Tamworth Tinseltown Night for local film-makers proved so enormously popular during festival week – with 200 people cramming the screening venue at the Castle Hotel – that Hudson now plans to keep the movie pot boiling all year round.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes – it was like stepping into a Peter Pan world of make believe as we took on the challenge of competing with an England World Cup qualifier and won,” added Hudson.

Film-goers watched 16 films in nearly four hours of entertainment spread over two screening rooms at the Castle Hotel last Wednesday.

They were treated to everything from Carol-Ann Kenny’s silent two minute epic on balloons called Reminiscence of Time 2009 to Luke Rufo’s 93-minute first feature-length film called Wasters.

Thursday evening saw the first public screening since 2001 of the Enigma film, starring Kate Winslet, which told the story of Tamworth seaman Colin Grazier’s heroic battle in the World War II code-breaking drama.

The Screen One at Tamworth Castle Hotel was half-full for the showing and former Tamworth Herald deputy editor Phil Shanahan introduced the movie and had his best-selling book The Real Enigma Heroes on sale at the event.

“The fantastic response by the film-goers to these special nights – where local move-makers rubbed shoulders with those who had travelled from all over the planet to the Tamworth event – got me thinking,” added the festival director.

Now Hudson has launched four special film-making nights between now and the next festival, which starts on May 16, 2010.

His Quarter Lights events will run on four Wednesday nights – August 26, November 11, February 17 and May 12 – at the Castle Hotel, Tamworth, and mix local film-makers’ movies with a sprinkling of international independent ones.

“And just like the 2009 film festival – I intend to bring these film screenings to the Tamworth public for free,” he said.

Viewing for Tamworth Tinseltown Night was:

SCREEN 1

Alfredo (6 mins), directed by Richard Edkins; The Last Human (8 mins), directed by Paul Dolmen (Kemp); Bamboo Train (6 mins), directed by Richard Edkins; Deserters (8 mins), directed by Diane Knox; Can You Keep A Secret (1 min); directed by Richard Edkins; Between Me and You (3 mins), directed by Mark Locke; Reminiscence of Time 2009 (2 mins), directed by Carol-Ann Kenny; What You Shouting About (4 mins) directed by Richard Edkins; I Can’t Bring The Time Back (3 mins), directed by Mark Locke; Team Tibet (30 mins), directed by Richard Edkins; Toast (9 mins) directed by Richard Miller; Wasters (93 mins), directed by Luke Rufo

SCREEN 2

One World (57 mins), directed by Michelle Worthington; One Minutes (75 mins), directed by Philip Pugh; PAL (65 mins), directed by Richard Miller