Last week, I joined the audience of the third Sefton Short Film Festival at the Plaza cinema in Waterloo.
Twenty-two films were in competition, ranging from the bleak to the cheeky, the unusual and the odd.
It all began with a welcome from Inspector Morse author Colin Dexter, who agred to open the proceedings before crossing the road for an 'Audience With' at Crosby Civic Hall.
It was good to see the homegrown documentary Boxing Clever, about the boxing clubs keeping teenagers off the streets and teaching them responsibility and respect without ever patronising them, taking the inaugural Sefton Express award for the best themed film. Even better when you consider it was up against entries from across the UK, and others from America and Iceland.
Sitting through 22 films of varied length can be a bit wearing - perhaps it could be reduced to say, 15 competition entries in future festivals? But there is no denying the talent we have in the North West.
Personal favourites were the bizarre Bad Connections, where hilariously inappropriate voices are dubbed on to the characters in a gangland scam flick. I Met the Walrus used some beautiful imagery to accompany an archive audio interview with John Lennon from 1969 and Knock Knock turned the notion of going to a dealer for a hit on its head with a joke that uses far too many naughty words to be repeated here.
A rather dour look at a homosexual relationship between two Icelandic wrestlers is not going to do the country's tourism board any good, and the twist in lesbian cowboy tale The Angel and The Whore was rather obvious from the word go, but considering the effort which went in to each and every entry, it would be churlish to criticise.
Events like Sefton Short Film Festival should be supported as heavily as possible. When filmmakers from around the country and abroad are coming to the borough with their finished works to share with a local audience, it is a real accomplishment.
Although perhaps next time they should inform the more refined members of the audience when the rude bits are going to be on...
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