Friday 22^nd May 2009, 7.30pm

Fifth in the monthly series of locally made short-films, "WHITBY IN SHORTS[5]" follows the hugely successful previous events with another entertaining and diverting programme, plus a special guest appearance of Dominic Windram's back-projection poetic performance piece "Artificial Eden". (Visit www.whitby-in-shorts.org.uk for further details).

If you have made a short film in the Whitby/NYM/Esk Valley/Cleveland region, and would like to see it screened at "WHITBY IN SHORTS", please contact the organisers through the website.

We are delighted to announce that the "Whitby in Shorts" International Short-Film Festival(WiSiS-FF, pronounced "wississiffi") will be taking place from 5^th to 13^th September this year. Full details on the website. Please give us your support and join us there!

Great news! The "WHITBY IN SHORTS" INTERNATIONAL SHORT-FILM FESTIVAL is on! From September 5^th to September 13^th 2009 (inclusive), WiSiS-FF will host 240 of the very best short-films in the world.

From 1^st March, the Festival, known to the 16-strong voluntary action group as Wississiffi (a bit like ‘Mississippi'), will be accepting entries from short-film makers from all over the world.

Friday 17^th April 2009, 7.30pm
£5, Under18s £2.50

Fourth in the monthly series of locally made short-films, "WHITBY IN SHORTS[4]" follows the hugely successful previous events with another excellent and engaging programme. (Visit www.whitby-in-shorts.org.uk for further details.

 Third in the monthly series of locally made short-films, "WHITBY IN SHORTS[3]" follows the hugely successful previous events with another splendid and inspiring programme. (Visit www.whitby-in-shorts.org.uk for further details.

WHITBY COLISEUM (contact tel: 01947 825000 - email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Date: Friday 13^th March 2009, 7.30pm
Admission: £5, Under18s £2.50

If you have made a short film in the Whitby/NYM/Esk Valley/Cleveland region, and would like to see it screened at "WHITBY IN SHORTS", please contact the organisers through the website.

We are this close to getting the "WHITBY IN SHORTS" INTERNATIONAL SHORT-FILM FESTIVAL up and running in September this year! Your support can make the difference. So don't be superstitious, come and join us on Friday the 13^th, enjoy a memorable bunch of movies, and say "YES!" to an International Short-Film Festival in Whitby-the best location in the country!

"WHITBY in SHORTS" - the first of our monthly short-film nights, at the Coliseum in Whitby last night [Wed. 7th January], was a resounding success. Close to a full house turned out on a cold winter's night to partake in a showcase of talent and a varied selection of films, nearly all made by local people of all ages up to 85!

The evening was an ideal occasion for net-working, and after the event, eleven people previously unknown to the organizers came forward to offer their services in every area of film-making - three of them admin people.

Listen. Film in Whitby is picking up steam! 

So if YOU have locally-made movies you would like to see screened, or if YOU want to get involved in local film-making, or if YOU have admin skills that can help boost "WHITBY in SHORTS" up to real Film Festival status - then come along to "WHITBY in SHORTS [2]", Friday 13^th February, 7:30pm, at the Whitby Coliseum, admission £5 (under-18s HALF PRICE on the night), proceeds in aid of the Whitby Dog Rescue [Reg.Charity # 1081121]. OR email the organizers at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Programme to be announced shortly.

submitted by Nigel Ward

"Having no commercial constraints is an aid to that - not an impediment. No share-holders - no compromises. No sell-out!"
Nigel Ward

The latest symphonetix feature-film small world is to be premièred before an invited audience at Whitby Coliseum on Monday November 10 2008 - prior to general release and the festival circuit. Produced by husband-and-wife team Nigel Ward and Helga Marrs, whose last film ‘Freyja's Gift' aroused such controversy in Whitby in 2006, small world is an outlandish fantasy with a plot reminiscent of a Möbius strip. [Wiki that, in case the boss asks!].

The film examines the ‘might-have-been' lives of two protagonists - Manny Keane (Shaun Bowman), a ‘lifer' prisoner in Singapore's Changi Prison, and prison chaplain, Father Ewan Maude (Jack Douglas), a missionary priest - both of whom died in the Changi Prison library fire of 2006. In a tacit ‘what if?' leap of fiction, they are reprieved from death and gravitate independently to the idyllic village of Ugglebeck in the Esk Valley - Manny to check out the wisdom of seeking a rapprochement with Cissie Laing (Glenda Mirren), his fiancée of thirty years ago - and Father Ewan in search of the ‘perfect' girl with whom, as a teenager, he shared his only sexual encounter, Cissie's twin, Mara Laing (Tilda Marie Dace). Their ensuing clash of wills is only one strand in an intricate web of disturbing psychological cross-currents. And the prize is a shot at redemption - plus Mattie Laing (Helga Marrs) - Mara's illegitimate autistic daughter, now a beautiful but whacky young woman of thirty. Ostensibly, small world tells a story of jealousy, betrayal and paternal love - but with a sub-text that deals directly with issues of faith, free will and the immortality of the human mind.