A FILM maker is celebrating winning a top award at Cannes Film Festival followed by snapping up an exclusive distribution deal.
James Webber, of Oak Lane, Isleworth, has had an epic few months with his 11 minute film, Driftwood, winning and being nominated for a multitude of awards.
This has been topped off with a Coup de Coeur award from the most famous film festival in the world, Cannes, followed by Shorts International offering to distribute the film in which a victim of bullying uses swimming to triumph over his problems.
The 32-year-old writer and director, with his team, could be on their way to the Oscars as Shorts International are the sole distributors of Academy Award nomination and winning short films. The company were also one of iTunes' earliest movie partners so people will be able to buy it from there.
Mr Webber, said: "The goal with Driftwood was never to really make money, we just wanted the biggest possible audience to enjoy it, so winning the Coup de Coeur at Cannes was amazing as we never really expected it. It was one out of only three British films to receive the honour, which was pretty impressive.
"The biggest thing for any film is to get a distributor, so I googled Shorts International to see if they were at Cannes. As I looked at my phone to google it, I had a missed call from them which was quite bizarre. I called back and they said they'd really like to take Driftwood on which is fantastic as they are the distributor you want for short films.
"Being at Cannes was great, we were rubbing shoulders with the great and good of the film industry and it was fascinating going to the film market which is teaming with film industry professionals."
He added that they had been fooled - just as Bond girl Naomie Harris and King Kong star Adrian Brody were - by an impersonator posing as Psy, the Korean pop star famous for hit song Gangnam Style.
Since Cannes, Driftwood has been nominated for three more awards, including being shortlisted for the East End Film Festival, which is one of the UK's biggest and started on Tuesday (25).
Before Cannes, the inspirational tale won best cinematography at The British Independent Film Festival held in Leicester Square's The Empire cinema and has been in the official selections at festivals all over the world, from Newport Beach Film Festival and Bootleg All-Stars New York to several others in the UK. It also won best foreign film at the Sunset Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Driftwood will be screening at the East End Film Festival this Sunday (30).
Picture by Samara Deen.
