Lochside Theatre Film Festival 2013

On Saturday the 30th March 2013 The Fullarton (formerly Lochside Theatre) in Castle Douglas held its first ever film festival. The evening showcased ten nominated short films which had been submitted over the past 4 months. These films covered a wide genre with documentaries, music videos, comedy, thriller and experimental. These films were made by amateur and semi-professional film makers from all over the UK who were competing against each other for the crown of the 2013 Lochside Film Festival best film. Although this was the inaugural festival which will be held annually in The Fullarton the standard of film making was extremely high. The variety of short films made the festival unique from other festivals, there was a music video for the song 'Smiler' from local band Finding Albert competing against an Italian thriller 'Blinding Lights' and a comedy set in Wales showing the awkward situation of young twenty-somethings on their first date 'Coffee Date' competing with a London based youth-crime drama about knife crime, with such a broad range there really was something for everyone.

After Showing the ten nominated films it was time to announce the top three films. Third place was awarded to the extremely funny and well written comedy 'Coffee Date' directed by Jacob Kronen. In second place was the cinematic and beautifully shot Italian thriller 'Blinding Lights' by Riccardo D'amico.

First place was given to Michael Egan a young Hamilton based filmmaker for his film ‘Said Susan’. Amy Ross who had introduced the evenings proceedings presented Michael with a cash prize and the Lochside Film Festival best film trophy.

It is only a few months since local film maker Scott Woods of Boflex Films approached Allan Scott of The Fullarton about the possibility of running such a festival. The success of the festival was helped by the knowledge and expertise of Ian Brown of Film mobile Scotland.

Due to high standard of films and the feedback from those who attended and the filmmakers, planning is already underway for the 2014 festival with an official announcement being made later this year. So start creating and maybe you could have your film could be shown on the big screen in 2014.

The Fullarton

The Fullarton (formerly Lochside) Theatre is a professionally equipped theatre in the heart of south-west Scotland, managed and staffed entirely by part-time volunteers.

Refurbishment Programme

With the current refurbishment programme being the first major project carried out at the theatre during the 17 years of operation, various sources of possible funding were identified to cover the majority of the costs. Applications were made and funding arrangements were agreed from a number of sources. The theatre was pleased to receive funding from the following sources and would like to express grateful thanks to the various bodies, without whose generosity the theatre refurbishment would not have proceeded.

• Dumfries and Galloway Council Stewartry Area Committee
• The Holywood Trust
• The Robertson Trust
• The Hugh Fraser Foundation

The Refurbished Auditorium and new seating (January 2013)

The Auditorium - before the refurbishment (June 2012)

Cinema Programme

We now have our regular programme of fortnightly 'Saturday Cinema' underway. The films will continue to be screened using 'State of the art' digital cinema projection in association with Film Mobile Scotland and includes screenings of two or even three films on 'Saturday Cinema' days - a children's/family film (matinee 2.30pm) and adult film (evening 7.30pm).
There may be exceptions - for example, if there are no good quality children's films available for a particlular date we may screen two adult films at 4.30pm and 7.30pm instead.

We also hope to introduce an informal programme of midweek cinema evenings to include events such as 'themed double bills', 'audience choice', 'classics', 'art house' etc.