Mayfield is hosting the first annual Slow Short Film Festival. Thirteen shortlisted films, made by emerging filmmakers from across the world, and selected from over 150 films submitted, will be screened in the Memorial Hall and Mayfield School Concert Hall on Saturday, 9th September.

The day starts at 11am with a welcome, followed by four batches of screenings. The screenings end at 9pm with an Award ceremony, where the Jury Prize and the Audience Award will be presented. Tickets £10 from Burnetts Estate Agency in the High Street. For more information, and a more detailed programme, go to www.slowshortfilmfestival.com.

Peter Treherne

SLOW CINEMA: Arguably the ten prime elements of slow cinema or slow film are perhaps where:

• Action is unhurried
• There’s a stillness in composition
• A person whose life experience tallies with the storyline may be preferred to a professional actor
• Usually a strong authorial voice
• Often little or no dialogue or music
• But often ambient sound is used
• The story is undramatic and unfolds gradually
• May come together in the final shot
• Is often contemplative where nothing happens and yet everything happens
• Long takes of landscape or manual labour give mood, develop storyline and encourage viewer contemplation.

Chris Lyle