Well the films are in and the NOMINATIONS announced. Huge congratulations to all the nominees. We hope to see you at our event, Envisage International Film Festival.

But Envisage is so much more than just a film festival...

At Envisage we think it's a tragedy that many great films run the festival circuit then with nowhere else to go, are confined to sit forever on a shelf, gathering dust. 

That's why we are proud to be different. Starting in its debut year, Envisage brings you the first festival ever to celebrate previous winners and selected nominees from  its world renowned sister festivals, Stratford on Avon Film Festival and Birmingham Horror Film Festival. 

So where you see a block entitled Celebration of Film, you can find films which were nominations or winners in our previous festivals. Whereas blocks listed as Envisage Nominee screenings are part of the debut for Envisage International film Festival and are entered into Envisage's competition. 

TICKETS

PLEASE NOTE  AWARDS TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED TO BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE AWARDS EVENT. 

A ticket for any block = £2.50

A ticket for the awards = £2.50

Day Pass (to include the awards and ALL blocks in any one day) = £5.00

Tickets are available at info@birminghamhorrorfilmfestival.com or you can pay by CASH OR CARD  on the door. 

Bigger and bolder than before!

This year our film festivals are bigger and better than ever. Stratford on Avon Film Festival now has an evening awards ceremony with buffet and free drink from the bar for an incredible £22.

Not to be outdone, Birmingham Horror Film Festival now boasts a horror convention alongside the film festival and has even more news to come.

There is still time to submit films to both festivals and for traders to book the last few remaining tables - but be quick!

Are you bored? Need something fresh?

Do something more exciting. Get your tickets now!

https://filmfreeway.com/StratfordonAvonFilmFestival/tickets

Thanks to Solihull College and University Centre

A couple of days ago I did a talk at Solihull College and University Centre to a group of young filmmakers. Talking with them, their grasp of the industry was clear as was their enthusiasm, and I believe that their futures are bright. 

But there is no denying that this is a tough industry to crack. That's why our team at  Envisage International Film Festival, Birmingham Horror Film Festival and Stratford-upon-Avon Film Festival are so keen to promote student films and indie filmmakers. 

Keep your eyes peeled for our big news coming soon. 

Envisage International Film Festival

Two days ago I pressed a button which set a chain of events into motion. Perhaps you'll remember that I said I had 5 big announcements to make? Well this is the first of them. 

Envisage International Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing all independent productions of a science fiction or fantasy nature. If you've never really thought about those genres then let me be more specific. This includes space opera (think Star Wars and Star Trek, A Space Odessy, etc), dystopian works (the likes of The Handmaid's Tale, The Hunger Games) and so on. 

As a writer of science fiction it's always fascinated me when people tell me they don't like science fiction or fantasy genres... and then tell me the films and TV shows they do like, such as Avatar, Fantastic Beasts and Stranger Things. Because guess what? Those things exactly fit the genres I love so much. 

So back to Envisage. It's brand new and brought to you by the team behind Stratford On Avon Film Festival and Birmingham Horror Film Festival. It's going to debut at the amazing Millennium Point in Birmingham, and its entry fees are super affordable, starting at £5 for a micro short submission. 

So what are you waiting for? Get submitting. Click here to read more about the festival. 

More award nominations

Just James has been nominated for a further two awards! I can't tell you how much this means to me - I'm absolutely stunned but very thrilled. 

As well as the Royal Television Society nomination, it has just been announced by Birmingham Film Festival that it has been nominated for "The Audience Vote Award" and also "The Bull Award," which is presented to the best film of the entire festival! 

And don't forget, I also write books. 

AWARD NOMINATION

I'm delighted to announce that this sweet little short has been nominated for an award by Midlands Movies. I loved creating and writing the story. 

Coronavirus

What a sad state of affairs - a pandemic is terrorising the world and all the sad little trolls have taken to Twitter, stating their hope that the 'Boomer' generation will be wiped out. 

Clearly we have raised many sociopaths alongside our otherwise well-adjusted population. Protected by the anonymity that  social media offers, they try to prey on our social weaknesses but in truth it only serves to highlight their own miserable existences. So for that reason, I'll have done with discussing them here - they're not worth a nano-second of our time. 

I think we are all shocked to be in this position... there cannot be one person who doesn't have family and freinds who are very vulnerable to this virus. 

And even if we self-isolate, I genuinelly can't see how we can do that for more than a month at a time. And what happens during that month? It's too scary to contemplate. 

Meanwhile the heros amongst us - the doctors, nurses, police and army, as well as the supermarket workers, the hospital cleaners, the fire and ambulance services, the lorry drivers who transport our foods, the electricity engineers, the sewage plant workers - they will continue to work, keeping the rest of us going. 

And I'm a little embarassed to be just a writer - a woman whose work is of no real value, serving only to entertain. But that's who I am. 

The world will keep turning whether I write another film or not. But if these heroes above stop doing what they do, the world will indeed grint to a halt. 

So from the bottom of my heart I want to say thank you to all of them!

Stay safe and well. xx

Oakhill Productions

I am currently working with Oakhill Productions on several exciting new projects, which I hope to have news about very soon. 

Unfortunately, in my line of work, there is often much to tell, and at the same time, a restriction on what I'm actually allowed to say. This can be very frustrating when what you really want to do, is shout things out from the rooftops...

So, in the meantime, why don't you take a look at the Press Release of one of Oakhill's other projects. (And no, I wasn't involved in this one.)

Watch this page for more news, coming shortly...


Until then - happy reading!

Christmas wishes.

To all my readers, I wish you a fabulous Christmas and a coming year filled with wonder and delight... and because I'm a generous spirit, even if you're not one of my readers, I still wish you the above. [See? I am generous ;) ]

Once the kids go back to school, I will be straight into my new works, one drama/ romance film, a horror film, and a dystopian science fiction film.   As you may know, I like a bit of diversity. 

I am also hoping to move some of my stack of  unpublished books forward. The problem with these, is that I have to make a decision and I've always been rather indecisive - ask anyone who's ever sat waiting for me to make a choice from a menu!

Where I can, I promise to keep you up-to-date with my projects, but this is harder to do with film than books, as so much is out of my control. 

So until then - happy reading! x

A quick catch-up.

With Christmas fast approaching, I'm working hard to get the three films I have been writing, finished and signed off.

Of course in this industry, nothing is ever actually signed-off until it is made into film, and even then scenes may be lost to the cutting room floor, or new ones inserted.

Part of the reason for this, is because making a film is like asking a bunch of theoretical scientists to all agree on a particular theory. Everyone has their own version, no matter how minutely different that is from everyone else's ideas. So it is with film.

Even the most brilliant scripts will be moulded to fit a director's mindscape, diverging from the original idea as conceived by the screenwriter. It's inevitable. It's just a question of how much really.

But I am very lucky in the quality of the teams I am working with - top notch directors and producers - people who really know their stuff, and who are happy to let me get on with my side of things.

So, after Christmas, what are the plans?

I will be working on two brand new films. One of which is set in Cyprus.

I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into this one, not least because of the rich tapestry of the story I will create, but because of how different it is to things I've written before.

So until I catch up with you again - have fun, eat well and happy reading.

Carmen. x

Just a quick hello...

At the moment I am frantically busy finishing off three very different film scripts - I promise I'll tell you all about them, as soon as I can.  

What I can tell you, is that not only are they different genres, but they are vastly different settings, with one set in a large city in China, and another set in Birmingham. 

So, back to work for me after the half term and my strange virus. 

Have a wonderful week, everyone. 

My name is Carmen, and I'm a workaholic...

A couple of days ago I made a list of everything I've written in the past 6 years. I was surprised by the outcome, as it was much more than even I thought it would be.

Here it is:

19 books,  [various genres]                                                      
5 original full-length feature films
4 original short screenplays
1 original cartoon series
and 1original theatre play.

In addition to this, I am currently working on a variety of projects [films and books] and I'm enjoying every moment. So keep your eyes peeled on this list, because it's growing...

For collaborations, novel to screenplay commissions, or screenplays written to order, email :

carmen.capuano@ymail.com 07757559091

Do you want to see one of the things I'm working on?

Here is part of the theatre monologue I'm working on.

Taken in isolation it's a bit weird, but hopefully you'll see how it will all eventually come together.

                        He stands there in front of me and tells me that I’m not alone. That I’ll never be alone now. That I have no need to be alone, anymore.

                         And I actually don’t know what he’s telling me. Is it that he wants to be beside me? Or that he feels he ought to be?

                         Or perhaps that my aloneness is a subconscious desire on my own part to endure how things are without having to rely on others? That I chose it? Willingly. 

                        I’m confused. But I don’t blame him. Confusion is a part of me now. Like rain on a winter’s morning, it washes over me leaving no lasting effect, because it’s only what I’ve come to expect, after all.

                        But him? He’s new into this – raw and brave like a new recruit on the battlefield.

                        Not a war zone of bloodshed and righteousness – where one side believes in its cause unto death - but the battlefield of life, where there are no rights or wrongs; no surrenders; no victories. No banners held aloft on a crimson field. Just survival. 

                        Or not.  

Dark? Yup - unapologetically so, but it is mitigated somewhat by the comedy film I'm writing. 

So until my next post - happy reading!

Please excuse my absence from this blog but I have had a very recent bereavement. Thank you for your understanding. 

On July 2nd, 3pm you can catch my interview on the radio at WWW.radioplus.org.uk or 101.5FM.

I'll be discussing my love of film and why I am now writing movies as well as novels. 

Until then, happy reading! 

Last night I watched The Green Mile. It is a film I saw only once before and that was around twenty years ago but my reaction to the fantastic action and the storyline was exactly the same as I remembered it. What was different this time was that I watched it with my children.

Now I know that it is rated 18 and many of you will be squirming in your chairs as your read this but I believed there were many valuable lessons to be learned from the film and as a very level-headed mother, who better than me to judge what my children can and cannot see?

I let them watch all but the electrocution and death scenes, where I ushered them into the kitchen until the film had moved on. What they got from the film was exactly what I had hoped they would get. They picked up on the dignity of both the character Tom Hanks plays and that of the very special prisoner in his care.

And do you know what? I learned something too. I have always been a believer in an eye for an eye, a staunch supporter of harsh treatment for perpetrators but I saw a different aspect of that last night, conveyed to me by the very understated acting. I saw that justice can be done in a quiet dignified manner and that the job of the executioner is one of grace, dignity and compassion. I have to say I had never looked at it like that before.

As for the more obvious themes within the film - that all the characters got their just desserts in the end, that good triumphed on the whole over evil and that extraordinary longevity is a curse more than a blessing...these were all mulled over by the teenager and preteen who sat red eyed and weeping with me by the end of the film.

A really beautiful film and so movingly portrayed.

If you missed it first time round, catch it on DVD. If you don't you will never know what you are missing.

About time to write my review about About Time

I went to the cinema yesterday. Now I state that as a bald fact to ensure that you understand what an occasion that is for me, to go to the cinema to see anything!

A friend of mine had gone to see the exact same film at the sitting directly before mine and had texted me to say that it was slow to begin with. This was also the view held by my viewing partner, who thought that the opening scenes and first third of the film dragged.

I have to say I disagreed. Whilst I did find the exposition of the concept a little heavy-handed at times [you almost felt that they explained it in such a painfully slow way that even a learning-impeded five year old would have understood it] it somehow fit in with the quaint Britishness of the film itself.

What I mean by this, is that it had neither the pace of the ideal American offering such as 24, The Bourne conspiracy films or even the speedily delivered witticisms of the average Big Bang Theory episode. But instead there was a sweet meandering to the plotline.

This was only enhanced by the simply brilliant acting of Bill Nighty and the gentle but inevitable fall of the character Kit-Kat, who I found mildly reminiscent of the character Mary Steenburgen played in the tv adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night.

But I won't tell you more and risk spoiling your enjoyment. All I will say is if you like quirky British films you will like it. If you enjoy bitter-sweet ending you will love it and if you like your tales to have a moral at the end...well then, you will simply love it!

Either way...give it a try and let me know what you think.

I have got to stop crying!

I have just written chapter seventeen, where one of my most beloved characters dies and I am heart broken. I didn't want him to die and I even tried to resuscitate him but his death was central to the plot and unavoidable.

And so I am grieving.

Unfortunately  this is not the only time in the past week I have cried. I watched the film District 9 the other night and it had me in floods of tears as well!

So now I have to add that to the list of film I can't watch without having a blubber. Here are my top ten...and in no particular order.

1. King Kong - I LOVE that hairy beast!
2. Truly, madly, deeply - the actors are so real and it gets me every time,
3. Dirty Dancing - I figure that's a kind of odd one here, but I cry!
4. District 9 - obviously!
5. Ghost - there's a definite Patrick Swayze theme here [ahem!]
6. The Lion King - yes I do know it's animation but when the daddy lion holds the cub up....
7. The notebook - oh my God I cried from start to end
8. I am legend - just because he is so alone [and the dog dies]
9. Schindler's list - they almost had to remove me from the cinema
 and finally,
10. Up - another animation which my children did not entirely understand in all its subtleties but I did.

There are of course many, many others, some of which have yet to be written.

But the hardest of all are the ones you write for yourself...

Have a great weekend and do something fun. I sure hope to.