Northampton Film Festival 2024: Festival director gives the lowdown ahead of this week’s exciting launch

Ahead of this week’s launch of the Northampton Film Festival 2024, festival director Becky Carrier spoke to the Chronicle & Echo about what attendees can expect and the importance of the event for our county.

The Film Festival has joined forces with Delapré Abbey to mark the launch, with a celebration of the inspiring women of our town this Saturday (March 9).

Inspiring female filmmakers and on-screen characters will be celebrated through screenings of a selection of short films, which give a voice to their joys, challenges, achievements and fearlessness.

This forms part of the festival’s day of ‘Inspiring Women’, which is aptly planned following International Women’s Day.

It will begin with a pop-up cinema at Delapré Abbey from 2pm and will conclude with a red carpet opening gala for the festival, from 6.30pm the same day.

Northampton Film Festival is non-profit and exists to increase access to the film and creative industries. It hopes to empower local people and provide a platform for underrepresented voices – as well as bringing brilliant work from across the country to local audiences.

Festival director Becky shared that the Film Festival hosted its first pilot back in 2019 and despite not knowing what to expect, they ended up with a “jam-packed two-week schedule” which celebrated the filmmakers of our county.

The event took a hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic and was hosted online in 2021, before “the first real one” was held two years ago in 2022.

“We felt that local people didn’t necessarily know what went into making films,” said Becky. “There was a disconnect between what they thought was possible and what was actually happening in Northamptonshire.”

Becky fell into filmmaking during her time at university and started out as a production manager for low budget film and television in London.

Life in the capital was not for her and she returned to Northamptonshire where she grew up. Not only did Becky enjoy making films here but it ignited her passion for the county itself.

This kickstarted her work in helping young people enter the industry and raising aspirations for what was possible in Northamptonshire.

“The festival shows people from here are doing great work in the industry and it’s possible to make films here,” said Becky. “And it allows people to come together and watch lots of interesting stories.”

Like every year, the festival director hopes the event will “inspire, motivate and give people the confidence to enter the industry” – as well as the opportunity to build invaluable contacts.

With the slogan ‘be part of the story’, Becky encourages everyone to come along and be inspired by what is going on.

When asked about the importance of opening the festival with an event that celebrates women, Becky said: “It hasn’t been the best year for women in film. There was the success of Barbie but there has been a dip in female-led feature films.”

Having watched many entries created by women, Becky knew they needed to take the opportunity to shout about these films – while inspiring females locally.

Becky hopes this year will bring passionate people together and spark interesting conversations about societal issues.

To see the full schedule for the Northampton Film Festival 2024, watch the film trailers and to book your tickets, click here.