After completing my trenches on this year’s dig I had precisely one day after arriving back in the UK to scrub up, dress up and set off for this year’s Sykehouse Film & Writing Festival. It takes place in Doncaster, just 15 minutes from here, but I was moderating the opening session so made sure to be on site in good time.
Organised by Samantha Lee Howe and David J Howe, this was the third Sykehouse Festival and this year it took the vacant slot in the convention calendar previously occupied by Crimefest. It mixed screenings of independent films with panels, workshops and interviews with writers and film-makers. It sounds like oil and water, but in the bar and hallways crime writers mixed with horror and science fiction authors, screenwriters, actors and producers.
I had the pleasure of moderating the first panel on historical crime writing, tackling such topics as establishing a sense of period and exploiting the absence of modern forensics. Once off duty I was able to listen to a fascinating interview with Sophie Hannah and several talks involving the multi-talented Antony Johnston and/or publishing industry legend Maxim Jakubowski. Panels included a useful discussion on self-publishing and one on speculative fiction.
Escaping for a while I was able to watch screenings, including the amusing short Tuna & Ted, the creepily disturbing Do it Harry and the short thriller The Game in which an old lady with dementia turns out to be an ex-spook who still has steel in her. A quite unexpected delight was the surreal Armadillotown which won the Gold for experimental film for Andrew Hook.
The Gala Awards Dinner saw me squeeze into a DJ and share a table with both Maxim and Antony as well as film producer Rob Speranza. Predictably writers and film people ended the evening over red wine and far-ranging discussions in the A1 Holiday Inn bar, until evicted to the main bar which remained open until eyes grew heavy.
Bookings for the 2027 festival are already open. For more information check out Sykehouse Film Festival