Ewan McWilliam’s film Blue Hour will be screened on October 7 during the UNTHINKABLE festival
Ewan McWilliam’s short film will feature at UNTHINKABLE Festival in Hull on October 7(Image: Submitted)
An aspiring movie producer from Brough who will see his short romantic comedy film screened at a Hull film festival this year says seeing his work on a local screen is a “dream come true”. Ewan McWilliam’s 13-minute long movie, Blue Hour, will be shown at Reel Cinema in October as part of the UNTHINKABLE film festival.
Ewan is 21 and has recently graduated from Leeds Arts University. With dreams of become a producer, he spent last year’s summer break writing and producing Blue Hour. Ewan teamed up with some filmmaking friends and filmed the picture around his hometown of Brough.
The film features lead characters Joey and Skyla, with Joey played by Harvey Young and Skyla played by Leonie Papas. This year, he will showcase Blue Hour at three film festivals, one of them being UNTHINKABLE that runs in Hull from September 11 to October 11.
Ewan said: “I decided to study filmmaking at Leeds, to make films and get into the media world. After my second year I wanted to push myself a little before going into final year. I decided I wanted to make a short romantic comedy film, and I made it with a lovely group of friends.”
Ewan got to practice his dream of being a producer, a role he says is “quite hard to obtain” in the real world. “One of the things they have to do is look at festivals,” he said. He entered the film into several film festivals, and when UNTHINKABLE confirmed his film was to be screened, he was “buzzing”. The film will also be screened at Bury Film Festival and London’s Lift-off Film Festival.
Blue Hour is a film partly based on Ewan’s own life and some scenes are inspired by the loss of his mother when he was a youngster. “My mother died when I was younger and I wanted to express that through art. It’s received a lot of praise. I’m really looking forward to going to see it.” He said he got the news his film would be featured at UNTHINKABLE shortly before going to bed, and that he “couldn’t sleep for hours” after opening the email.
Ewan, who previously attended South Hunsley School in Melton, teamed up with creative friends last July, filming the short in Brough and on Easington Beach. Then came the long process of editing. He drafted in his stepdad to provide voiceovers for part of the movie. He is “really excited” to see his creation on the big screen in his hometown during the festival.
Blue Hour will feature at one of the festival events in early October. The festival runs from September 11 to October 11 and takes place across many different theatres, cinemas and event spaces across the city. This year’s theme is “adrift with nothing but what I can carry”.
For a full programme of events, visit the festival website. Tickets for all screenings are available on Eventbrite. To find tickets to see Ewan’s film, search Hull & Humber Local Shorts 3. The screening will begin at 9pm at Reel Cinema on Wednesday 7 October. It will be preceded by two hour-long screenings of other local films.
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