On Sunday May 7th, Westcliff hosted the final of the I.A.C. North Thames Region Triangle competition.

The competition began with nineteen clubs battling it out in rounds that started last year. Now it was down to the final three, Westcliff Film & Video Club, Milton Keynes Camcorder Club and Harrow Cine & Video Society. Nine quality films over three rounds to be judged by three well respected I.A.C. judges, Rita Hayes, Michael Crowe and Pip Hayes.

Round one

The first round was for Documentaries. Milton Keynes entered a film about two parts of a family, one in England and the other in South Africa who have come together over the years to attend family weddings at a small English village church. It showed with a very creative mix of archive cine film, old video and stills how different generations of the same family had kept in touch. Harrow’s entry was labelled ‘The Monarch of Meccano’. An enthusiast of the metal building kits described his undying passion for his hobby of over forty years. It certainly brought back some nostalgic memories for some in the audience. Finally Westcliff showed the Terry & Debbie Mendoza film ‘Unlocking Young Minds’. A powerful and touching film depicting the struggles of children and youngsters with a variety of disabilities and the help they receive at a special school. In summing up, judge Pip Hayes said of the Westcliff entry “I was truly moved and found it uplifting in the knowledge that these young people were being helped to lead as normal a life as possible”.

Round two

Harrow kicked off the ‘Open’ section with ‘Reasons’. A drama from the perspective of students giving ‘vox pop’ style interviews about an unseen student they had all had dealings with. The climax being that all their comments were based on the fact that the ’unseen’ student had in fact entered the collage and shot dead a number of their colleagues. Lester Redding’s ‘Till Then’ for Westcliff captured the imagination of the audience and judges. Telling the tale of an old lady mourning the loss of her love who she married during the war but who never returned from the hostilities. A great twist at the end together with fantastic camera work and production assured a Westcliff win in this round. Milton Keynes entry was almost two entries. The first part was about a council run initiative to encourage skateboarders in Milton Keynes. The later half was a rapid cut to music montage of skateboarders doing what skateboarders do.

Round three (Set theme, ‘Through the Window’)

The final round started with another Lester Redding film for Westcliff, ‘Art of Glass’. Telling of a local leaded light glass artwork maker. Superb camera work, clean sound and a final surprise, the accompanying soundtrack was also being played by the artist himself made for a very favourably received film. Milton Keynes followed with a drama of a man ‘trapped’ with his wife as she had slowly become more and more distanced from him due to some, undisclosed illness. He is heard in a monolog as he prepares for a trip. The trip for him turns out to be his death as his daughter arrives to look after her mother and give the man a break from his 24/7 care routine. The final film shown was a take on the Hitchcock classic ‘Rear Window’. A girl at home with a injured leg constantly phones her work colleague to tell about the funny events and suspicious visitors to an old ladies house across the road. We see the suspicious visitors taking various tools such as an axe into the house and then re-appear to load a large body sized package wrapped in black plastic into the boot of their car. The final scene reveals the old lady fit and well praising her ‘New Gardener’s’ and how hard they worked chopping down and clearing an old tree.

Club Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total Milton Keynes 6 4 8 18 Harrow 4 5 3 12 Westcliff 8 9 7 24 IAC Triangle Final 2006 the scores How the judges scored each round on the day

Westcliff has now won the Triangle competition an unprecedented nine times. As this years winners we also get to host the event again next year. ‘A very slick, pro-fessionally pre-sented
and run event’ was just one of many comments passed on to the organisers. And I must say it was, very impressive.

- Nigel Woodham    May 2006

Page updated on 21 March 2008

Authors' views are not necessarily those of The Institute of Amateur Cinematographers

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