Filmstock 11

Luton used to be famous for hats, then cars and now an airport. In 1999 however two Lutonians decided to change that and conceived an international film festival. In June 2000 Filmstock was born.

Since that first event the festival has seen many changes. The one constant has been the fact that each year Neil and Justin build it from scratch. However, the devotion to independent shorts, features and documentaries remains, along with the idea that the filmmaker should be welcomed with open arms but treated no differently to the audience or festival team.

Neil and Justin:

"It never really works out as it should. At least not normally. This year, as ever, the dream timetable was tweaked, pushed back, forcing itself against the wire. But for once, the dreams at the start of the year when the 'ideal' was discussed actually came true.

We got an opening film that symbolises what we believe Filmstock is, it is in many ways an archetypal Filmstock movie. Then there's our guest. We wanted someone from This Is Spinal Tap - the very reason we were going ‘to eleven’ - to introduce our special screening and we were ecstatic to get who we got and how the stars aligned for that one.

Then there is the reasoning behind going to eleven. Some of you will have heard it vowed or heard murmurings, which are true. The deeper into the programme you go, the clearer it will all become. It is goodbye, but only to Filmstock. We will return with something new, at some point in the future. We want to announce it, but this is not an edition of the festival that will dwell, so there are dedicated pages to ‘the end’ which will go someway to lay out our reasoning."

To download the programme, click here.