A38 Films has contributed a mentor to their second First Light project. Supported by the UK Film Council, First Light introduces young people to filmmaking techniques. Together with award winning editor Mike Bow, A38’s Mick Catmull is helping young people from Moretonhampstead adapt their “Roots” drama into a film. It’s a story based on the National Park’s plan to remove “alien” beech trees from Southern England’s biggest wilderness and that plan’s parallels in the way we treat incomers into our communities. The project was developed by Coombeshead College in conjunction with MED Theatre

A38 Producer/Director Mick Catmull won another RTS award at this year’s Devon & Cornwall RTS ceremony at Plymouth’s Duke of Cornwall Hotel. This year it was as freelance director of “Catharsis” a 30 mins special made for BBC South West’s Inside Out programme. Using testimony from angry and disillusioned former followers, the film tells the story of how convicted fake healer Philippe Sauvage and his supporters prey on vulnerable people in an attempt to extract vast sums of money for a man supposedly equipped with extraordinary healing powers, who claims to be protecting the Greenland wilderness, while living a lavish lifestyle in Rome
For more on the “Catharsis” story 

Following the success of its Kurt Jackson film last year, where it won best Regional Documentary, A38’s “Handliners” has been short-listed for the same award this year, to be announced at the Royal Television Society annual awards ceremony at Plymouth’s Duke of Cornwall Hotel at the end of November

A38’s half hour documentary about the mackerel handliners of west Cornwall was transmitted by BBC South West on BBC 1 on August 4th. The film formed part of the BBC’s WORKING THE SEA project. The handliners of west Cornwall harvest one of the most sustainable fisheries in the UK, one of only four to be accredited by the Marine Stewardship Council. Using 30 metres of line, with a hook every metre or so, around thirty Newlyn fishermen go out in small boats on their own looking for mackerel on the western side of Mounts Bay. They use no bait – instead the fish are fooled into thinking the brightly coloured hooks are sand eels. Around midsummer every year the mackerel disappear and head around to St Ives, with the handliners in hot pursuit. It’s a precarious life. The fish aren’t always there and the price fluctuates wildly from day to day. But when the mackerel are there they have to go after them – the season is relatively short. It can mean a working day that starts at 4 in the morning and doesn’t finish much before 11 at night, with maybe a few hours of sleep snatched in the middle of the day. But men like John Stevens wouldn’t do anything else: “You’re out aboard the boat on your own, there’s nobody telling you what to do or where to go. Perhaps it’s a bit like being a bird and being able to have the freedom to fly but without the wings – we use the waves to carry us”
South West Handline Fishermen’s Association

The Heartlands project has won through to the next round of Big Lottery Funding. A38 made a film for Kerrier District Council in support of their bid for major funding to regenerate the urban wasteland around South Crofty’s derelict Robinson’s Shaft

A38 has been commissioned by BBC South West to produce a half hour documentary about mackerel fishing in the West Cornwall hand-line fishery. Fishing is in crisis with fishermen fearful about prospects for the future. But one fishery is expanding - the mackerel hand-line fishery around the Land's End Peninsula. It has gained Marine Conservation Stewardship status, official recognition awarded to only four small fisheries around the UK, verifying that the fishery is sustainable. Mackerel are caught by fisherman usually working alone from small punts out of Newlyn and St Ives. Their numbers are increasing as more trawlermen are offloading the responsibility of running a big boat and going back to basics. The work is unbelievably hard and so many easier options are now available to the younger generation. So this could be the last generation. The film is being made as part of the nationwide BBC project WORKING THE SEA
South West Handline Fishermen's Association

Plymouth Media Partnership have just completed a DVD showreel showcasing the best of what the region has to offer the world media markets. It includes extracts and graphics from A38 productions

In May 2006 A38 Films was awarded the contract to produce a promotional film for the Heartlands Project Cornwall, a £32m scheme to transform the brownfield site surrounding Robinson’s, formerly the main shaft for the legendary South Crofty, the last tin mine in Europe

A38’s “A Picture of the South West”, made for BBC 3 and BBC South West, narrowly missed out on the Special Jury Prize at the Celtic International Film and Television Festival, held this year in Falmouth, at the end of March, 2006

A38's film about round the world yachtsman Conrad Humphreys has been selected for this year's Adventure Film Festival, to be held at Kingsbridge, Devon on March 3rd, 4th and 5th

First screened on BBC 3, A38's film about Kurt Jackson has been selected for this year's Adventure Film Festival, to be held at Kingsbridge, Devon on March 3rd, 4th and 5th. It will be shown in the lunchtime session on Friday, March 4th

Following its screening at the Co-op Young Film Makers Festival at Bradford in October, "Talisman" has been nominated for a First Light Award. The film was made almost entirely by pupils from Coombeshead College in Newton Abbot, Devon. They devised the original story and then shot and performed it on location around the Newton Abbot area

A38's Mick Catmull acted as mentor on the project, which was edited by Mike Bow, working in association with its creators. It tells the story of a special stone, found by Alex in the street: does it have special powers? The audience is left to wonder as the film heads towards a dramatic climax. The awards ceremony will be held at the Odeon, Leicester Square, on February 28th

Following success at the RTS Awards in November, "A Picture of the South West by Kurt Jackson" has been shortlisted for the Arts Documentary prize at the Celtic International Film and Television Festival, to be held this year at Falmouth at the end of March

"A Picture of Cornwall by Kurt Jackson" fought off stiff competition to win the Best Regional Documentary prize at the Royal Television Society Awards on November 25th at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel. The judges praised "the adventure, the time clearly spent with the contributor and the fresh eye on a familiar subject"

"Picture of Cornwall.." is the regional version of the film broadcast on network as "Picture of the South West.." (see "Screening.." below). This version includes Kurt sketching with a fisherman aboard a small boat off Cape Cornwall, in place of the footage shot at Glastonbury for the network version

At the event the director, A38's Mick Catmull, said "I’ve been trying to make a film about Kurt Jackson for years so I’m grateful that the BBC series PICTURE OF BRITAIN came along and gave me the opportunity to do it and to Simon Willis for commissioning it. I’d like to thank Don Slater for providing most of the wonderful pictures in the film and Alec Collyer, for the underwater shots. I’d like to thank Kurt of course for allowing us to camp in his back pocket for a couple of weeks and for basically being such a good sport. Finally I’d like to give a special mention to my long time collaborator Mike Bow, who cut this film. Mike and I have been to hell and back on several productions and somehow still managed to remain good friends. Mike, thanks pal, this one’s for you too"

Commissioning editor Simon Willis said "Mick Catmull's film was a beautifully shot insight into the world of Kurt Jackson that appealed to a wide audience. It managed to celebrate the beauty of the south west as well as the skill and innovation of the artist" 
Kurt Jackson

There was a special screening of "A Picture of the South West by Kurt Jackson" at Falmouth Arts Centre on November 19th. Kurt Jackson and director Mick Catmull were both present to answer questions
Cornwall Film Festival