The Festival kicked off on Saturday June 5, where Steve was among local dignitaries such as University of Winchester Joy Carter, the High Sheriff of Hampshire and the Mayor.
Steve handed out the ‘Future of Film’ award to 15 year-old Zahara Andrews for her 2-minute film promoting the 2010 Olympics. She won a work placement with Form Films, one of the sponsors, to work on a BBC production.
Steve spoke about the role his YouTube channel played in his election campaign, as well as his love of film (ok, of Rom-Coms!)
Steve said: “Any city that has a film festival is to me a vibrant and youthful place that is fun to be around while any city that has a University as innovative as Winchester is lucky and I am proud to have it in my constituency. The two together give us a new film festival that we can be really excited about. What’s more, any film festival that combines Monty Python with ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ is OK with me!”
Pictured; Steve joins (left to right) Cllr Richard Izard (Mayor of Winchester), Zahara Andrews (winner of Future of Film competition), Lawrence Walford (Creative Director of Form Films), Professor Anthony Dean (Dean of Faculty of Arts, University of Winchester), Professor Joy Carter (Vice Chancellor, University of Winchester), Phillipa Atkinson (Commercial Controller, Coast106 FM), Dr Paul Manning (Head of Department, School of Media & Film, University of Winchester)