Comedy Live Wires at Underwire Festival

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James Burns

On Friday, whilst some of the Funny Women team were living it up at 'Sex, Lies and Lots of Cake', I went down to the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton to check out the UnderWire Festival. 

UnderWire is an excellent short film festival dedicated to championing women working across the crafts of filmmaking. They teamed up with LOCO film festival to present Live Wire – a night of live and filmed comedy. Once I had got the Four Tops song out of my head, I sat down in a cosy cinema seat* ready to enjoy a whole host of funny female talent, including directors, writers, actors and stand up.
 
We were treated to a excellent bill of comedy films: 'Sunday Lunch' by Louisa Fielden, '0507' by the Blaine Brothers and Cariad Lloyd and 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared', from Becky Sloan.
 
The final film, 'Love Song' by Jacqueline Wright and Alice Lowe, was a particular highlight of the night. Rachel Stubbings and Alice Lowe star as two 'chavs' discussing the previous nights antics. The film offers some hilarious dialogue and fantastic comedy performances.
 
The wonderful Cariad Lloyd hosted the second half of live comedy. After making some excellent comments about females in comedy she proceeded to tickle the crowd (some, almost, quite literally) with her eccentric alter ego, Joey Bechamel.

Lou Sanders provided a risky, yet hilarious ten minutes. The delightful Hils Barker told the entertaining tale of her recent go-carting accident. Double act Bronya and Siony provided a comedy acting masterclass. And 3/5 of Lady Garden finished the night off with some side-splitting silly sketches.

Unfortunately, UnderWire has now come to an end for this year, but they will be paring up with LOCO again on 26th January for a day-long celebration of women in comedy at BFI Southbank as part of the LOCO LONDON comedy film festival.
 
Give your support and keep up to date with all things UnderWire and LOCO:
www.underwirefestival.com
@underwirefest
www.locofilmfestival.com
@LOCOFilmFest

* more comedy should be held cinemas for this reason alone.

 

Hannah Moulder
@hannahmoulder

Picture of James Burns
James Burns
James is the web developer for Funny Women. If you're reading this bio, it means we don't have any information as to who wrote this article! How mysterious.
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Comedy Shorts Award Entry Requirements

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Funny Women NextUp…Comedy Shorts Award

Are you a budding Director? Producer? Screenwriter? Are you collaborating with friends to make a funny video? Then we are looking for YOU!

If you have a short film or sketch that you think is hilarious, then enter your work for our Comedy Shorts Award to be in with a chance of winning some life-changing support and mentoring from comedy professionals.

WHAT KIND OF FILM ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

A 1- 6 minute film that can take the form of anything comical. It’s a great opportunity to show us your creative flair and have fun!

WHO CAN ENTER?

This award is open to all women filmmakers and content developers. The film must be an original narrative created, produced and devised by a woman, or women, although male cast and crew members are allowed.

ARE THERE ANY ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR MY FILM?

Yes – we require all films to be 6 minutes or under, to be entirely original dialogue, to not feature brand logos and most importantly, to only use music with the written consent of the performer and/or publisher either personally or via the PRS system https://www.prsformusic.com/ .

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH MY FILM?

We will broadcast selected entries on our Funny Women YouTube channel and social media (so keep an eye out) and the top 10 finalists’ films will also hosted on a dedicated Funny Women Comedy Shorts Awards page on our website. We will also broadcast the final 3 entries as part of the grand final night.

HOW IS IT JUDGED?

Films are judged for production, concept, delivery/performance, creativity, writing and overall funniness. The top 10 films are then viewed by an independent judging panel of top television and film industry professionals who will choose one overall winner and two runners up. The final three will be invited to attend the grand final in London on the 23rd September.

WHAT CAN I WIN?

2021 Funny Women Awards Prizes

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