'One-of-a-kind' festival supports new filmmakers

A "one-of-a-kind" film festival is due to take over a town's theatre, aiming to give a platform to young filmmakers starting out in their careers.

Freddie Penrose, 21, from Braintree, Essex, set up Panther Fest last year to showcase work by "young and emerging filmmakers", with this year's event taking place at Halstead's Empire Theatre.

"I want to make it a launch point for people's filmmaking journeys," Penrose said of the event, where entrants will not have to pay anything to enter their films.

"I want to make it as accessible as possible for people starting out, so ultimately even if you don't end up making it to this year's festival you're not at a financial loss."

He added: "The event itself, I believe it's one of a kind - there's nothing else quite like it."

Penrose, who completed a filmmaking course at Colchester Institute in 2023, also runs a scheme to lend out filmmaking equipment to graduates.

"When I was studying they had so much kit available and then you leave and then you kind of lose that," he told BBC Essex's Ben Fryer.

"I just wanted to be a bridging point for people who are maybe looking at getting some bits themselves, but don't yet have any equipment."

The Empire Theatre hosts monthly film screenings in conjunction with the Halstead Dementia Friendly Project. All proceeds from Panther Fest will be going to the project this year.

"Knowing they do community activities, and having lost my nan to dementia, when I found we could host the festival at the Empire - it was perfect," said Penrose.

He said he hoped the event, which was being funded through partnerships and "goodwill", would continue in the future as he would love to keep supporting filmmakers and raising money for charity.

This year's event will be held on 16 May.

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