Film-makers from Huddersfield are hoping for their big break at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Jamie Cymbal and Ryan Simons hope their horror film Seizure will attract – rather than scare off – investors.
The duo, who run Quickfoot Films from Huddersfield Media Centre, are flying out this week taking a trailer for their 85-minute debut movie.
The film, partially shot in Slaithwaite and Holmfirth, tells the story of a young gangster forced into trafficking girls. He goes into hiding with a girl when a deal goes wrong but she unleashes a supernatural gypsy curse meaning he must choose between his love for her – or running for his life.
Jamie, 39, said: “This has been a year in the making and we have done most of it ourselves. It’s extremely low budget and we pulled in a lot of favours from professionals we have met along the way.”
Jamie, of Thongsbridge, and Ryan, also 39, who lives in Golcar, are responsible for the writing, directing, editing and the sound mixing – and also had small acting parts.
Both are trained actors who have appeared in the likes of EastEnders, Emmerdale, Heartbeat and The Royal.
Jamie added: “I was the first person ever to die in The Royal when I crashed my coal truck – and I die in this film in the first five minutes!”
Two of the main jobs that Jamie and Ryan didn’t do were the role of producer – that was left to fellow investor Simon Denton – and the music which came courtesy of Ben Parsons, who has performed with the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and Elbow and has several TV credits to his name.
“The film is very much a showcase for everyone’s talents,” said Jamie. “The great thing about film-making is that people will do it for nothing, just for the credit and so they have something to show.”
A trailer for the film has been released on YouTube and Jamie, Ryan and Simon have fixed up a series of meetings with sales agents at Cannes.
They will be staying for a week hoping to persuade agents to take the film on and promote it to distribution companies worldwide.
“We also have another couple of ideas and we will be looking for investment,” said Jamie. “Seizure puts us in the spotlight and shows what we can do for very little money.
“Overnight we become a more reliable prospect and we want people to be confident that we won’t over-spend. Our next films are likely to have a budget of between £500,000 and £1 million and that’s the kind of investment we are looking for.”
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Jamie and Ryan are flying to Nice and will stay with another film-maker in a villa. While they will taste the high life, Jamie added: “We are not expecting to make millions from Seizure. If we make £1 we are up.”
Seizure may be screened at film festivals from June.
