Local Hero?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V8VeuvlTlw]

Gospel Oak boy Benjamin Garfield dropped us a line the other day about ‘Benches’, a three minute flick he’s entered into this year’s Reed Short Film competition. Rather wisely, it’s inspired by a 2006 feature yours truly wrote for the Times Magazine. Flattery will, of course, get you everywhere.

‘I was thinking about jobs that offer a service for the dead,’ says Ben, who graduated last year in Drama and Screen Studies from Manchester. ‘This brought me onto memorial park benches, which also consider the needs of the living. And so the film’s about two park rangers who, as they care for the upkeep of the benches, win each other over.’

This understated tale is his first as director and, with its atmospheric cinematography, and nice turn by Queen’s Crescent-based actor Andrew Boxer, we think it has the potential to mop up the juicy £10K prize dosh. And no, we wouldn’t just say that.

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