Manchester Evening News
Wednesday 1st March 2000

By Simon Donoghue

Fireman turned filmmaker John McCormack has revealed his burning ambition to make Manchester the place where Hollywood moguls do their deals.

Mr McCormack is the driving force behind the first Manchester International Film Festival - an event aimed at attracting stars, moviemakers and executives to stop off on their way to the more established movie extravaganza in Cannes.

He said, "People don't go to Cannes to do deals, they go to Cannes to party. Manchester has the fun element and the business element. I'm sure I can put the city on the map as an important centre for the movie industry."

Starting on May 4, the four day MIFF event will include two "red carpet" premieres, a free outdoor film event for 5,000 people and a series of seminars and networking sessions.

Mr McCormack has secured sponsorship and support from KPMG, British Airways, the BBC, Granada Television, UCI, BAFTA North, Key 103, Renaissance Manchester Hotel and Manchester City Council.

He added, "We have a massive wealth of business partners. Film makers, producers and directors are really into it. There are going to be producers and directors who want to have a presence and find out what's going on."

It's the first international festival in Manchester. We are breaking new ground, creating new awareness of what it has got to offer. The seminars and market place will be known as a place where deals happen.Cannes is a social thing, not a happening thing."

The festival, centred on the Renaissance hotel, will open with the premiere of the Channel 4 Film production Ghost Dog at the UCI Trafford Centre on May 4.

It is hoped Cheers star Ted Danson will attend the British premiere of his new film, Mumford, at the Trafford Centre the following day. Seminars encouraging new film producers and revealing new technology will take place at the Renaissance.

The festival will incorporate Manchester's annual Jewish film festival and the massively popular "Bollywood" Asian film festival.

Another key event will be a free outdoor showing of the film Grease for more than 5,000 people at the Castlefield arena, while older film fans will be catered for with screening of the George Formby films Boots Boots and A Grand Life.

Mr McCormack, 43, took up filmmaking in his spare time while still working as a fireman in 1990. He quit the fire brigade in 1998 and has since completed a number of corporate film projects for clients including the Trafford Centre.

The Wilmslow Road office of his film production company, Double Life Films, is currently the base for the International Film Festival.

His best known project to date is The Van Boys, a film set in Manchester about a group of paving stone thieves, which he showcased in Cannes last year.

The Van Boys was bankrolled by five millionaire businessmen, including Joe Bloggs jean tycoon Shami Ahmed, and is set to be released at cinemas in the north west on April 18. It will be released on video on June 19.

Mr McCormack is planning another film which is set to be shot in Corfu in August and September and has received backing from Manchester company Digital Projection.

He said, "I really think this is exciting, I hope the whole city will get behind this idea and make the Manchester International Film Festival a successful annual event."

Mr McCormack's partners at MIFF and Double Life Films are Malcolm Pitt, a star of cult film The Full Monty, Tara Izadifar, Kate Carroll and Stephen Price.

The five cinemas taking part in the festival are the Showcase cinema in Hyde Road, the Odeon, and Cornerhouse cinemas in Manchester city centre, the UCI Trafford Centre and Cinecity, Withington.

Copyright The Manchester Evening News website: www.manchesteronline.co.uk