I spoke with University lecturer and active practitioner, Riyadh Haque, about his take on the role of a film festival among county-wide communities as well as his personal career before, and during, his residency in Portsmouth.
Riyadh, What filmmaking or media projects have you worked on locally, in the Hampshire area?
“Unfortunately, I can’t expose the details of many projects I have been involved with publicly. I can, however, briefly mention a comission project I worked on that was shot on 35mm film. The film was funded externally. We did, though, made a conscious decision to source as much of our talent and crew from the local area. This enabled us to support local, up and coming, keen filmmakers and get them involved in larger scale productions.”
Why do you think a film festival in Portsmouth is necessary?
“The film festival is always at the centre of the community in that area. Whilst I believe film festivals are great, they’re not usually enough on their own. The festivals host events once or twice a year and they’re great, but it can’t be left to this. Continuing to hone and support the local community is the real role of a film festival. It should be the buzzing hub at the core of a group of like-minded people.”
What project are you most excited about being involved in, either locally or otherwise, in the coming months?
“Ultimately, there are constantly projects and work that I am involved in, both locally and otherwise. The thing I’m really excited about being involved in is right here at Portsmouth University. Encouraging students to become the filmmakers they want to be. I have the opportunity to grow a community of young filmmakers that will surround things like Making Waves. I’d like to nurture the talent I can see here as much as possible going forward. Building upon the community we have in Portsmouth, thus growing the tomorrow’s community is what I am most excited about.”
Riyadh’s contacts:
Twitter – https://twitter.com/ifilmlove
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/riyadhhaque/
