Northampton Film Festival aims to 'take on heavyweight Cannes'

The Northampton Film Festival, in its second year, will feature 30-minute films and competitions

A film festival is aiming to "take on the heavyweights" of the movie industry by running at the same time as Cannes.

Submissions have opened for the second Northampton Film Festival, which will be held across the town between 13 and 20 May.

It will feature 30-minute film entries, a competition for schools, a 48-hour film challenge, and movie screenings.

Becky Adams, from organisers Screen Northants, said: "There is opportunity, excitement and positivity out there."

Last year's debut festival was hailed by local novelist Alan Moore as "inspiring the next generation" by giving them a "voice".

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The festival had 739 submissions and held 11 events last year and Ms Adams said this year she wanted "to celebrate what makes Northampton great".

"Seeing your home town on film really gives you a very different perspective and it's a powerful tool to show people what Northampton and Northamptonshire is all about," she said.

She said the aim was to show the town was "kind of a big deal".

Fortune Cookies is a comedy being produced by Screen Northants and shot in Northampton

Its dates partly crossover with the famous French film festival, Cannes, which runs from 12 to 23 May.

The head of this year's Cannes jury, filmmaker Spike Lee, said it was "the most important film festival in the world".

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Screen Northants, a non-profit film company, is currently working on its third feature film, Fortune Cookies.

An adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth and its first film, titled Nene, are both in post-production.

The festival is part of a drive to bring film-makers to the county to achieve an "ambitious" target to get 5% of feature films in the UK to be made in Northamptonshire.

The closing date for submissions to the festival is 17:00 BST Wednesday, 25 March.