Short Film screening - Tom Tyrwhitt

We used a still from Tom Tyrwhitt’s short movie ‘Fresh Out of Tears’ for the cover of the latest Viva Lewes Handbook, not (just) because we thought that it was the most striking relevant image we’d come across, but because we thought the screening of four of Tom’s shorts, in the Art Depot in North Street, was the most exciting event going on in September. Tom is a local (Kingston-based) film director who is on the cusp of the big time, with an independent feature-length film doing the rounds of the international festivals (Hush Your Mouth) and another being planned, with major Hollywood backing a distinct possibility.

Like most directors Tom cut his teeth on ‘shorts’ (short films, usually no longer than fifteen minutes in length), and the one-off screening in the former garage is of four of these films, all made in the last few years. He is a great advocate of the medium, which is usually ignored by anyone not in the trade or who could not be described as a ‘film buff’, and believes shorts to be an art form in themselves, as well as a shop window for the talents of the crew and actors involved. The four films on show are little polished jewels: well acted, well shot and thoughtful, they stay in your head for days afterwards. This event, which will be followed in October by a screening of ‘Hush Your Mouth’ is a first for Lewes, an exciting development in a town which is semi-starved of cinema. DL