Film News – Lucy Nordberg

Brutality of Fact video launched

Lucy Nordberg — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:52:53 +0000

I’ve completed producing the music video The Brutality of Fact, based on the work of Francis Bacon, for the band ART-O-MATIC. Collaborating with the talented editor Deborah Espect, this was an exciting project to work on for an arts fan. Many thanks to the Estate of Francis Bacon for permission to use the images of the paintings alongside photographs of Bacon’s studio, as well as their careful research for the reference photos Bacon used for his paintings.

You can view the video at the link below:

The Brutality Of Fact

ART-O-MATIC was formed by David G. A. Stephenson (also of The Groovy Arts Club Band) with his collaborator of many years, Mike J. Gosling, to celebrate art, artists, architecture, photography, and design philosophy.

The Groovy Arts Club band also have a strong arts connection, with a name inspired by London gallerist Robert Fraser (1937-1986), known as ‘Groovy Bob’. In 2019, David co-curated an exhibition at Gazelli Art House featuring work by artists Fraser represented, including Clive Barker, Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Brian Clarke, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Richard Hamilton, Keith Haring, Jann Haworth, Bridget Riley, Ed Ruscha and Colin Self. The band have an upcoming gig at the Pipline in Brighton on 24th January, as part of their series of Groovy Arts Club nights.

Meanwhile, ART-O-MATIC are planning a gig to celebrate the launch of The Brutality of Fact video. We’re currently developing ideas for videos for further songs in the new year.

Blank Canvas selected as quarter-finalist in ScreenCraft Film Fund

Lucy Nordberg — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 16:05:05 +0000

I was excited to find out that Blank Canvas, my short film script containing dialogue in verse – along with its accompanying production plan – was selected as a quarter-finalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund Spring 2025. This year’s fund had 1100 submissions. ScreenCraft is an organisation that offers “production grants to talented creators for narrative features, short films, TV pilot series scripts, and documentaries that display originality, vision & exceptional potential”. Its film fund is a programme designed to help realise filmmakers’ ideas and connect them with companies looking for new stories to develop.

I received some great feedback on the script, which was especially encouraging as I know that verse dialogue is unusual as part of a film script. You can read more about Blank Canvas here

Script given reading for short film featuring dramatic verse

Lucy Nordberg — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 10:29:06 +0000

As my next short film Blank Canvas goes into pre-production, here’s a look back at the reading of the script at Rising Phoenix, an arts collective holding a monthly new writing night in the atmospheric Net Loft venue at Brighton Fishing Museum. I knew the founder of Rising Phoenix, actor Isabella McCarthy Sommerville, from her role in my short film The Mirror, which was part of my ongoing practice to bring modern dramatic verse to screen and stage. Blank Canvas builds on The Mirror and Time and Tide to a present a full narrative drama using verse in certain sections of dialogue. The rehearsed reading to a packed audience, with written feedback, was a great way to assess the impact of the verse and how best to incorporate it into the interactions between the characters. You can read more about the film here

Time & Tide scheduled for TV debut alongside in-depth interview

Lucy Nordberg — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:39:58 +0000

Following its successful festival run, Time and Tide: A Trilogy will feature on Indie FilmOnTV!, a series presented by Deborah Espect that introduces films made by independent filmmakers, followed by interviews to explore their experiences making their films.

Time and Tide, alongside an in-depth interview, will be broadcast on 8th November at 9.50pm and 22nd November at 9pm on Latest TV, on Freeview 7 and Virgin Media 159 in the Brighton area, or via livestream anywhere in the world at https://thelatest.co.uk/ Also to be scheduled are upcoming broadcasts on Sheffield Live! and NVTV (Belfast).

Oxford Shorts screening completes successful festival run

Lucy Nordberg — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 16:49:52 +0000

The end of the successful worldwide festival run of Time and Tide was marked with a final screening at The Oxford Shorts Film Festival. The event was held in the historic grounds of St John’s College at The University of Oxford, in the newly refurbished auditorium.

The session featuring Time and Tide was called Lost at Sea, encompassing a variety of films inspired by the sea that the festival organisers described as as ‘reflective, calming or a force of nature’. I took part in the Q&A following the session. You can check out the full festival programme here – and the trailer, which includes some shots from Time and Tide, is here

Time and Tide to screen at North East International Film Festival

Lucy Nordberg — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 16:10:00 +0000

Short film trilogy Time and Tide has been selected for the North East International Film Festival (NEIFF), which takes place at venues across Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 18th-20th November 2022. NEIFF is a British Independent Film Award (BIFA) qualifying festival, which means that shorts screened at the festival are eligible to be entered into the BIFA Best British Short Film category.

NEIFF – which is partnered with the European Independent Film Festival – includes one off special screenings of award-winning films with cast and crew Q&A sessions, VIP networking events, educational film-related workshops delivered by industry professionals, together with the three full day screenings of finalist films, all culminating in a Closing Awards Gala.

The full festival schedule will be announced over the coming days at the NEIFF website here

Time and Tide wins Best Cinematography Award at Brighton Rocks

Lucy Nordberg — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 16:56:00 +0000

The Time and Tide trilogy has won the award for Best Cinematography at Brighton Rocks International Film Festival (BRIFF). Many congratulations to the cinematographers Michael O’Connor, Alexx Paul Sherman and Justin Spray! With many of those involved based in Brighton, this was something of a ‘home screening’ and we were able to invite family and friends along, which meant the award felt like a celebration of all the hard work and support we’ve been lucky enough to benefit from while making the films.

There was a short Q&A session after the screening, with me and co-producer Marc Green, John Locke, star of The Last Lighthouse Keeper, Alexx Paul Sherman, cinematographer and editor of The Last Lighthouse Keeper, and Justin Spray, director of The Arena.

The awards were presented by William Nicholson, screenwriter for Gladiator among many other films, who gave a thought-provoking talk before the presentation – with useful advice covering screenwriting, directing and the art of collaboration and compromise, while remaining true to a central vision. Coincidentally, The Arena, the first part of the Time and Tide trilogy, has aspects that were influenced by Gladiator, so this was a particularly resonant session for us!

Q&A session at Romford Film Festival

Lucy Nordberg — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 15:14:00 +0000

I greatly enjoyed attending several entertaining sessions at the Romford Film Festival, where Time and Tide was nominated for Best Short Film. The event – which shows over 180 films annually – is held at the Premiere Cinema multiplex.

I was involved in a Q&A session after the screening of Time and Tide, which explored the creative and technical processes involved in the production. You can watch the Q&A here

A fun highlight was the closing day, where many of the film makers gathered for networking and a group photo on the red carpet – with the added bonus of a bar serving cocktails inspired by some of the films!

Editing complete on 360 short film The Mirror

Lucy Nordberg — Tue, 10 May 2022 15:20:00 +0000

Editing is now complete for the 360 version of MPT film The Mirror, which stars Isabella McCarthy Sommerville performing at the historic Preston Park Manor, Brighton. The short film – viewable with a VR headset – is a literal reflection of the passing of time, in which the viewer experiences a ghostly slice of period drama in immersive 360.

There is also a traditional, non-immersive version of the film, which uses a different narrative techniques to tell the same story. This was recently screened at various TV station across the UK as part of the Latest Visions TV festival. You can read more about this Festival here

Time and Tide wins Best UK Short at London Independent Film Festival

Lucy Nordberg — Thu, 05 May 2022 15:37:00 +0000

Time and Tide has won Best UK Short at the London Independent Film Festival (LIFF). A week after the film’s screening at the Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel, the awards ceremony was presented by the actor Cathy Tyson.

After all the work on the films, it was satisfying to watch the performances of John Locke, Greta Scacchi and Sam West at this inspiring venue. There was an excellent selection of films during the evening, which played to a packed house.

Many thanks to LIFF for this recognition and congratulations to all who worked on all three films, under the direction of Marc Green, Jonathan Stow and Justin Spray.