Misty Moon has joined forces with award winning director Emma Pitt with a new short horror film A Hymn For Her. Starring Linda Marlowe as ageing starlet Rosemary De Souza, who laments about once being famous, beautiful and always recognised but now in her twilight years is almost invisible to society, as the story unfolds a dark and sinister twist is revealed. Also starring Tyger Drew-Honey, Deborah Voorhees, Hayley Greenbauer and introducing Imogen Eden-Brown. Written and directed by Emma Pitt and produced by Stuart Morriss, A Hymn For Her is released on the film festival circuit early 2022.

I received the notification on the 9th November 2020 and I am so, so proud to announce that Robo Films and Misty Moon’s Ready For My Close Up has WON BEST COMEDY HORROR FILM at The FANtastic Horror Film Festival in San Diego but not only that, Lynn Lowry has also WON BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS for Ready For My Close Up….. I am so proud about both awards but especially for the best film award as this film was a team effort and I am so proud of all my cast and crew and to all our backers who supported us and helped us make our film… Lynn, Jason, Michael and I have recorded our acceptance speeches a couple of weeks ago and you will be able to see the awards ceremony when it will be streamed online very soon….Champagne at the ready ❤️🎥🎥🍾🍾🍾

What a gig on Saturday the 7th November…. Misty Moon’s The Bill Reunions are always fabulous, whether they are at our beloved Cinema Museum or in more recent times online, but this one was exceptional…. 4.5 hours of pure entertainment for the fans during a dark autumn night of Lockdown. A huge, huge thank you to my guests, Carolyn Pickles, Suzanne Maddock, Gary Grant, Oliver Crocker and Graham Cole Obe…. Thank you as always to our tech wizard Martin Rudman for the great clips and to the wonderful audience which also had a few famous faces in it, including our Darling Patron Linzi Drew and Hammer actress Valerie Leon… The next Socially Distanced Bill Reunion will be on Saturday the 30th January 2021. Confirmed guests Natalie Rowles aka DS Debbie McAllister, Suzanne Maddock aka WPC Cass Rickman, Jon Iles aka DC Mike Dashwood and Andrew Mackintosh aka DS Alistair Greig .

So we did it, against all the odds, Misty Moon put on the biggest gig since the original lockdown and just hours before Lockdown 2 was about to start…. El Presidente Robin Askwith entertained a full but socially distanced Phoenix Arts Club with irreverent stories and a cameo from none other than George Layton.. I would like to thank all the team at The Phoenix especially Peter Dunbar, we had so many frantic calls over the last few days to make sure the gig went ahead… My wingman for the night Matthew Stanford and of course to the wonderful Misty Mooners who attended along with the other members of the audience…. Misty Moon & Robin will be back at The Phoenix and Cinema Museum as soon as we can… until then, Misty Moon Online Events are still going strong….. Photos from last night by Matthew Stanford, Gillian Bryant and Ellen Holbrook.

I am still buzzing from Saturday night’s Misty Moon International Film Festival.
How brilliant was that?

As our beloved Cinema Museum is temporarily closed due to “that virus” instead of postponing the festival we decided to stream it online.

With a full online house packed with guests and filmmakers from around the world, enjoying the best in independent film. No technical glitches and all the films streamed perfectly, thanks to the technical brilliance of Martin Rudman. I had one of the filmmakers from New York messaging me during the festival to say how thrilled he was that their film streamed seamlessly… the miracles of modern technology…

I am so proud of Misty Moon’s special guest MC Suzanne Maddock… Suzanne did a wonderful job holding everything together…The judging panel were fabulous in their deliberations as I mediated them. Also in true Misty Moon tradition we stayed on chatting and drinking in our virtual pub The Slaughtered Lamb until the very wee small hours…

This was also a fundraiser for our beloved Cinema Museum and we raised £362.50 on Saturday night and a couple of days before, The Misty Mooners had already been donating so we have raised over £500, so well done everyone.

We even had Lindsay Honey aka adult Legend Ben Dover doing a drum roll from Spain before each winner‘s announcement…..

So here are the Winners of The Misty Moon International Film Festival 2020 are:

The Geoffrey Morriss Award – The Boy Who Thought He Could Fly – Director Emma Pitt

The Fenella Fielding Award OBE – Close – Directors – Emily Bollwell and Thomas Attwood

The Dudley Sutton Award – Les Monstres – Director – Leslie Carles

The Misty Mooners Award – Fools Gold – Director Jim Allison

The Judge’s Award – The Boy Who Thought He Could Fly – Director Emma Pitt

The Misty Moon International Film Festival will be back Halloween 2021 with new films, new judges and some big surprises… Submissions open February 2021. Online photos courtesy of Matthew Bartram and Matthew Stanford

We had a lovely time for our Misty Moon online event with actress Judy Matheson on Saturday 3rd October 🌙⭐️✨🎭

Fans tuned in from all over, including America and New Zealand to hear tales of Judy’s Hammer Glamour days on Hammer House of Horror, with popular films Lust for a Vampire and the opening scenes of Twins of Evil being a firm favourite.
Questions came flying in from fans in the audience, which Judy answered directly and we are were treated to rarely seen clips put together by our tech man Martin Rudman, from tv shows such as Z Cars and Citizen Smith. Judy chatted about her days working on Crossroads, Blake 7, The Sweeney, The Professionals and an appearance in Coronation Street. Judy was also in The Flesh and Blood Show, Confessions of a Window Cleaner and The Exquisite Cadaver, the Spanish psychological art house thriller, with the actress Capucine. There was a treat for the audience in the form of a rare clip of The Emergence of Anthony Purdy, Esq. Farmer’s Labourer, from 1970, directed by Patrick Dromgoole and starring Freddie Jones, which Judy thoroughly enjoyed working on.
Judy also thrilled the audience with tales of working on her first film, The Chairman, with Gregory Peck, a revealing story of Stanley Kubrick and touring in the theatre with actors such as Yootha Joyce, Richard O’Sullivan and Sally Thomsett.
Feedback for the evening was fantastic and it was lovely Judy got to speak personally to fans and Twitter followers in the audience who she hadn’t met up with before 🌙⭐️✨🎥🎬

Judy will be joining us for our Misty Moon International Film Festival, as one of our judges on Saturday 24th October at 7pm 🎬🎭🎥🌙✨

This is a free event but you must register to participate and watch the films 🎥🎬🎭

We had yet another fantastic evening with actor Ian Ogilvy, on Saturday 25th September, for Misty Moon Online events.
We were honoured that Ian wanted to do another one after his previous online evening at the beginning of August, to tell us his stories of his career in tv and film. From The Return of the Saint, The Witchfinder General, The Socerers, No Sex Please, We’re British, working with Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing and much much more. The questions came firing fast from fans in the audience and a queue built up quickly, which Ian loved answering directly.
We Co-hosted again with his friend and huge The Return of the Saint fan Mike Smith, who first met Ian when he was seven years old and has kept in touch ever since and possesses one of the original Saint cars.
As well as clips of Ian’s work put together by tech man Martin Rudman, Mike had his own contribution of clips, including a hilarious video that he filmed himself of Ian re-enacting the scene from the Alan Partridge tv series, when he visits the character Lynn mothers grave and plays the theme tune of The Return of the Saint!
Ian was immensely touched that his friend, the actress Jenny Hanley, joined us for the event to chat about her experiences of working with him and thrilled the audience too.
An event is always fun with Ian and we all had a great time! Even the infamous Hurdy Gurdy that Ian handmade himself crept in to make another appearance 😀

On Saturday 5th September, Misty Moon started our autumn season off with a fun evening online reminiscing about the filming of short comedy film ‘Ready For My Closeup’ 🎥

Actress Lynn Lowry chatted to us and the audience about her experiences of working on the film, alongside director Jason Read of Robo Films, script writer Michael Haberfelner and producer, Misty Moons very own Stuart Morriss.

Lynn loved the role as Meg Topplethwaite, relishing in the different characters, badly acted by this actress who was once well known for her B movies and now locked in her world of memories and resentment that those days are now gone. Lynn drew inspiration for the character from Gloria Swanson, who played Norma Desmond in the brilliant film Sunset Boulevard.

Lynn originally came up with the idea and script writer Michael Haberfelner adapted it for screen and talked us through the writing process. Michael also had a role in the film as Craig the delivery man, where he had to hide in our wardrobe for a while, as you do! 😁

Director Jason Read, described the process of creating the film, from editing, colour grading, directing the actors and scoring the whole film! (My favourite is the guitar score in the scene with  actor George Sweeney! ) Yes! Jason is a man of many talents and one with great patience! Whilst it was a intense weekend for us, having lots of people and equipment in our home (where it was filmed) Jason had to manage filming  in a fairly small space with hoards of stuff in every nook and cranny!

Talking of our home and hoards of stuff, we both couldn’t believe how messy our house looked! Did we make it look like that especially for the film? As we were once asked! “No”, we replied, “it always looks like that!” Ha! A busy life and too much hoarding created it! Nevertheless, lots of lovely memories were made there and we look back with fondness on our crazy colourful London home, forever immortalised on film ❤️

A successful crowd funding project also brought regular  Misty Mooners together in supporting the film and enjoyed watching it again online, including Alan Hoare, who played a zombie killer and Martin Rudman, who both chatted to the audience about their fun experiences 🧟‍♂️

Well, now that Misty Moon has been involved with eight films with Jason Read of Robo Films, it’s been a blast! Here’s to the next one some day!

Next Misty Moon online event will be Ian Ogilvy! Returning to Misty Moon on Saturday 26th September 🌙✨

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TJv3GhZjTNaN_s1zaegr4Q

Check out Misty Moon on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates and links for tickets to events 🌙⭐️

It has been 7 years since actress Diane Franklin came to visit Misty Moon, at our Art Gallery in London during the summer of 2013, where she spent a week meeting fans, talking about her films and exploring London and trips out for english cream teas with us in the Kent countryside! Happy days indeed and lovely to reminisce!

On Saturday our ‘visit’ this time from Diane, was online to chat to us and her fans about her tv and film career. Diane being full of exuberance and fun, chatted readily about her experiences in acting, from commercials, which resulted in her regularly being recognised in the street, to tv and film, including Last American Virgin, (what a great soundtrack!) Second Time Lucky, Better Off Dead and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure! Our tech help,  Martin Rudman chose some brilliant clips, including a role Diane played in ‘Murder She Wrote’, where she plays an outrageously obnoxious wealthy lady in a strop!

A deeper and darker discussion occurred about Diane’s role in Amityville 2: The Possession and the effect this film had on some of its viewers, including Mr Moon, who watched it as a teenager and was scared witless! I have seen it several times too and have to say the prosthetics in the film really do make it more terrifying than modern day CGI nowadays! The real life murders and continued events at the property where it happened, over the years have fascinated so many and have been recreated again and based on truer events in the form of The Amityville Murders, which Diane stars in and is available on Sky Store right now! Mr Moon and I watched this the other night and really enjoyed it. Definitely worth a watch if you enjoy a good horror! And yes, it did creep us up! We woke up in the middle of the night hearing a scraping sound coming from somewhere in our bedroom! Even our two cats Molly Mog and  Suzie Sue leapt off the bed to investigate and started growling  (yes, Suzie growls like a little dog!) But don’t panic (she says) it was only the window knocking in the wind (sigh of relief from all four of us, drama over and  back to bed) I think I’ll lay off the horror for a few days and watch some of Diane’s comedies!

Diane answered questions directly to her fans and there was a lot of love and warmth for her career. It was great for some of the regular Misty Mooners, such as Ian Crosdale, who met her the first time round, to be able to chat to her again. See the great photograph below of Ian, taken back in 2013, trying on the coat and hat Diane wore, as the character Monique Junet in the film Better Off Dead!

Diane’s autobiography is available signed via her website http://www.dianefranklin.com
I revisited this during the week and find it a really inspiring  positive read, no matter what your chosen career path is, especially during these times of uncertainty.

Overall in the words of Bill and Ted, Saturday was an excellent and most triumphant Misty Moon online event! Can’t wait for the next time! 🎬🎭

Next Misty Moon online event Saturday 5th September (British time) Screening of short film ‘Ready For My Close Up’ and interviews with horror actress Lynn Lowry, director Jason Read and producer Stuart Morriss 🎬🎭

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N4xwNPz0TMqo65n8KGezbw

Check out our Misty Moon Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for the link

During another balmy August Saturday afternoon, Misty Moon had yet another fun filled Bill Reunion, with actors from the show, Graham Cole OBE, who played PC Tony Stamp, Ashley Gunstock, (PC Robin Frank) and Victor Gallucci,  (DC  Tom Baker) The Bill’s longest running regular background artist, appearing in over a thousand episodes! Everyone got comfy for a few hours with their favourite tea, hot chocolate, jelly tots (the curators favourites) and a gin or two for me (well they don’t call me Gin Jen for nothing!😃🍸) with some of their favourite actors brought virtually into their own living room! 🍷☕️🍸

Despite a few gremlins in the system when we first started (well there’s a first time for everything 🧐🤔) it was quickly sorted by our tech extraordinaire Martin, and was a smooth ride from there on.

MC and Misty Moon curator, Stuart Morriss, started the proceedings with  Ashley Gunstock in the hot seat, which led to a revealing story regarding his on screen moustache!

Great stories followed of the excitement of onscreen car chases (Graham being a stunt  driver before his days on The Bill and being the main driver in the show) and the attention to detail and advice given directly by the police themselves, which added to the realism portrayed, plus lots of location secrets.

We heard from the actors of their fascinating careers before and after the Bill, including time in many theatre productions, Ashley’s directing and Victor’s producing career and time working onset with the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino, who I think the whole audience agreed, Vic  very much looked like  (see photo!😃)

Of course we had lots of lovely Bill fans, including the lady who runs The Billaton fan account on Twitter! Lovely to be finally able to put a face to the person who runs this fabulous account and thanks to her, for all her support for our Bill reunions 😃

It’s great to be able to catch up with some of our regular Misty Mooners too, especially during these strange times, when some feel quite lonely and isolated and to find out how everyone is coping in their different ways and discovered some are even back in lockdown.  As Misty Moon is online at the moment, we also get the pleasure of connecting to audience members in more far flung areas, who would normally struggle with travelling the distance to the venues we normally use, especially from abroad!

Our next Misty Moon online event will be this Saturday 29th August with Diane Franklin to chat to us about her career on films such as, Amityville 2, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures, Last American Virgin and her autobiography ‘The Excellent Adventures of The Last American, French-Exchange Babe of the 80s’.