01.04.26

A VERY HAPPY ACCIDENT - PRODUCER ROSIE ROBINSON ON WINNING THE BEST EAST ANGLIAN SHORT FILM IN 2025

Producer Rosie Robinson shares how Skelter went from a last-minute pivot to winning Best East Anglian Short at Suffolk Shorts Film Festival 2025.

We had the perfect location, a talented cast and crew, and our star pig. It was all going according to plan…That is, until a Bluetongue outbreak in East Anglia, which struck a week before we were due to shoot, meant that all cloven-hoofed animals - including pigs - were locked down until further notice. The shoot could not go ahead as planned. 

Max (Morgan, Director) and I initially set out to make a very different kind of film - a heist comedy centred on a stolen pig.

Although devastated by the news, we were determined to still make a film, not wanting to waste the time and commitment of everyone already involved. Some quick rethinking was in order: Max wrote a skeletal script, we called emergency meetings with the HoDs and our actors, and Skelter was born. We were very fortunate in the flexibility and enthusiasm of our cast and crew, who immediately jumped on board with the new idea.

Still from Skelter

We had a gorgeous (and very spontaneous) time at Orsett County Fair, filming in horseboxes, at candy-floss booths, and on fairground rides, all of which lent a vibrancy and authenticity to the film. The actors improvised dialogue, allowing the story to change over the course of the day, guided by Max’s writing and direction, and freed up by the brilliant performances of our cast. Having collaborated on a tightly-scheduled feature film, Evan (DOP) and Max found the change of plans visually disinhibiting too. It was an opportunity to finally capitalise on their shared infatuation with Robbie Ryan's cinematography on the films of Andrea Arnold.

Still from Skelter

Skelter ended up being a film about friendship, change, and the painful, bittersweet feeling which comes at the end of one chapter and the start of the next. It is a kind of coming-of-age tale informed by many of the cast and crew’s own experiences, leaving university the summer we filmed, and heading out into the real world. Our location sits at the heart of the film, reflecting director Max’s own experiences of attending county fairs around Suffolk when he was growing up. It is a film informed by, and firmly rooted in, this part of the country, which is why it felt so special screening Skelter at Suffolk Shorts last year. 

Rosie and Millie at Suffolk Shorts Festival 2025

Located in beautiful Woodbridge at the stunning Riverside Cinema, Suffolk Shorts is easily one of the best short film festivals I’ve attended, and I’m not just saying that because we were lucky enough to be awarded the East Anglian Short Film Award! The team was incredibly warm and generous throughout the whole process, and the programming was impeccable. The standard of films was insanely high - it was really very daunting seeing the line-up our little film was part of - which makes it even more of an honour that we came away with a prize. I had such a lovely time meeting other filmmakers, as well as a couple of the jury members who had really lovely things to say about our film. It was so exciting to see Skelter on the big screen, and hear the response from the audience in the room; the cinema itself is gorgeous, and the quality of the projection and sound really took me back to our weekend of filming at the fairground. 

Neither Max nor I had had a film in Suffolk Shorts before, and we came across it while looking for local festivals to enter; now that we’ve been part of it, it will certainly remain on my list to enter with all my future shorts. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a festival to enter as a filmmaker, or for a festival to attend as a punter. 

Winning £1000 is the cherry on top of the whole experience, and is a genuinely transformational amount of money to win as a short filmmaker. Max and I have started chatting about the possibility of reigniting our plans to make the original pig film, Saving Bacon (operation Saving Saving Bacon!), though we have a couple of other ideas which have been knocking about too… 

We very much hope to have a film to bring back to the Riverside, funded by our prize money, in the next couple of years. Thank you, Suffolk Shorts - we’ll be back soon! 

Author:

Rosie Robinson

Rosie Robinson is a producer of short films, music videos and commercial content. Her work has screened at BAFTA and BIFA-qualifying festivals, and she collaborates with emerging filmmakers across the UK and Europe.