2010 STARTS WITH ACCEPTANCE INTO THIRD FESTIVAL FOR SHORT FILM (Added 2010-01-10 17:51:14 GMT)

It's great to start 2010 with the news that Curses and Sermons has been selected into Official Competition at The Hampshire Film Festival, UK.

The Festival runs from 19 -20 April 2010 with Curses and Sermons screening on the 19th. For more details visit the Official Homepage HERE.

Keep watching the skies ...

2010 SET TO START WITH A BANG (Added 2009-12-30 01:42:50 GMT)

As 2009 draws quickly to a close, we end the year with a couple of bits of end of year news.

Optic Nerve Productions have completed work on their Michael McClure documentary and it will soon be available to all. The documentary filmed and produced by London based filmmaker Colin Still features footage from this Companies production of The Beard alongside interviews with Dennis Hopper, Ray Manzarek, Peter Coyote and Michael himself. You can check out a clip of what promises to be an exciting film HERE.

Also, we received confirmation today that we have been granted permission to film at the grave of the poet Apollinaire by Gilbert Boudar, representative of the Apollinaire Estate. With this news, we can now work towards a shoot date of April 2010.

2010 promises to be a busy year, so stay tuned ...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL (Added 2009-12-24 12:04:23 GMT)

Just a quick message to wish everyone who has supported the Company in 2009 a very happy Christmas and an even happier New Year.

2009 was a great year - "Curses" attracted some great press and got screened across the World at festivals, even managing to win an award at one! 2010 will see the realisation of our second film project.

Hopefully, in some shape or form we'll also try to get back to our roots and produce another of our theatrical happenings.

As ever keep watching the skies and thank you for all your support over the last 12 months ... the adventure continues.

THE BEAT MUSEUM NEEDS YOUR HELP (Added 2009-11-11 20:24:16 GMT)

One of the friends we recently made on our trip to San Francisco was Jerry Cimino. Jerry is curator of The Beat Museum in San Francisco and he needs your support.

The Beat Museum is a special place - a treasure trove of all things Beat and it's situated in the heart of the legendary North Beach district, right across the street from the City Lights Bookstore. When we were over there with Curses and Sermons, Jerry showed a real interest in the project, let us look round the museum, allowed us to pose for photos with the Beat Mobile (take a look at the photos added 29/09/09) and, sure, sold us a few books. It was one of the highlights of our trip Stateside.

Well, in these hard times The Beat Museum is struggling to keep the flame burning and they need our support. The easiest way is to just make a purchase - buy a book or a t-shirt. It is nearly Christmas! If there's nothing that takes your fancy, you can simply make a donation to help. And then tell your friends to do the same. To visit The Beat Museum just click HERE.

Thank you. - All at 14167 Films

NEWS OF AWARD SPREADS (Added 2009-10-11 19:04:27 BST)

As regular readers of this site will know, the Companies first foray into film was rewarded with a win in the Short Features Category at The 18th Berkeley Film and Video Festival recently - well, the story has appeared over the weekend in two papers in Nic's local area, The Reading Chronicle and The Henley Standard. It's nice to be appreciated!

Work continues on the next project, so - as always - keep an eye on the skies!

RESPONSE TO FILM SINCE BERKELEY (Added 2009-10-03 13:50:27 BST)

It was with much excitement that we received an email from Jack Foley this morning with his review of Curses and Sermons.

Jack saw the film at Berkeley and has written his thoughts in an article that he hopes to see published in various publications in the next few months. We were given an exclusive first look at what he thought. The following are extracts from his forthcoming article -


The film opens with Harlow reciting the opening lines of McClure’s poem as she wanders among hanging slabs of “meat" ... then we move to the image of a man digging a grave for a man he has presumably killed. It is a brilliant and visionary way to begin the film.

... the film’s most stunning single sequence is the scene in which the lovers first attempt to make love...

Saunders’ film concentrates less on mysticism and more on the transformation of The Kid from outlaw to “Rare Angel”—complete with wings! His appearance as such is an extraordinary moment which might not have come off at all in the hands of a less skillful, less risk-taking director ... a wonderful tribute to Michael McClure ... the film looks great and has wonderful performances.


Jack Foley is a poet, performer and writer. He is also the host of "Cover to Cover" which airs on KPFA 94.1FM every Wednesday afternoon in the Bay Area.

BERKELEY FESTIVAL PICTURES (Added 2009-10-01 06:14:11 BST)

The offical website of The Berkeley Film and Video Festival have posted some of their pictures of the Festival and the Awards Ceremony HERE. If you scroll down the page a bit, you'll see Nic collecting his Grand Festival Award for Curses and Sermons.

As ever, any more news will appear here first.

FILM WINS PRESTIGIOUS FESTIVAL AWARD (Added 2009-09-29 18:10:50 BST)

It's been a mad couple of weeks, but I've just returned from San Francisco where Curses and Sermons screened at The 18th Berkeley Film and Video Festival.

The exciting news is that in the Short Features category the film was awarded The Grand Festival Award.

Besides myself, also in attendance at the sell-out screening were actor Philip Bulcock, poet Michael McClure and wife Amy Evans McClure, as well as a host of Bay Area luminaires including poet Jack Foley and legendary photographer Larry Keenan.

For a photographic record of our time at the Festival simply click HERE.

SAN FRANCISCO SCREENING DETAILS ANNOUNCED (Added 2009-09-10 22:51:44 BST)

Curses and Sermons will be screening at The Landmark Shattuck Cinema, 2230 Shattuck Avenue - Downtown Berkeley, San Francisco on Friday, September 25 at 8:30pm.

Director Nic Saunders, star Philip Bulcock and writer Michael McClure will all be in attendance.

A full report and photos will appear upon Nic's return.

In other news, work continues on the Companies second short film project, At Apollinaire's Grave which sees Nic reunited with "Curses" actor Philip Bulcock. The Company welcome Dominic Mayer onboard as co-producer and editor. As ever, all details will always appear here first.

LATEST UPDATES (Added 2009-08-19 23:10:05 BST)

It's less than a week to go until Curses and Sermons gets its American premiere and screens at the 9th Nevada City Film Festival.

Michael McClure and his wife Amy will be in attendance to support the film. Further details and photos will appear soon.

The Company has now started work on its next project - a second short film entitled At Apollinaire's Grave.

The first draft has been completed by Nic and pre-production planning can now slowly begin. The film is a thematic sequel to "Curses" and is based, this time, on the poetry of Allen Ginsberg. The Company have been granted permission by The Ginsberg Estate to use three of Allen's poems as the source material for the piece.

Details are sketchy and, as always, the script is likely to go through a number of changes before principal photography begins, but the current plan is to make the film in the style of the French New Wave cinema of the late 1950's and 60's and to shoot the film entirely on location in Paris.

In fact, the first draft has already had a public reading. Nic was invited to workshop the script in front of an audience at the second scratch evening held by Berkshire based theatre company The Kangaroo Court Theatre Company. Nic and actor Dan Holley (who appeared in this Companies first prodution of "Hair") presented the script to a room of actors, musicians, directors, producers, etc. Initial feedback was positive with the imagery of the script being praised as provocative and emotive. The Company would like to thank Neil McCurley for inviting us to be part of the event and allowing us to get feedback on the project in its earliest stages and wish them all the best with their upcoming production of Sarah Kane's Cleansed.

As ever, all news and updates will always appear here first.