Adrian Winchester reports on the Convention of 2007 in a post that was originally published on the 8mm forum: link. After Derann closed its doors in 2011, Adrian took over the organisation of the Convention Dinner from 2012, and since 2022 has been one of the organisers of the Convention itself.
Got back from Blackpool earlier today, so here are some impressions of what proved to be a great weekend as always.
Firstly, Blackpool continues to defy pessimists by increasing in popularity. I checked with Anne Simmonds at the end of Sunday, who confirmed that numbers were up again, so that’s 3 consecutive years of higher attendances! She was referring to the Sunday, but I didn’t need to ask about the Saturday night dinner as I could tell from the number of tables that more people were there than last year.
Apart from the usual fun-packed Saturday evening (meal, raffle, quiz etc), I thought a nice touch was to have all 3 celebrities (who were all on the Derann table along one side of the room) getting up in turn to say something about themselves. The concluding film show ended shortly before midnight.
The Sunday convention began with those not staying at the Savoy freezing on a windy day, due to the length of queue stretching outside the hotel entrance! Once inside, we found a higher number of dealers than last year, although some were memorabilia or film/TV collectibles-orientated rather than film dealers, but this all helps to widen the appeal of the event. Baragins that I picked up included some new trailers from a box on the Derann stall all priced at £6. My other purchases included the latest Derann advertisement reel, which looked good in one of the three film shows and includes some entertaining ads. Bargains I saw on the Bring and Buy stall included an excellent condition Kowa scope lens with freestanding mount – snapped up for only £25.
The film shows included most of the new and recent releases from Derann and Classic, plus some additional items. There was an impressive action-packed trailer for ‘Die Hard 4.0’, which may have been a check print as Derann did not yet have copies for sale. Speaking to Ged, I gathered that a major factor in their reluctance to release more modern trailers is that it is currently taking about 4 months (primarily due to the lab) to get new releases produced and ready for sale, which damages sales as they were able to sell more if people could buy trailers while the films were on release.
The auction lasted around an hour and featured projectionist Bob Nicholls doing a good job in his first appearance as auctioneer. It included some rare items – such as optical print of ‘Live and Let Die’ – and it was encouraging to see that there was more competitive bidding than at some of the more recent auctions, with many films going for respectable sums. The highest amount was £85 for one of the features on offer.
Later in the afternoon, there was an interesting Q&A session with all three guests contributing. ‘Star Wars’ fans not only had Dave Prowse in person; there were also four enthusiasts in related costumes, two of which were stormtroopers who also appeared on the Saturday. I suspect that the most popular was the young lady who appeared in an extremely revealing outfit on the Sunday, and I’m not convinced that all the cameras pointing in her direction were held by keen ‘Star Wars’ fans!
Overall, it was a superb weekend and I offer my thanks to everyone involved in bringing all the elements together. It’s a shame to see it end but a group of well over 20 of us kept the spirit going on the Sunday night with an informal dinner and more socialising in the bar and lounge.
My final thought is: if you STILL haven’t been to this event, how much longer can you hold out before you give in and allow yourself to experience fun on this sort of scale!
In the same post on the 8mm forum, Lee Mannering added his own comments about the weekend:
I spent 4 days at the hotel and without doubt this was the finest Northern Film Collectors Convention I have been to in 30 years and I tried to do a rough count and ended up guestimating approaching 500 including around 30 Children which was really nice to see.
The Saturday meal was a complete sell out and some thought they could even secure a seat at the last minute forming a line outside the dining room. No chance, it was jammers folks! The quiz was won by our table and we secured a round of free drinks thanks to Derann.
It was good to meet some new people who had just discovered super 8mm film collecting having had enough of the DVD experience and looking to set up a hands on real hone cinema. The Super 8 projectors that were available quickly disappeared including my Stereo machine and several films I had available. I took along the three DVDs about cine we market (This is Cinema, Cinema Great & Small, Movie Club Magazine) and these were all sold by the end of the day proving a healthy interest in home Cinema.
During the non event time I wound up near the bar, watching films in collector’s rooms and hitting the sack around 3AM most of the time. On the Sunday I was up at 6AM so only had 3 hours sleep as I was helping dealer Richard Read who arranged for the special guests to come along over several months. This was a difficult a nerve wracking job as the stars do have busy schedules but they were very nice to meet and I wound up having a delightful meal sat with Dave Prowse, Shane Rimmer and Norman which I am meeting up with again this week.
It’s the first time I have stayed at this event for the full 4 days and I noted some were even staying longer which demonstrates enthusiasm for film. Great stuff.
Film wise many interesting titles were on offer and I did purchase 10 features and some new super 8 material from Derann.
Can I finally thank all the staff at Derann and Richard Read who liaised with the stars for a very memorable event. The entrance ticket price was worth £15 of anyone’s money, and the superb gala star studded dinner was excellent.
Within the UK this is the only film collector’s event held within a residential hotel complete with Gala dinner, stars, and guest speakers. I take my hat off to any business prepared to organise such a lavish event and it was certainly one to remember.
Thank you very much for a splendid weekend.
Blackpool Film Collectors' Convention 