It is now coming up to almost two years since we started this project. As some of you know this began as a 25-minute short film script (which to also add reached the Quarter-Finalist stage at the 14th Fade In Screenwriting Awards in LA). We produced the trailer as a way to raise funding for the short film. The finance for the trailer was helped by the Images Festival Award and they have been hugely supportive of the project from its very small, yet ambitious beginnings. We also had great support from friends, family and fans from across the world that donated their hard-earned cash to help fund the trailer, the website and allow us to keep building this world. So thank you again everyone for your faith in us! Since then the trailer has generated a HUGE amount of interest. So much so that our direction shifted away from making this into a short film but expanded to a feature film. Our trip out to LA in early 2010 was the final vindication that the world of The Marionette Unit belonged on the big screen. We met with lots of people from different parts of the industry, wether they were managers, ...

Images Festival - 5e Grand prix européen des Premiers Films The Marionette unit appeared at the 5th Annual Images Festival in Vevey, Switzerland for the month of Sept. We were invited along to the opening of the festival on the 4th Sept to take part in the ceremony and attend the first official screening of our Inception Trailer. While we were at the ceremony, we were awarded "1st Grand Prize" for our work so far on the film. It is an amazing honour to be recognised for the film - even more so seeing as we haven't shot the film yet! It was a great honour to win the award, we hope the first of many. Merci Beaucoup Images Festival Asylum Steampunk Festival, Lincoln, England The Marionette Unit appeared at the UKs biggest Steampunk festival called "Asylum" Over 900 people attended the weekends events. The film's producer James Boyle held a special presentation to the visitors and community members. James got to meet a wide range of people from authors, illustrators and performers. During the presentation he talked about the films inception, its current state during the writing process, and also showed the teaser trailer and exclusive concept artwork. The response was amazing. Everyone loved it! The best part ...

Hello everyone, It has been a while since Azhur and I wrote on the blog. As our previous post mentioned, we haven't forgotten about the project or our amazing fans. We have been working very hard on the feature script for The Marionette Unit. Azhur, Paul and myself cannot wait to tell the story and make the film, so look forward to lots of exciting news very soon.... In the meantime, we have some exciting news to tell now. The Marionette Unit is going to be appearing at two festivals in Sept! On the 4th of Sept, The Marionette Unit will be appearing at the Festival Des Arts Visuels De Vevey – Images 10 in Switzerland These were the guys who supported the film during the very early stages. We will be screening the trailer along with brand new concept artwork that hasn’t been revealed online. We will also get a chance to talk on stage to the festival goers about the film. www.images.ch/2010/ Then on the 11th Sept, we will be at The Asylum, the Premier UK Steampunk gathering run by the Victorian Steampunk Society in the historic city of Lincoln. We will have a specific booth there to promote the film and to talk to people ...

Hello TMU fans, So there have been some changes in the world of The Marionette Unit. Firstly you may have noticed the website has changed... a lot! In fact it has been slimmed down. There are numerous reasons for this, but the main reason is because The Marionette Unit is now going to be a Feature Film. Yes our Victorian Sci Fi film is now being made into a full length film coming to a cinema near you. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the director Azhur Saleem and I went to Los Angeles for meetings and promotion of our film. We also went ideally to secure funding for the short film. What turned out to be one type of trip, quickly changed into another. Everyone we showed the trailer to, industry members as well, told us this would make a great feature film. So after some discussion between Azhur, Paul and I, we decided to forgot about making a short film and go straight to making it into a feature! We are now busy writing the feature script in London and organising our next steps in regards to the feature film. One of those steps is related to the website. While ...

Hey everyone, Azhur recently was interviewed by the website www.behindballet.com.au. They are based in Melbourne, Australia and it is the blog of The Australian Ballet. Looking at dance through the prism of fashion, music, art and literature, they unravel the stories behind their productions and mine ballet’s juicy past to find the new in the old and the old in the new. They took an interest in The Marionette Unit because of our central character Georgette being a ballet dancer. It is a great interview. Azhur talks about how the original idea came about with myself. He also mentions his inspirations for the dance scene in the movie as well as some of his film inspirations. Read it at : http://www.behindballet.com/making-the-marionette-unit/

Some really great news! The Marionette Unit has just been featured within an article on Ain’t It Cool News – the news source for loads of film, tv and comic-book related projects. This is really great as it means HUGE exposure for our film as that site gets read by millions of people across the world. The posting is AICN & Twitch Present International Eye Candy so thanks again to the guys at Twitch Film for including us in their roundup of films across the world. Scroll down halfway on the page to read the blurb: (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43632) "Steam punk? We got some of that. Coming soon out of the UK is THE MARIONETTE UNIT, a Victorian-era steam punk picture revolving around theatre performers manipulated and controlled by a massive steam-driven organ, the project currently gathering – if you’ll pardon the horrible pun – steam. Producers are putting together funding for both short and feature versions of the concept and, to sell the concept, have put together a fantastic proof-of-concept trailer."

Hey everyone, just a small update this time. Azhur and I wanted to say a huge thank you! You really have made our new year one of the best. From my previous message on the 2nd Jan, The Marionette Unit Inception trailer then had been watched over 10,000 times! No small feat I hear you say. I would totally agree with you. However after checking the stats and numbers this morning, I was floored! In 5 days since then, the trailer has been watched another 10,000 times. To quote the exact figures, it is 10,340 views in 5 days! That is incredible, I cannot believe it. A total of 20,350 views of the trailer. We wouldn't be in this position without every single one of those views. Also everyone who has sent it to their work colleagues, friends and family. I cannot wait to see what happens next, and as I've mentioned Azhur and I have lots of great things planned and some exciting news coming up. I will just close on this, if you like the trailer and the idea of the film, then help support us even more. Just by sending it out to someone else you know is a great help. The ...

Hey everyone, So 2010 continues to be great for The Marionette Unit. Azhur and I have loads of great things to tell you very soon. In the meantime, to help celebrate the new year, we are launching the redesigned home page for the official website. Call it v2.0 if you will. To see the new page click HERE During the coming weeks and months, we will be updating it with all your wonderful comments about the trailer (some of you may see yours already there). We will also be announcing events that you fantastic people can get involved with. Another new feature is a link to Azhur's Filmmaking blog on his official website. Azhur has a lot to say about his job and film in general, which is always a fantastic read. I urge you all to subscribe and keep up to date with his thoughts and ideas. Also if you would like to get in contact with Azhur and I, we have a new contact page HERE as well. Until next time, happy filmmaking James