NEWS
April 2025
The Data Is Wrong
Made for Sci-Fi London's 48hr Film Challenge
Currently being submitted to film festivals around the world.
Here is a description of the film made by Kai Roath at the Fear and Faith Horror Festival:
'The best we can do in trying to describe Austin Charlesworth’s The Data is Wrong is that it’s something like a cross between two classic works of the Twentieth Century: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s science fiction novel Hard to Be A God and the Alice Cooper song “Second Coming".'
Here is what a judge from BOOM! Film Festival had to say about the film without the prior knowledge that the film was made in 48hrs with no money:
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Recommendation: Maybe
Overall Rating: 6 / 10
Comments:
"The film opens strong with some impressive drone shots of a church. The location brings a lot of atmosphere, and the props, wardrobe, and makeup — especially the infected arm — look genuinely great. There are also some striking visual moments, like the girl holding rosary beads, that really stand out. The concept itself is ambitious: a sci-fi/ religious story involving a time traveler. There are a few cool futuristic effects, and the acting overall is solid. You can feel the creativity behind the idea. Visually, the film is uneven. Some shots look polished and cinematic with good color and depth of field, while others appear flat, blurry, or almost like phone footage. There’s a brief moment of noticeable grainy artifacts, and the first asteroid shot looks like it came from a different film. The voice-over also doesn’t quite find the right tone. Story-wise, it introduces compelling ideas about faith, fear, and the tension between belief and science, but it doesn’t explore them deeply enough. The film ends very abruptly after the traveler's death making the film feel incomplete rather than meaningful. It seems ready to say something deeper, but stops before getting there. Overall, it’s an ambitious and creative short with some standout elements, but the inconsistent visuals and unfinished-feeling ending keep it from fully clicking."
April 2024
Out In The Cold
A Sci-Fi Short Made in 2024
Made the top ten for SFL's 48hr Film Challenge, this successful little short has picked up a handful of awards and selections around the world.
Here is what the judges from BIAFF or the British International Amateur Film Festival had to say about the project. Again, they did not know in advance that this film was made in 48hrs for no money.
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Judges’ Comments Title: Out In The Cold Award: 3*
"This was an interesting film in essence, with good production values and an enthusiastic cast of characters, The photography was atmospheric and consistent with the apocalyptic nature of the setting and the editing was fast and punchy - there was certainly no time to get bored. Acting was of a high standard, although the characters themselves were not entirely credible or likeable, but they obviously believed in what was going on around them and it was, albeit momentarily, the survival of the fittest. There was a lot of action but it was hard to follow, the story didn’t make a lot of sense and we needed a little more signposting. What were they waiting for and where was the escape pod going? Was it only equipped for one passenger? If so, what was the point of all of them just hanging around? Why was there a need to kill everyone? What was the point of the board game? If it was a way of deciding who was going in the escape pod and who wasn’t, surely there are better ways than playing snakes and ladders. Flipping a coin might be a more expedient method. Lots of questions, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing and perhaps the intention was to make us think and speculate. The twist ending was good, although it seems strange that someone who was part of the escape team would forget to activate life support. Comic-book violence seems to be requisite in this sort of film and it was well handled in this production, if inexplicable. The main set looked too much like a school rest room to suit the SF concept, but the long corridor looked just right and the escape pod sequence was well designed and filmed.
All said, the film was an enjoyable and rather thrilling roller-coaster ride and a brave
attempt at portraying a post-apocalyptic push for survival."
Larry Hall on behalf of the Judging Panel
Gifted Pain
September 2025
Non-DRF Bristol-Based Feature Film
A passion project made with no-budget and nearly destroyed by lock-down, friend of DRF Tobias Jon, finally finished the edit and organized an amazing premiere at Bristol's Mega Screen. Austin Charlesworth is visible for about 4 seconds being beaten up in a hall of mirrors.
September 2024
Frigate!
April 2025
Re-Editing a Very Old Project
"Frigate!" was started in 1999. Using a story of "Dredger" from Battle Action comics as our template and storyboard, we adapted the script and locations to what we had available at the time.
2025 was finally time to dig it out of the archives and finish it off for the 25th Anniversary. Was it worth it? Definitely not. But there was a tremendous charge of nostalgia with each time it was reviewed and re-edited.
Justice League of South Glamorgan*
Non DRF Project
*Not the actual title
Friend of DRF, Matt Botten, made some films for his niblings as Christmas presents. Using a mix of new footage and clips from DC films, he makes some small children the stars of their own superhero epic. Austin Charlesworth is here as The Joker.
