Private Project

Something to Make You Sing

A man is drawn into a world where he witnesses machines which appear to make people sing; starting out as a passive observer he becomes a more active participant until, ultimately, he too is placed within a machine to sing.

  • Tim Rolt
    Director
  • Tim Rolt
    Writer
  • Keith Benton
    Producer
  • Metin Marlow
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Runtime:
    15 hours
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Shooting Format:
    16mm
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.66
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • BBC
    Distributor
    Country: United Kingdom
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Tim Rolt

Tim Rolt is a filmmaker currently living and working in Cornwall. Tim has made many films utilizing an enormous diversity of techniques and styles, combining fiction, documentary, animation and video art. His films have been shown widely, nationally and internationally, including at prestigious film festivals and galleries.

Among his films are; The Vacuum, made for Channel 4 and featuring Theatre De Complicité’s Simon McBurney, as Colin, who is swallowed by a vacuum cleaner. The Vacuum screened extensively at international film festivals and took Tim to Hiroshima where the film won the international jury prize. Traffic Island told the story of a group of friends who become marooned on a roundabout and their struggle for survival (BFI (New Directors Scheme). Traffic Island was shown on Channel 4 and traveled to festivals including London, Edinburgh, Chicago and Clermont Ferrand. Something To Make You Sing for the BBC/Arts Council was the story of a man who stumbles into a world where strange machines cause people to sing and was described by the Daily Telegraph as “witty and dreamlike”. Tales From The Underground for MTV, a single shot, nine minute film, described as “a seamless and ceaseless ride, from the everyday, to the bizarre”, screened at over twenty international film festivals including; Dresden, Sarajevo, Locarno and a tour of New Zealand and Australia.

Tim has also directed commercials, pop videos and title sequences making films for major brands and working in the UK, Europe and the USA. Additionally Tim has worked extensively with groups of very young children, facilitating them to make their own films. One of the resulting films, Nobody Returns, won the First Light best in category award and received a gala premier at the Odeon Leicester Square.

In 2019 Tim completed, Peninsula, an independent feature film inspired by the Grimm fable the Wanderers. Peninsula went on to win two awards at Southampton International film festival, for best director and best cinematography.

In 2021 Tim moved to north Cornwall, where he now lives, a stone's throw, from the ocean.

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