About

Sugarspun Pictures is the home of writer/director Carlo Ortu.

Since graduating from Bournemouth University with a First Class Honours degree in Media Production, Carlo has worked on and scripted a variety of television, corporate and commercial projects that includes work for the BBC, Channel Four and ITV. He has also written, directed and produced a number of shorts and one feature film.

His short film, 'Safe Zone', was selected for a special screening at the Palais at the 2008 Cannes International Film Festival, was one of the Top 20 Highly Commended films in the 2007 TCM Classic Shorts Competition, was nominated for the UK Film Council Award for Best Film at the 2008 London Short Film Festival, was also nominated for Best Drama at the NPA 2008 Film Awards and won the Audience Award at a 2008 Shortwave Films screening. As well as this the film has been selected and screened at numerous national and international film festivals and is being distributed by Ouat Media for Movieola-The Short Film Channel.

In 2008 the British Film Institute and Shootingpeople.org organised a retrospective of Carlo's work and four of his shorts were shown at the British Film Institute Studio on London's South Bank.

In 2009 Carlo was accepted onto the prestigious Think-Shoot-Distribute scheme. Organised by The Times BFI London Film Festival, supported by Skillset and Film London and sponsored by Adobe, 25 talented and experienced filmmakers, seeking to develop their feature film career, take part in Think-Shoot-Distribute for a 5 day intensive programme with leading film professionals in a series of workshops and master-classes exploring the international film industry - from financing to exhibition. Janine Marmot, director of film at event funder Skillset, said: 'It was clear from the exceptionally high calibre of applicants this year that over the last few years Think-Shoot-Distribute has evolved into one of the most highly regarded training schemes for emerging filmmaking talent in the UK.'

Also in 2009 Carlo wrote and directed his first feature 'The Killers' which was described by Noel Clarke (Adulthood, BAFTA Orange Newcomer Winner) as ‘a fantastic film made for no money that blends incredibly witty dialogue with incredible heart’. The film, shot over eleven days for under five thousand pounds, was signed to IndieMoviesOnline and Renderyard in 2010 and is available to rent or buy on DVD in America via IndieFlix and also available to watch on Blinkbox in the UK as well as on VOD in a number of territories.

In 2010, he wrote and directed ‘The Man Who Stopped’, which received a two week theatrical release through the Wandsworth Film Office at the Exhibit Cinema in Balham. It went onto to be shortlisted in Shootingpeople’s Film of the Month in December 2011 and receive praise from Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights). In 2011, Carlo was accepted onto the ICA Lab, an international script/project development Lab - a global community of creatives that develop and make feature films, television drama and comedy, theatre, opera and radio drama.

He also wrote and directed ‘One Other Thing’, which won Shootingpeople’s Film of the Month in July 2011. The competition was judged by John Waters (Hairspray). Another of his shorts ‘The Last Man on Earth’, which Carlo wrote and directed, was part of the Official Selection for the London Short Film Festival 2012 and can now be seen on the BBC Film Network.

Carlo is now developing a number of other film projects.

To view some of my work please visit my Vimeo page.

To view my showreel please click here.

Contact Carlo at carlo@sugarspunpictures.com.

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