Prestigious festivals beckon for Hack Oldham film-makers

Filming taking place at Hack Oldham

Hack Oldham recently adapted Stephen King’s book Stationary Bike into a short film - and now it's set to feature at its first film festival. 

Stationary Bike tells the story of a man told by his doctor to get an exercise bike.

It all seems very run of the mill, until in typical King fashion something strange happens and the bike takes on otherworldly powers giving an everyday journey a terrifying and sometimes gory twist.

For those who aren’t familiar with Hack Oldham it is a non-profit social enterprise based in the heart of Oldham, run by volunteers.

Hack Oldham is a multi-facted social enterprise offering low cost event hire, very affordable coworking space, to a well-equipped makerspace with workshops, and last but not least a variety of community groups all for incredibly cheap prices.

It was the combined force of two of these groups that enabled a short film adaptation of Stephen King’s book Stationary Bike to be filmed - in under a month.

Led by Hack Oldham’s fillmmaking group and supported by actors from the community acting classed, and all under the expert directorship of Eric Steele the filmmaking group leader and local award-winning independent filmmaker, the film starred local actors and used a range of local locations, including Hack Oldham itself.

Not only did the team shoot the Stephen King film in less than a month, but they shot it in the lead up to Christmas during December before editing the film in just over a fortnight in January this year.

Stationary Bike has now been entered into a plethora of film festivals, including the British Horror film festival, Grimfest, the LA International film festival, and Scarefest film festival, to name just a few.

If you would like to try your hand at filmmaking or acting, or one of Hack Oldham’s community groups, take a look at their website: www.hackoldham.co.uk

All groups offer a free taster session, then if you enjoy it you can either pay £4 per session (pay-as-you-go) or become a member of Hack Oldham for just £10 per month, giving you access to all the community groups and Hack’s well-equipped makerspace which offers 3D printing, a wood workshop, laser cutters, and much more.

Feel free to arrange a guided tour by dropping them an email: hackoldham@mail.com

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