Officially, OMF first appeared way back in 2014 with the creation of Tariro, a punchy feature movie that resurfaced a year later after an extensive re-cut and the inclusion of additional footage filmed in both the UK and Cyprus and a new more descriptive title of One Way Traffic
But that wasn't the beginning of OMF, for the actual roots had been laid several years before when retired media specialist Ian Bennett created a short documentary for the Southport corps (church) of the Salvation Army to celebrate the leadership of the outgoing Corps Officer (Minister) when he moved on to another corps in the Midlands.
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Filmed as a one-off, and with a live action intro when screened at Maj Gethin Thomas' final Southport service, interest was so high that a limited edition DVD was commissioned which sold out in record time.
Appropriately, profit from the 7 Years in Southport DVD was donated back to the Salvation Army, starting a charity donation trend that would become an essential element of OMF production.
The following year, with a crew increased to three, a major classic car show that filled the entire centre of the nearby market town of Ormskirk was filmed. With static car and motorcycle displays across the town centre as well as active cavalcades on the ring road and a competitive auto solo event (where the course had been designed by Ian), the show had plenty of potential. Motorfest - the Movie then went further than pure documentary with participant interviews, event build-up sequences and in-car action.
Motorfest was also where the Old Man Film logo was seen for the first time on DVD packaging, the title chosen as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the media where everyone just has to be young.
Then in 2013, sitting through a lack lustre presentation about human trafficking that was supposed to raise support but clearly wasn't having any effect, it was felt that what was actually needed was a dynamic movie with punch that would make its audience sit up and take notice. Discussions between the crew of Motorfest, and a well known local actor established viability of the project, following which a film school was set up to train a crew and a casting call put out to identify a professional cast. With those two essential elements in-place, the search for believable locations and sufficient sponsorship to cover production costs followed, with production running through April and May 2014. Tariro was later re-cut and released with a new title - One Way Traffic - both versions gaining international awards, creating visibility of the topic and raising donations for supporting charities.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
From feature length movies to short films and Christian music videos, by 2024, Old Man Film had created around 50 films, all of which had benefitted charities such as Queenscourt Hospice, Age Concern and the trafficking support division of the Salvation Army. All OMF's features are international award winners and have had local premiere's - OMF's first feature Tariro premiered at the Plaza cinema, Waterloo, their fourth and final feature movie Down & Out at the Lucem Cinema in St Helens. But as the Old Man Film crew grew even older, feature movie production ceased and the group's name changed to just the anagram of OMF. By 2018 two features (One Way Traffic and AfterAffects) and a docufeature (Buying Time) were streaming on Prime Video Direct (Amazon) as they still are almost a decade later.
Through the Covid years, production was mainly on-line content for churches that were legally unable to meet in person with bible readings and sermons the most popular. For a Christmas special, a sextet from Southport Salvation Army's brass band were filmed playing six carols. Those six shoots later became the start of the Ssounds Christian music project. Because Covid regulations prevented multiple crew being at the carols shoots, those shorts had to be filmed with seven static cameras.
Fast forward to when the country returned to normal and the OMF story repeated itself when a rough sleeper presentation without any on-screen speaker support whatsoever became the catalyst for the OMF crew to bring feature movie production out of retirement. But Covid had taken its toll and crew numbers were far below feature film requirements.
In truth, Down & Out should have been cancelled as soon as crew availability became clear and only the assistant director multi tasking on camera 2 paralleled by yet another brilliant professional cast made Down & Out production possible.
Fast forward to when the country returned to normal and the OMF story repeated itself when a rough sleeper presentation without any on-screen speaker support whatsoever became the catalyst for the OMF crew to bring feature movie production out of retirement. But Covid had taken its toll and crew numbers were far below feature film requirements.
In truth, Down & Out should have been cancelled as soon as crew availability became clear and only the assistant director multi tasking on camera 2 paralleled by yet another brilliant professional cast made Down & Out production possible.
Definitely the last feature that OMF would make, and despite the struggles, Down & Out has again already won awards, surpassing all previous success with a prestigious Lift Off Global Network official selection. But now really old men, in the future OMF will only create travelogue shorts and short clips for local churches.
Though proud of the support given to charities, awards won over the years and pleasure given over more than a decade, OMF will not produce any more feature movies - and that is definite!