They loved 'The Game of Life'.

Just returned from Deaffest at a scorching hot Wolverhampton. Along with the five other Zoom films, The Game of Life was premiered there on Saturday morning.

They loved it.

Phew!

They enjoyed the dark humour nature of the film and the performances of the actors, particularly Daryl Jackson's memorable turn as the devilish poler game dealer. Aside from a few minor technical glitches that some had spotted during the screening (won't mention them here!), the response was very positive. Daryl, himself, said he was quite amazed at seeing his own performance and enjoyed the film very much.

It was nice seeing my film on the big screen, I have to say that. OK, it wasn't that big of a screen as it was the one you would expect in an arthouse cinema, but still I took the pleasure of being aware of the giggling and laughing from the audience, so that was something to take home.

The other Zoom films were also great – in fact, I was quite impressed with them. I absolutely loved Vanishing by Giles Bowman. It's a lovely little piece of Twilight Zone stuff and beautifully filmed too. Do see it when it comes out. Also great was Go Ahead by Ted Evans – very inventive piece about a minicom. Also it was great to meet and chat with other directors involved in this scheme.

You won't be seeing the last of us. Six of us have been offered the chance to exclusively apply for the follow up: Zoom Focus. Twice the budget (£4K as the original Zoom scheme was £2k) and more time to develop and shoot our films. Only snag is that only three will be awarded, so six of us will be on the edge to compete with each other for the coveted three awards. This is a very good step-up the ladder as the ethos of the Zoom scheme is to develop Deaf directing talent to help further careers.

Yeah, of course, I'll be applying for it... if I can come up with a story, that is. Coming up with great stories is always a big challenge, but I'll get my head round it somehow. We have to submit on mid-July, so I've got two months to come up with it.

But that's not all: there'll be another Zoom scheme for the new breed for next year, so check it out at Zoom 2011 for further information. If you want to put your creativity on the big picture, now's your chance. You need to have some directing experience and bear in mind that the budget's only £2,000, so think small, not big. So good luck!

As for Deaffest itself: in spite of the scorching weather and some niggles (The Ben Steiner Bursary slot was rather overlong, in my opinion and the bar could at least serve cheaper, better and colder beer), it was another successful event.

Now putting my smoky feet up and watch Doctor Who in my PVR. Might get an idea for a story for Zoom Focus...