Just got back from Blackpool, picked up a few films, probably the least amount of stalls this year, CHC had some nice titles but not all were there from his list, some of the films were open to offers which I don't agree with, I saw £500 being turned down on a title, odd selling techniques from Phil, the other tables there didn't stand much chance.

Nice to see some familiar faces again and great to meet Greg too. Elvind made the trip which was nice to see, not one of the best events but glad it finally happened once again, Mark

Hope you had a good time Mark, a bit odd to see a £500 offer being turned down, wow. Do you think there will be another one next Year?

I got back at 6pm - agree with Mark - the films available weren't that good - most of the top titles from classic were open to offers - i picked up two universal 8 classic B/W horrors from classic and a full length Will Hay from Lee Mannering - some good films shown on Saturday and in todays convention - but i didnt see the Jurassic Park cutdown - Lee Mannering did have one copy of the new Jaws release for sale - it went quickly ! But speaking to some dealers - they were all waiting until most of Phil's films had gone but when I left just around 1pm - 4 of the titles open to offers were still there. It was great to meet Greg, Shorty, Eivind again - I hope that next year there might be an improvement on the titles available - but who knows !!

Elaine said that 100 people had to walk through the doors to break even so see what happens next year, I don't think 100 were there today, I left at 11.30 so maybe others came after that,Mark

David, thank you (& Mark) for the feedback, i do hope more who went will add to the thread on here. I saw images on the other channel and thought the auction looked a bit sparse, unless there was more before or after. Its disappointing to hear that some of the top titles didn't sell, clearly too much was being asked for them. People are not stupid, you cant command ebay prices at a table top sale.
i guess regarding fewer films every year, during the year our remaining dealers are still able to find collections to buy to list, the obvious i guess is that each year there will be fewer people in the hobby. Every collection bought buy a dealer is another collectors collection, and another collector who is no longer in the hobby. This is also the danger of too many new releases too soon, if the people are not there to buy enough it wont pay. It is an expensive hobby as we all know and when you can pick up full colour features on 16mm for half or less than a new 8mm half hour release, the choice for me is obvious.

I hope the people who came from Europe and the states were happy with the weekend, it would be a shame if they were put off. I've never been to Blackpool but while the food, (pictured on the other channel) looked yummy, compared to the Greek & Italian restaurants we have here in Plymouth in abundance, it reminded me of a seaside café dinner, think i'd be looking for a takeaway afterwards. .

It'll be good to hear what bargains some collectors were able to pick up, Greg, if your reading, did you find a copy of Beauty and the beast? Eivind, did you find any cartoons to add to your collection? It must have been good to meet other collectors which by the looks of was the main highlight of the weekend.

Anyone got pics?

I think collectors were very disappointed with CHCs selling tactics, I cannot 100% guarantee this but heard Terminator 2 and Star Wars were £1000 each, It was mentioned by quite a few how this type of selling isn't good and not what they expected, as soon as the words "open to offers"were mentioned the films were left alone. We even watched deals going on before the doors open, what made it worse was these few should have been queueing as they were there just there for the convention and not stall holders, I was told we didn't buy anything until the doors opened, I said we literally just watched deals being done.

The images on the other channel made it looked better than it was, the dealers that normally went just wasn't there. It was a bit disappointing but up to others to either confirm or deny. I did buy a lovely IB Tech Elvis feature and two new trailers plus a 3x400 and three 400 footers, I went initially for the Elvis feature and as I stated elsewhere on here wasn't bothered about CHC because of the prices and unchecked condition but wasn't expecting an auction on the stall, Mark

"We even watched deals going on before the doors open," That is out of order and when i bought it up on the other channel when i was allowed on there they didn't like it, and they denied it. Oh well!!
The main thing is, hopefully everyone at least enjoyed meeting other collectors,
At the end of the day, if i had attended and saw any dealer asking a grand for a film, that would be it for me, id be gone and i would have felt cheated. Wasn't the whole point of these to go and find a few bargains? Its almost like a boot sale if sellers are saying "open to offers", i certainly would not expect that of a dealer. They may as well be sold on ebay if there going to do that.
My opining, from what i am reading, it will kill off this event.
Maybe our next Florida holiday in years to come will coincide with their convention. Nice n warm too.

Thanks for the comments. I didn't go this year due to family situation at home it would be difficult to have to stay overnight somewhere but after reading the reports here and looking at photos I'm not too upset this time but hope to go next year if I can (and it goes ahead!)

I did however go in 2019 and thought then it wasn't as good as the last time I went in 2006 (how could it be) when Derann still ran it. The auction in 2019 was full of 16mm and thought then it was just a way to sell off David Guest's old stock the family had to get rid of. I don't remember any super 8 there. Compare this to 2006 when the auction was massive and full of Super 8 as well with David Erskine and Barry Littlechild doing it.

I also notice from a video online that the dinner only had 51 compared with around 70 in 2019. This may grow back in time as we cope better with Covid.

David does Lee Mannering buy 2 copies of all the new releases like Jaws and Jurassic Park. I know he bought 2 copies of the Xmas Trailers as I bought his spare copy off Ebay when he listed it there .

I do worry if the end of Blackpool is getting nearer as a top event which will be scaled down to only a Cine Fair held in some cheap church hall, no more in a hotel with dinner and Saturday screenings. The golden days of the weekend are long gone when Derann closed, and when you think of all the top guests Derek managed to get hold of. It's a credit to the Guest family and Adrian Winchester that have kept it going but the lower numbers in collectors and dealers may spell the end of it. The dealer situation isn't going to get any better as most use Ebay for their top films and just get rid of the pink films at the fairs, which will stop many going. Most of the fairs now I think are more social gatherings than going there to find the film you're after, and I love them for that. Like I say I hope to go next year but will first have to see if there will be one next year.

Graham S

Unless you have very deep pockets Graham you didn't miss much, Mark

I would love to see a front photo of Phil's stall if someone took one. Also did Phil have a good selection of newish trailers for sale and other 'classic' shorts, although I don't think he bulk prints any of his films now and just prints to order.

I did love going back in 2019 and meeting people and hope it continues and I will return. I also thought the food was excellent in 2019 at the dinner and won on the raffle. A good night but that was 2019.

Graham S

Hello all,
I really had a fantastic time at the Northern Film Fair. I was able to get the copy of Beauty & the Beast. Ged Jones was there today and it was great to talk to him. I am very pleased to have been able to meet Mark Mander, David Skillern, Del Phillipson and many others. It will be a travel day tomorrow. I will get some pics up on Tuesday and work on my report to answer some of the questions that have been raised on the posts here.

Thanks for your patience as I did not bring my computer with me to Blackpool…

Thanks Greg, Much appreciated.

Graham S

Friday

Saturday - film show

We handed out free lens brushes with the Super 8 database logo on 😉

Saturday - dinner

I won a 16mm Disney at the raffle. Mark Williams had the film show.

Sunday

My score this time. I had a wonderful time and talked to so many friendly people. I will write more later, but tomorrow is travel day and it will be a short night 😊

Forgot to take a picture of the last one I bought: Abbott and Costello meet captain Kidd. 4x400.

Some great pictures Elvind and nice to see you there.

What was a concern for me is with CHC taking over the event the other stall holders that were there didn't stand much of a chance, it was mentioned at every stall, there were other films there and some nice finds but certainly nothing like previous events. The prices(that were shown) on CHC I thought were inflated, black and white 4x400s £90 to £99, 4x400 UFO TV episode £99, Goldfinger £500, Commando sold for £350 and Never Say Never Again 2x600 £175, so a bargain in comparison along with my £35 trailer scope reel. See what turns up on the list when it comes out as will be interesting, what was said previously before the event by Phil ref prices and titles didn't fully happen at Blackpool, hopefully another convention will go ahead but definitely deep pockets are needed,Mark

Great to see so many people on Sunday, I agree with a lot of Mark's sentiments, I don't think Blackpool can survive another day like yesterday, I did feel sorry for the other stall holders who didn't really have an earthly of selling much with all the hype over Phil's collection, I was shocked at the prices and the two features I bought were more than I wanted to pay but Commando was such a rare title I just couldn't pass it up and then King Kong which was £175, again around £25.00 more than I expected but have been trying for years to get a good copy (hopefully this will be it).
Greg and Eivind were a delight to share time with in the queue, Both of them were in front of me and I had threatened to trip Greg up as he ran to Phil's stall as the competition between the two of us hotted up :-).
As we were let in it was like a scene from a comedy movie, Bee's round honey is a polite way of expressing the manic scenes round Phil's stall, I grabbed Commando and King Kong but was then at the end of the stall and my day was done I couldn't get anywhere near anything after that, I did pick up the Raiders print and also some nice 400 footers in original boxes for £20, Enter The Dragon and The Exorcist, also go some nice trailers and shorts including Peace On Earth, which I have been after for a while and yet another Derann T&J Night Before Christmas (that makes 3), also a lovely promo for South Pacific, also got a nice Elmo dual gauge editor in the auction for £2.00, but the rest of the auction stuff was pretty poor.
Don't know what the answer is to be honest, the fact there was a film fair so close to Blackpool held by Mr. Mannering didn't help as I spoke to one collector who always stands at Blackpool (Robin Moss) and he sold out his entire lot at his fair, unfortunately there isn't the people or the films or the money to go round if the fairs/collections are too close together, just my thoughts.
I've had a word with a collector friend who has a huge amount of film for sale who usually just uses ebay to see if I can get him to take a stand next year, so fingers crossed, he sells a hell of a lot of 16mm films so would be a great addition to the event.
Thank you to everyone who attended, I lost count of the number of collectors I spoke to including Jan, Mats, Stuart, Mark Hearn, Mark Williams, Bob, Ged and some who just came up and said, "are you Del", it was great, we truly do have a wonderful hobby and we have some fantastic people in the hobby and it was an honour to have spent some time with them (post over :-))

It was a great pleasure to meet Del the morning of the Film Fair. I am pretty sure I felt a shove to push me aside whilst hustling to Phil’s tables…might have been Del but I can’t be sure!

I was able to get the Derann Beauty and the Beast Film I had my eyes on. The cost was a bit more than I hoped, but I still paid substantially less (220 quid less) than one which sold on eBay just a day or two earlier for $770 US. Still, that is a ton of dosh for a film, and will put me on the sidelines for a while.

I can say from my vantage point at the front of the queue, that the only early buying which I personally saw was done by my friend Shorty Caruso (also from the US). And what he bought were a couple B&W short films. Shorty was in early as he was helping dealers cart in the films etc. I have no problem with that. I know Phil was asked a few times at the Saturday evening dinner to close a deal on some of his top titles. His reply was the same, “Better get there early”.

Like Del said, i was quickly surrounded by a mob as I grabbed the Derann print and tried to move down table to look at the shorts. Not a chance, as people were tight elbow to elbow. So I went to the other dealers to check there stuff out. There were a few tables without films but instead had some memorabilia things.

I am sure there will be more dealers next year, particularly if Covid is not a risk.
I will say this as I shared on Doug’s forum as well:
The Film Fair is much more than just the Sunday sale. It is 3 days of film showings, a nice dinner, the raffle, the trivia quiz, the auction (more on that later). But the best part of the event is meeting other collectors, chatting about film, seeing old friends, and enjoying the company of other film buffs. I understand that it doesn’t always work for people to be there all three days, but if you just come for the film sale on Sunday, you really are missing out on a lot of the fun. I will post pics later…

A good point about other fairs being too close to Blackpool time wise, they could easily, and should really be spread out a bit, but it all sounds as though it was a good weekend. Thank you to all for the pictures.

Greg, it wasn't me mate, you and Eivind left scorch marks down the carpet on you're way to Phil's :-), I did however have the Benny Hill tune ringing in my ears watching the pair of you running to his stall, so glad you got The Beauty And The Beast print, it will have made you're weekend.

Dank you for the pictures! Is Phil on one of the pictures? I only know his voice from orders...