Midlands Spotlight - New online show focuses on Midlands filmmakers

midlandsmovies • November 26, 2019

Midlands Spotlight - New online show focuses on Midlands filmmakersMidlands filmmakers will find themselves in front of the camera when local telly legends Des Tong and Gary James launch their new online show Birmingham Now on Monday 25th November.Birmingham Now is a new monthly YouTube series will feature interviews with personalities from the world of movies, music, theatre and art, as well as profiles of business and sports figures.Des Tong is a Birmingham-based musician, presenter and video director, best known for his work with Sad Cafe and singer Cissy Stone. Gary James is a Birmingham-based sports journalist, presenter and branding consultant with wide experience in corporate entertainment. And Steve Green and Chrissie Harper run Solihull-based Vamporama Films, producing news packages for regional television and documentary material for a variety of online and media platforms.In the first edition, co-producer Steve Green will be talking to actor Alan Birch and writer Al Smith about their collaborations on film and stage, as well as the first Black Country Horror Shorts Film Festival.Running in Kinver in January 2020, the Black Country Horror Shorts Film Festival includes judges include Adam Nevill, whose novel The Ritual was adapted for the screen in 2017. There's also the first of Des Tong's "featured artist" profiles in which he chats with Wolverhampton-born singer-songwriter Rebecca Downes.The show is a co-production between Des & Gary and Solihull-based Vamporama Films. Previews and free subscriptions are available now via the show’s website http://brum-now.ukYouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjVpJqCyNK_BymjT-fnTdQ Festival link: https://www.weepingbankproductions.co.uk

Midlands Spotlight - New online show focuses on Midlands filmmakers

Midlands filmmakers will find themselves in front of the camera when local telly legends Des Tong and Gary James launch their new online show Birmingham Now on Monday 25th November.

Birmingham Now is a new monthly YouTube series will feature interviews with personalities from the world of movies, music, theatre and art, as well as profiles of business and sports figures.

Des Tong is a Birmingham-based musician, presenter and video director, best known for his work with Sad Cafe and singer Cissy Stone. Gary James is a Birmingham-based sports journalist, presenter and branding consultant with wide experience in corporate entertainment.

And Steve Green and Chrissie Harper run Solihull-based Vamporama Films, producing news packages for regional television and documentary material for a variety of online and media platforms.

In the first edition, co-producer Steve Green will be talking to actor Alan Birch and writer Al Smith about their collaborations on film and stage, as well as the first Black Country Horror Shorts Film Festival.

Running in Kinver in January 2020, the Black Country Horror Shorts Film Festival includes judges include Adam Nevill, whose novel The Ritual was adapted for the screen in 2017.

There's also the first of Des Tong's "featured artist" profiles in which he chats with Wolverhampton-born singer-songwriter Rebecca Downes.

The show is a co-production between Des & Gary and Solihull-based Vamporama Films.

Previews and free subscriptions are available now via the show’s website http://brum-now.uk

By midlandsmovies August 11, 2026
Nominated for Best Writing at the 2026 Midlands Movies Awards, Present Company Excluded is a very much dialogue based drama involving two ‘old friends’ catching up at a diner.
By midlandsmovies August 10, 2026
An iconic Black Country pub that made the national news in 2023 for all the wrong reasons is the central focus of a new local documentary. The historic location, closed at the time, was destroyed by fire and then demolished contrary to authorities advice.
By midlandsmovies August 6, 2026
Another bold Made at Curve production, The Silence of the Lambs is a new theatre drama based on Thomas Harris’s acclaimed novel, itself turned into the Oscar-winning film of the same name.
By midlandsmovies August 5, 2026
For those in the cheap seats. I did not like Ice Cream Man. It is a lazy, nonsensical mess.
Show More