Usually around this time of year I start pushing for everyone to head to Margate in a couple of weeks for the 2 Days Later short horror film competition.

However, this year, there will be no competition due to lack of funding.

After 10 years, the competition which has helped launch the careers of some of the UK film industry’s brightest new stars, has not received the funding needed to keep it alive.

Organiser Mick Etherton says: “How can we generate a new creative film industry in the UK when free opportunities like ours, to make and screen work, are not supported by government bodies?

“Despite being made on extremely low budgets, many of the films’ scripts and production values are as good, if not better, than current TV content. This new talent base has to be recognised and developed.”

Mick continues: “It’s hoped that we can bring it back next year and make it bigger and better than before.”

I’ve been privileged to be on the judging panel of 2 Days Later and its sister event, 2 Days Laughter, for the last few years and it’s a huge shame that the competition has been passed over for funding.

No news yet on whether 2 Days Laughter 2014 will be taking place, or if that too will fall foul to the vagaries of public funding. I’ll let you know.

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Darren Aronofsky is having problems with his new film, Noah. Paramount Pictures is not altogether happy with the way the man who made harrowing drug drama Requiem for a Dream is handling a Biblical epic – who’d have guessed?

The film, starring Russell Crowe, Emma Watson and Anthony Hopkins, has not been received very warmly by preview audiences, which have incorporated some of the groups who might end up supporting/condemning the finished product.

The response from Christian and Jewish groups generated “worrisome results”, which is never a good sign for a film that has cost in excess of $125m.

Perhaps one of the things that rubbed people up the wrong way is the liberties Aronofsky has taken with the familiar story of Noah; including the addition of “fantastical beings” walking in two-by-two, alongside with 11-foot tall fallen angels with six arms and no
wings.

However, Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore has defended the film and the director, saying that Noah is going through a “normal preview process” and will end with “one version of the movie that Darren is overseeing”.

Moore adds: “We’re getting to a very good place, and we’re getting there with Darren.”

You can see those giant fallen angels for yourself when Noah is released in the UK on March 28, 2014.

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In news that would make my young son more excited than the time we let him have breakfast for dinner - if he had any concept of what a movie director was - Sony has announced the names of the two guys directing the Angry Birds film.

Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis are not household names, but if this film makes even a fraction of what the games have generated, they’ll be knee-deep in job offers.

Reilly has a strong background as a storyboard artist on films like Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and Spider-Man 2, while Kaytis has worked with Disney as an animator on a number of titles, including Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph.

Producer John Cohen says: “They both have an extraordinary range of talents, and we’re looking forward to working with them to bring the birds and pigs to life on the big screen.”

Jon Vitti (best known for working on The Office and The Simpsons) is handling the script, so there is a good chance it will appeal to adults as well as kids. Good thing too, because we’re all going to end up having to watch it when it hits cinemas in 2016.

To be honest, I’ll watch it anyway. I need to know why the birds don’t have wings, and if there’s even the slightest hint that the movie will explain why, I’ll be there on opening day.