JO HUTTON is pretty chuffed about the way her short film screening nights are going.

With the help of Chris Atkins and Kendal's Mint bar owners Roger and Lynn Gilbertson, the third of the film nights is staged next Wednesday (December 7) at 8pm.

Last month's screenings included Jo's own Colour Me In.

Filmed among the atmospheric ruins of Kendal Castle, it included a very effective piece of choreography by Kate Saunders, impressively played out by Rebecca Last.

Others were a funny spoof on a bird spotter in Joe Huxley's Birdz and a clever short about one guy's curious and comical fetish for doors, Unhinged.

It was good to see former Coronation Street star Lee Boardman back on screen in the moving Sleep My Love, a sad tale of a father, whose young daughter is killed when she runs into the road after a ball.

Lee played Jez Quigley in Coro, and also popped up this past few weeks in the BBC's toga-drama, Rome.

Another ex-Street jewel, Suranne Jones, who played Karen Macdonald, teamed up for a double-hander with Jeff Hordley, best known as Emmerdale's Cain Dingle, in the short Punch, an absorbing tale of a couple constantly at each others throats while serving bacon and sausage sandwiches from a fast food caravan on Blackpool front.

Next Wednesday's line-up upstairs at Mint sounds like another excellent night out for film followers, featuring four shorts from Furness writer and director Gary Robinson, including his tale of parallel universes, moral social decay and childhood memories, Shallow.

Jo tells me that Shallow, often dark, but beautifully shot, includes local landmarks such as the derelict Grange pool.

Gary will be on hand to chat about his films with other screenings of Mixers by Damian Fitzsimmons and Colin Weir's Harry O.