ORGANISERS of the Colchester Film Festival have decided to call it quits to focus on being behind the camera.

Steven Dorrington, 30, and Tristan Syrett, 34, first launched the annual festival in 2012 to fill a gap in the market for budding film makers and audiences.

Since its inception, the event has been responsible for showcasing international film talent who have later been picked up by Hollywood and won prestigious awards at both the BAFTAS and Oscars.

While the festival flourished, attracting more talent and funding, the initially small project took on a life of its own.

Now in need of full-time management, something which business partners Mr Dorrington and Mr Syrett were unable to do, the final credits have rolled for the last time.

The pair broke the news this week through a Facebook post, despite having made the decision to discontinue the festival two months ago.

Mr Dorrington said: “It’s sad but it’s been four years and from our point of view we’ve built the festival to be as good as it could possibly be.

“The next step would’ve been to go full-time, but there’s other things we want to do.

“We’re making short films ourselves at the moment and are getting into festivals all around the world, so as much as we enjoyed running the festival, we’d rather be out there making the films.”

The event was held at Colchester’s Firstsite, which when the venue first opened, provided the duo with an available facility to house their idea.

It received regional sponsorship and £2,500 from the Essex Small Grants Scheme between 2013 and 2015.

Colchester and Essex Council supported the project each year, but the funds were not enough to support the pair financially.

He added: “Year on year the event got bigger and the money wasn’t at a level where we could afford to pay ourselves. It took around four months each year to organise and with our other company we just didn’t have the time.

“To help discover new talent, especially in the short film genre has been great, and it’s been good to give them some exposure.

“Ideally we’d hire someone to run it and have an input, but hopefully someone else will take over.”

Fans of the film festival have responded positively to the disappointing news and shown support to the organisers for their contribution to the Essex film community.

Firstsite was asked to comment, but declined.