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Timo, originally from outside Bonn in Germany, came to Screen Academy from the German Film School in Berlin, where he completed a three year course focussing on Special Effects. Prior to that, he had spent a short time studying at the New York Film Academy, followed by a year on a Photography course at Bolton University in England.
Wanting to learn more about what he calls 'traditional film' after his Special Effects course, Timo applied to a number of places in the UK including Surrey Institute of Art, the London School of Printing, and Edinburgh College of Art. He chose to do a Masters in Visual Communication at the latter: "a big advantage was that there was no tuition fee, and I had always liked Scotland."
He found it a good course. "As it turned out, one of the good things about the course was actually that in 2003 I met Bobby Glassford, at that time an undergraduate at eca". Robert Glassford, from Whitburn, West Lothian, says he flunked out of High School but then went on to do a 1-year course in Art and Design, followed by an NC in Photography, and then an HNC in Photojournalism, all at Bathgate Technical College.
Like Timo, Robert found himself in New York City, where he worked for a year for the Sharon Group in graphics and display, then came back to Scotland to do an HND in Television and Operations at Telford College in Edinburgh. He followed this with a BA(Hons) in Film and Television at eca and did the PG Dip there with the full intention of coming to Screen Academy for the MFA, but his increasingly productive collaboration with Timo proved the more attractive option at the time. " I wanted to get to the point where he and I were in synch. Blimey Productions, the company we formed along with 7 other mainly-eca graduates, was growing, and I wanted to concentrate on that." The company now runs and works out of a new multimedia arts hub which opened as a Festival venue in 2007, closed and then reopened as grv (green room venue) last November.
Timo and Robert have been collaborating since 2003. Timo worked on Robert's graduation film, 'The Big Forever', which had a music score by Chris Mansell ('Pi', 'Requiem for a Dream', and Golden Globe nomination for 'The Fountain'). 'The Big Forever' went on to get a nomination for BAFTA/Scottish Students on Screen in 2006.
Timo took the chance he was offered to do the MFA the first year it ran: "it was a bit bumpy but good, with a great film budget of �7,500.00. Working very much in synch with Timo, Robert Glassford co-directed and co-wrote Timo's MFA graduation film, 'Dach' (German for 'Roof'), a 9-minute film set in a tower block. 'Dach' screened at EIFF, Leeds International Film Festival , and the St. Petersburg Student Film Festival, all in 2007. Earlier this year it featured at the Boston Underground Film Festival, and goes to Dallas International Film Festival in April.
Timo is now working as an editor on the first stages of Mark Cousin's 'The Story of Film', as well as editing two of the Scottish Documentary Institute's upcoming human rights films. Both have been selected, as a directing team, to take part in the MEDIA-supported 'Engage' project, a 6-month European development and co-production training programme linking Ireland, Scotland, and Estonia.
Timo and Robert feel they share a kind of common ground - a kind of shared vision - which they plan to explore. In a manner which seems to reflect the way their collaboration grows from project to project, the pair's latest coup has been to win the Craft Award for Technical Achievement and Excellence/Scottish Students on Screen, which came with a prize: �1000 of film stock and �6000 equipment rental - just the kind of boost they need for their next venture. 'Invaders from Earth' is a short which began as a kind of play-off of '40s and '50s sci fi films, but set in a Scottish environment.
Robert explains, "the direction we would like to go in is to drive Scottish cinema out of the pervading entrenched, grim Social Realism rut, and we're currently looking for producers to work with who are up to this kind of challenge. We don't want to keep doing what's been done for the last 3 decades: there is room in Scotland for the industry to be more than stuck in a tower block. Having said that, 'Dach' was stuck in a tower block, but it was different: on top of the stereotype block was a bunch of kids playing a life-and-death dice game, where when you lost you had to throw yourself off the roof. So it actually moved into a kind of fantasy".
Update
Timo has been continuing to make music videos with Robert Glassford. Blimey Productions, likewise, is continuing to feature on the film scene in Edinburgh. Timo is also working with Robert and Donald Foreman from Ireland on “City”, “Blade Runner meets Amores Perros”, a social drama set in the future selected for participation in the ‘Engage’ project.
He is also editing “The First Movie”, a feature documentary by Mark Cousins about making films with kids in Iraq. This film grew out of “First Impressions”, a 14-minute selling documentary, also edited by Timo. Shot on the same subject, on location in Iraq, this short has now had festival distribution.
Timo’s short film ‘Invaders from Earth’ is in development.
www.blimeyproductions.com
www.thegrv.com
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Robert
Glassford 
