THE ninth Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) came to a close at the weekend. Among the many film-makers who contributed to its success was Steven Lewis Simpson.

Having screened his feature film The Ticking Man, at BIFF 2004, he returned this year with its sequel. While on the island he met with the Mid-Ocean News, eager to discuss his new film, his impression of BIFF and the challenges that go hand-in-hand with moviemaking.

TEVEN Lewis Simpson received considerable advice on what not to do following the completion of , a feature film he wrote, produced and directed which screened at the Bermuda International Film Festival in 2004.

Perhaps the strongest recommendation came from a noted film producer ? that he should avoid making a sequel to the movie at any cost.

Needless to say Mr. Simpson ignored that counsel, believing the producer's argument flawed as applied to the rationale behind his film, .

"He really liked the first film, , and warned me against making a sequel based on the premise that every young film-maker wants to remake their last movie," he explained.

"To me, it wasn't that. I was very satisfied with the first one. It's just that there was this natural, next stage to the plot and these great characters developed. The films are very, very different. They have a very different style. There's a very different narrative and very different characters. But there is a feel that they're very much linked through the plot."

In , a drug dealer double crosses and kills a drug trafficker in the remote, west coast of Scotland. Unfortunately for him, the murder is witnessed and the drug dealer lands in jail. His only means of avoiding a life sentence is to kill the two witnesses before they can testify against him in court.

, the hit man hired to do the job is faced with an unusual predicament ? the pair who spotted the crime could be any of a dozen residents in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The hit man determines to execute the entire community. However things go wrong, he is eventually killed and the drug dealer is in the same predicament he was when the film started.

"Part of the reason for doing the sequel was that I really enjoyed the characters and in the first film there were two characters that were central to the plot but they weren't onscreen a lot," the Scotsman explained.

"I decided to take the story into the next natural progression, to figure out where they would go from there."

In , the witnesses have been relocated to the city, housed there under a protection plan which ultimately fails after a second hit man is hired. The policeman responsible for their safety is fired and makes it his mission to nail the drug dealer.

"I think there are two kinds of sequels ? the kind that are basically a case of well, we just had a hit so now we've got to expand it and make the same movie again, and (this) type. This is sort of a natural extension. It's interesting.

"I'm negotiating with a very major production company in Los Angeles at the moment about remake rights and one of the things that had been discussed at one stage was whether to roll the two films into one feature.

"However, I think there are certain films where there's just this whole next natural stage. And I think when that exists and you've got great characters to play with then it's quite fun to do a sequel and it's rewarding for the audience. If the audience really makes a great connection with the characters and you can really do something that adds to that, then why not?"

"I think the people who absolutely loved had the most strongest reaction of the two, but has a broader appeal. It's unusual in the sense that most sequels have the most character and plot development in the first (film) and then it's all about action in the second. This is the reverse ? it's all action in the first and very densely plotted in the sequel."

Mr. Simpson produced his first feature film, , in 1993. He has since shot a documentary, , produced and co-edited the award-winning surreal fairy tale and served as associate producer for the black comedy .

Two critically-acclaimed music albums preceded the release of in 2003. The film-maker is currently in post-production on a feature-length documentary, .

Having travelled a great deal on the festival circuit with his films, Mr. Simpson admitted it was a joy to return to BIFF, both for its atmosphere and for the opportunity to share with theatregoers who had enjoyed the first film.

"When you get a good response from an audience with a film and then you do a sequel, in some respects you want to gauge the success of the sequel with the same audience," he said.

"You want to share it with the same audience and gauge their feedback. Both films premiered at the Montreal Film Festival and for me, that was fascinating, being able to gauge the response there.

"It's a great experience for a film-maker, coming to a festival like this, so much of it revolves around the people you socialise with and connect with. And generally it's the small festivals I think that tend to be the most enjoyable.

"You make stronger connections with people through that time. I also like the fact that it's not that large a programme as well. Some of the festivals, there's 300 titles, and I don't know who's got the patience to sit through them all apart from anything else.

"So it was great to have the opportunity to come back. My first film here was well received. I think it's nice that the Festival recognised that people enjoyed the first one, that this may well be their only opportunity to see the follow up."

Asked if he hungered for instant fame and commercial success, Mr. Simpson insisted he wasn't driven by such aspirations and that he was more interested in producing a respected body of work.

"Strangely enough, I don't really think about it that much. It's nice when people respond well to the film, but for me, the most important thing is the actual making of it ? making it in a manner that I'm happy with and being happy with the end result.

"Because at the end of the day you can look at the careers of so many of the greatest directors and see that often, their most commercially successful films often represent some of their weakest work and some of their least successful are some of the things that live on forever in our memories."

E added: "So it's sort of what position do you want to be in when you end your career? Do you want to be the person looking back at a great body of work? That's more important to me. I don't want to get bogged down in box office releases.

"As vital as these things are to honouring the investors and their commitment, I'd rather just know that I made the films that I'm happy with, that I made films that entertain. The biggest challenge in this business is exactly that ? being able to make a good, satisfying film.

"You look at so many commercial successes and often they cater to the lowest common denominator. So it's nice doing something fresh even if it's made for a lot less.

"But at the same time my first feature was a very serious character drama and a lot of my scripts are quite heavy works whereas (and ) are two departures from that. They are 'entertainment'.

"I know they entertain based on the feedback I've had. Whether I have a poll of 100 people or 100,000 people, it doesn't really matter because I know that creatively, I've achieved what I set out to achieve.

"From a business point of view, it's a different equation. But I think the route to sanity in this business is just being clear in terms of your vision and how you achieve it."

admitted that there was great appeal in producing entertaining works as opposed to "very serious, heavy, depressing" films. "There's something incredibly pleasing about entertaining people, but entertaining people with an interesting narrative, with a visual style that's fresh. I'd rather get them into the cinema through an artistic manner not just pyrotechnics.

"That, to me, is exciting ? doing it within the context of entertainment. I think the whole sort of scenario of Preston Sturges' is a great one for film-makers ? just the whole concept of somebody who strives to make a great film for the great American working man.

"He doesn't realise until the end that actually his (work) is what the working man wants and that's what brings them light. It's a really beautiful thing."