Salford’s annual film festival, once on rocky ground, is back with us bright and early in this, its sixth year. Here’s their call for submissions:

Salford Film Festival is seeking short films and features for the Sixth Salford Film Festival, scheduled for the third week of November 2009, final dates to be confirmed. The Festival prides itself on having a local accent but a truly international perspective: We are particularly keen to receive work with a strong Salford connection (and failing that a Greater Manchester or North West focus), but we welcome submissions from all over the world.

Submission forms and contact details are available from the festival’s website. There’s no submission fee and the deadline’s still a while away – the end of August to be exact. Good luck.

With Manchester International Festival just three weeks away, Mancubist’s comprehensive (read: fairly haphazard) coverage is gearing up. First off, here’s a tip-off about one of your last chances to get tickets to possiby the festival’s biggest event:

Thought you’d be interested to know that the good people at Boosey & Hawkes are giving away 2 tickets to the sold out Kraftwerk/Steve Reich gig, complete with hotel, dinner and… backstage passes!

And in fact the prize includes two nights at the Radisson Edwardian, dinner at The Market Restaurant – plus a chance to meet Reich. To win, you need a Twitter account and then to visit @SteveReich for a series of questions. Check out the latest answers here, and get your own answers in by Friday.

The American composer (a bit of a hero of mine) will be having his new work 2×5 premiered by Bang on a Can at the Manchester Velodrome on 2 July. I’m sure you know what Kraftwerk are all about, but for an introduction to Reich’s music, visit his Myspace. Or if you fancy splashing out, I highly recommend this album by Powerplant, which features music by both.

Finally, I hear that a handful of tickets might be released nearer show time – so keep checking the MIF site if you don’t win.

Ear to the Ground, organisers of events such as D:Percussion, have been in touch about a launch party for Manchester’s bloggers. Here’s what they say:

Come along to the Bay Horse on Thursday to find out more about the Cutting Room Experiment. This is the event which could see hundreds of people bouncing around in the biggest Space Hopper race ever, a huge silent disco and a mass dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Thriller just to name a few. Until votes close on Friday, May 29 anything could happen!

With an interactive website, this event wants the audience to get involved, come up with their own ideas and also vote for their favourites in each stream.

And this is where you come in – bloggers are the new influencers and we want you to get involved. Have a look at the website – www.cuttingroomexperiment.com – there are 12 streams on everything from architecture and design, dance, pop music, art and craft, literature and loads more to make sure there is absolutely something for everyone to enjoy. Get voting or if you have a better idea, then put it down.

And to kick off  ‘the biggest user-generated event ever attempted by the people of Manchester’, they’re offering bloggers a free pint at the Bay Horse on Thomas Street. Head down at 6.30pm tomorrow, Thursday, for a chat and to claim your two complimentary units of alcohol.

Everybody’s favourite Mancunian literature/drinking event, No Point In Not Being Friends, is taking a hard-earned break I’ve just discovered:

In part, to concentrate on planning a couple of big summer/autumn events we’ve got coming up (Camp Bestival and the Manchester Literature Festival) but also, because No Point is going to have a bit of a format change when it emerges from its spring cocoon, we think.

Chris and Sally go on to warn that a new No Point ‘may not be monthly anymore, and it might not even be in the same place’, which would be a pity as the Deaf Institute has a lot of fans – myself included. We await its future direction with bated breath!

In the meantime, Manchester’s literary scene continues to develop. CityLife devoted a double-page spread to it on Friday – and the website is chock full of news and features, such as Carol Ann Duffy being named as Manchester’s first female poet laureate and a preview of Paper Planes, a creative writing workshop that takes place in Fuel in Withington this coming Saturday. Katie Popperwell and her writers there doing a great job of giving editorial coverage to things that may otherwise pass us by, so long may that continue.

Tonight, meanwhile, there’s another literature event happening: the eighth instalment of The Other Room, which features Matt Dalby, Alex Davies and Allen Fisher, takes place at The Old Abbey Inn on Manchester Science Park from 7pm.

And finally, the Writing School at Man Met has launched this year’s Manchester Fiction Prize, with £10,000 up for grabs and a deadline of 7 August set. Visit the Manchester Writing Competition website for more information on that.