The new term has gotten off to a busy start, as well as getting stuck straight into the new year we’ve also hosted the first of this term’s masterclasses. Production Design Helen Scott joined us to lead our Masterclass and talk through her career in British film and TV across productions including Small Axe, A Very English Scandal, and Fish Tank. We have also been lucky enough to be joined by Kahleen Crawford, Casting Director. Kahleen talked to us about her experiences working with Ken Loach as well as forthcoming feature film, Living directed by LFS alumnus, Oliver Hermanus.
We were delighted to see that two of our most recent graduates from MA Filmmaking have been selected at InterFilm in Berlin. Mathilde Jouaurd has been selected in the Script Pitch competition for her script, Cutleries. Fellow grad Daniela Stephan from the same cohort has also been selected for InterFilm and her Grad film, The Sun Sets on Beirut, will be appearing in the International Competition.
Former MA Filmmaking student Robin Moran has seen even more success recently. Following on from Autobiography, the film he co-produced which was screened as part of LFF, he has also seen recognition for the series, Once Upon A Time In Chinatown, as it has been awarded Best Documentary Series at the Asian Academy Creative Awards. Recognised as National Winners for Indonesia, the series will now compete with the other National Winners in December – good luck!
It's brilliant to hear that MA Screenwriting graduate, Martina Lisec has been so successful with her screenplay, Devious. The short horror screenplay was originally Martina’s application script for LFS but since she graduated, the screenplay has been rewritten and it has been recognised in several awards. As well as being a finalist in this year’s screenplay competition at Flicker's Rhode Island International Film Festival, the script won the Gold Remi Award in the screenplays/short films category at the 55th WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. The accolade is the second time Martina has been recognised by the organisation having already won the Bronze Remi Award for the short script, The Last Dream. Devious was also selected as a quarterfinalist at Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards Fall 2021 edition.
The LFS staff have been equally busy this month and as well as helping to develop the next generation of filmmaking talent, our International Film Business Course Leader, Victoria Thomas, has been asked to join the European Film Academy. As part of the Academy, Victoria will be one of the judges in the European Film Awards and get to review the finest in European cinematic achievements. Congrats Victoria!
October Graduate Highlights
Five grad films will be part of Aesthetica SFF early in November (UK) this year! Glorious Revolution (Writer-Dir-Editor: Masha Novikova, DoP: Pablo Garrido Carreras), Lo Sguardo (Wri-Dir-Prod: Edoardo Ulivelli), Blue Note (Wri-Dir-Prod: Pavel Andonov), Bye Bye Baby (Wri-Dir-Art.Dir: Jessie Barnett, Writer Org. Story: Maria Pawlikowska, Prod.Desig: Raphael Hernandez and Wenxuan Xu) and Half Guard (Wri-Dir: Mark O'Connor, Art Dir: Abigail Quinlan).
Extraordinarily successful film Glorious Revolution continues a busy festival run screening a prestigious Hamptons Int Film Festival (USA) where it won the Peter Scott-MacGregor Memorial prize of $10K and was also one of the Student Short film prize winners, Raindance IFF (UK) along with War on Screen IFF (France) and Little Wing Film Festival 2022 (UK).
Unders (Writer-Dir: Bert Dijkstra, Prod.Desig: Abigail Quinlan) and Pakeeza (Dir: Jaffar Raza, Co-Prod: Mathilde Jouaud, DoP: Sheherezade El Moumni Berdai.) will screen at Bafta and BIFA Qualifier Bolton Int Film Festival (UK) in early October.
Grad film Komşu Sesler will be premiering in at 23rd Izmir International Short Film Festival 2022 (Turkey) and Ankara Accessible Film Festival (Turkey), nominated for the 'Short Film Competition' award. Writer-Dir: Ali Güldürür, Prod: Joao Salgado. DoP: Aditya Sharma.
Blue Note will be also screening at 64th Nordische Filmtage Lübeck 2022 (China) this week, nominated 'Best Nordic Short', and at Leeds International Film Festival 2022 (UK). Writer-Dir-Prod: Pavel Andonov, Prod.Desig: Abigail Quinlan.
On Your Behalf continues a great festival run, being accepted to San Diego International Film Festival 2022 (USA), Montclair Film Festival 2022 (USA), Evolution! Mallorca International Film Festival 2022 (Spain), Mostra de Curtas Vila de Noia 2022 (Spain). Writer-Dir: Ana Garcia Rico, Editor: John Powell, Prod: Maya Wills.
Fab sci-fi film, The Fantastical Millepede was shown at CINEMAGIC Befast. Wri-Dir: Daniel Christophersen, Editor: John Powell, DoP: Fyras Slaiman, Prod: Maya Wills.
Anti-war film, A Circle will be present 21st International Student Film and Video Festival of Beijing Film Academy 2022 (China) and Northern Character Film Festival Murmansk 2022 (Russia). East-West Film Festival (Russia) and Metricamente Corto (Italy). Dir: Mariya Lukavska. Dir: Mariya Lukavska.
A Firecracker Story was part of Suffolk Shorts 2022 (UK) and Kutaisi International Short Film Festival 2022 (Georgia) and Linz International Short Film Festival (Austria). Writer-Dir: Zhizi Hao, Prod: Naixin Liang, DoP: Guyuan Ma, Editor: Xiao Ding, Art Dir: Cheng lI. Writer-Dir: Zhizi Hao, Prod: Naixin Liang, DoP: Guyuan Ma, Editor: Xiao Ding, Art Dir: Cheng.
Suspenseful horror Unbidden was part of three festivals during October: Ethereal Horror Fest 2022 (USA), Ennis International Fantastic Film Fest 2022 (Ireland) and 7th Nightmares Film Festival Nightmares Film Festival 2022 (USA). Wri-Dir: Andrés Rothschild, Prod: Spandana Patanaik, Art Dir: Hannah Owen, DoP: Aditya Sharma.
Pour mon fils will be part of Seoul International Extreme Short Image & Film Festival (SESIFF) (South Korea). Dir.: Mathilde Jouaud, DoP: Pablo Garrido Carreras, Prod.Design: Mahee Merica.
Photo Credits (top to bottom)
Still from The Sun Sets on Beirut (dir: Daniela Stephan, DoP: Fatma Racha Shehade)
Poster from Once Upon A Time in Chinatown (dirs: Zack Lee and Sheila Timothy)
Image by Martina Lisec, the Gold Remi award for Devious
Still from Bye Bye Baby (dir: Jessie Barnett, DoP: Howard Mills)
Still from the production of The Fantastical Millepede (wri-dir: Daniel Christophersen, DoP: Fyras Slaiman)