Film & Television Production BA Film BA Newsletter Autumn 2015

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‘Black Sheep’ Selected for 2015 London Film Festival

In October 2015, ‘Black Sheep’ screened at the BFI London Film Festival: Sam Bates takes his 13 year-old brother, Jack, to an English Defence League demonstration in Bradford

2014 & 2015 Graduate Updates: Christopher Starkey – Camera Assistant, Downton Abbey | Joshua Renaut – DOP, One Direction Where We Are BTS | Jimmy Dean – Director, BFI Short Film Scheme| Rania Iraki & Ashley Jackson – Assistants to Producer/Director, Out of Innocence | Bregeta Bond – Production Secretary, Secret Life of Four Year Olds | Christopher Lynch – Locations, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Jordn Bastian & Zoe Kenndal Shafir – Standby Art Directors, Murder Maps, and others at 3DD Productions | Harry Ryan – Cam Op. ESPN | Lucia Fedeli – Locations & Researcher, Snow White & The Huntsman 2 | Jack Mealing – Camera Trainee, Cinderalla

The Producer and Director of ‘Black Sheep’ receive their Learning On Screen award from Samira Ahmed

‘The Wolf’, Directed by Kat MacCorgarry-Gray and Produced by Callum Carver-Jones, mixes live action and animation to evoke the memories of three remarkable old ladies, and has also seen notable successes at festivals, including the Audience Award at both the Aesthetica Film Festival and Eat Out Shorts at the BFI London, Southbank.

The 3rd Year documentary ‘Black Sheep’ has had an extraordinarily successful year. The film has been shown at more than 20 festivals all over the world, from Palm Springs USA to the Moscow International Documentary Festival where it won a Special Jury award. This has culminated in its selection for the London Film Festival, where it will show as part of the ‘Family at War’ programme. The film was directed by Christian Cerami, and follows a new recruit to the English Defence League as he takes his brother to a far right demonstration in Bradford. ‘Black Sheep’ has been nominated for Best Student Documentary at the Grierson Awards, Britain’s most prestigious documentary awards, alongside another Westminster film, ‘The Wolf, The Ship and The Little Green Bag’. The 43rd Grierson Awards take place on 2nd November. The film has also done well in student festivals, winning ‘Best Documentary’ at the Learning on Screen awards and the National Student Film Festival.  

Film & Television Production BA Film BA Newsletter Autumn 2015

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2015 Graduates Celebrate at BAFTA Show

Mr Duncan | Arri Alexa 4:3 Lester is fascinated by his moody, elderly neighbour and the mysterious machine in his garage. As they each try to confront the meaning of life and death, Mr Duncan gradually lets Lester into his world.

Offside | Arri Alexa 1.85:1 After learning from her father that she will soon lose her place in the local boy’s football team, eleven-year-old Kirsty struggles to come to terms with her evolving identity as a young woman

Grandma’s Big Schlep | Arri Alexa 16:9 Things go awry for Hannah and Rivkah when they discover that their recently deceased Grandma wasn’t as Jewish as she made out to be…

Survive Us | Arri Alexa 1.85:1 In a post-apocalyptic Britain, two lone survivors scour the country for any signs of humanity. Seventeen-year-old Jenny longs to settle, but Steve, in his forties, is desperate to continue his search for others.

Kraina | Canon Digital 16:9 Kiev, Ukraine, Spring 2015. The war with Russia is five-hundred miles to the East, but since the revolution of 2013, every moment of Kristina’s life has been affected by the conflict.

The graduating Film & Television Production Students of 2015 celebrated their end of year showcase at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly. Industry guests, alumni and staff joined the students and parents for the evening of film screenings. This year, the show displayed a powerful mix of original drama and challenging documentary; the touching ‘Mr Duncan’, realist drama ‘Offside’, family comedy ‘Grandma’s Big Schlep’, visually epic ‘Survive Us’ and the emotionally affecting documentary ‘Kraina’. The showcase was followed by a reception in the David Lean room where the audience gathered for an evening of drinks and industry chat.

Andrew McKerlie, Head of Production at 10 Alps/Brook Lapping, said of the films, “they were very strong, with the dramas demonstrating a theme of getting good performances out of child actors! … You can be proud of another excellent year of work.” Malcolm Mowbray, director of the BAFTA winning ‘A Private Function’ joined the evening and said he was “really impressed, particularly with the football film, ‘Offside’”. Alongside these graduation films, the 2nd Year comedy ‘Boom Bang a Bang’ was screened, as well as 3rd Year documentary “The Pancake Man’ and the Kodak Commercial Awards 2015 2nd in brief ‘Office Military’.

‘Offside’ & ‘Grandma’s Big Schlep’ have already been Officially Selected for the 13th Annual London Short Film Festival 2015.

Some of the ‘Mr Duncan’ crew celebrating in front of their poster at the 2015 BAFTA Showcase

Film & Television Production BA Film BA Newsletter Autumn 2015

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2015 Festival Highlights: From Cannes to Hollywood

More 2015 Festival Highlights: Black Sheep (Documentary, 16 mins) –Winner; Best Student Documentary, Screentest National Student Film Festival - Winner; Best Student Documentary, Learning On Screen Awards Bun Oven (Fiction, 20 mins) - Winner; Best Undergraduate Entertainment, Royal Television Society Student Awards Chalk (Fiction, 20 mins) - Winner; Best Actress (Skye Bennet), Los Angeles Short Film Festival Splitting Hairs (Fiction, 20 mins) - Winner; Best Production Design, Screentest National Student Film Festival - Winner; Student Film Category, European Psychoanalytic Film Festival The Wolf, The Ship & The Little Green Bag (Documentary, 14 mins) - Audience Awards, Aesthetica Film Festival - Audience Award, Eat Our Shorts at the BFI Southbank Charity (Fiction, 10 mins) - Winner; Best Fiction, South West London Film Festival

‘Splitting Hairs’, a 2014 graduation film has won the Students’ Competition in the 8th European Psychoanalytic Film Festival, in association with Couch and Screen Magazine. Nathalie Abbott (Director) and Diana Tatarca (Producer) will be attending the festival in late October to introduce Splitting Hairs to audiences of professionals in both the film and psychoanalytic professions. ‘Splitting Hairs’ also won the award for Best Production Design at the Screentest National Student Film Festival. The film, set in an uncanny version of the 1950s, follows Frank, who is a closeted hair fetishist. During a night-time train journey a twisted femme fatale and her acolytes try to cure Frank of his urges, in a tense homage to the 1950s films, and to psychiatric ideas about a surgical ‘cure’ for mental abnormalities.

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Miho and Ellie receive award for ‘The Sculpted’: Elfenworks Social Justice Category winner at the 15th Annual

Campus MovieFest Hollywood

L i a n n e H a r v e y a s R o b i n a n d E d C o o p e r C l a r k e a s F r a n k i n ‘ S p l i t t i n g

H a i r s ’ – W i n n e r o f t h e 8 t h E u r o p e a n P s y c h o a n a l y t i c F i l m F e s t i v a l

 

First years Miho Soon and Ellie Jones attended Campus Moviefest in both Cannes and Hollywood to receive their award for Best Picture and Best Director at the 2014 festival with their short film. "The Sculpted" is a short documentary on female genital mutilation, focusing strongly on the emotional toll it takes on its victims.

Film & Television Production BA Film BA Newsletter Autumn 2015

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 Second Years Pull Rank in the John Viney Cup

Regent St Cinema hosts 2015 Kodak Commercial Awards

Ken Loach Inspires Students in Masterclass In March 2015, film students had the privilege of meeting Ken Loach as he gave a directing masterclass at the Harrow Campus alongside directing tutor Doyle Hooper.

Loach discussed his own work in a fascinating and personal way, answering many of the students’ in depth questions, before turning the discussion to the upcoming final year films. He offered script critiques and development advice, ahead of going into production.

Ken Loach and Doyle Hooper leading Masterclass

As the 2015 academic year neared its end, students trekked across the road to Harrow School to take part in the annual John Viney Cup - a historic mixed-sex football match between the second and third years. After their defeat last year, the third years, captained by Sam Elsen, came out determined to regain their honour, but ultimately fell short, losing to the new second years, who gained a hard-fought 11-2 victory. Second year Tom Beale won ‘Man of the Match’ for his goalkeeping efforts, as the second years lifted a trophy, made by third year production designers in appreciation of our production design technician, John Viney. The trophy was decorated with various grad film-related memorabilia - including, fittingly, a football boot.

The University's new 200 seat Regent Street Cinema hosted the Nahemi Kodak Student Commercial awards on 12th June. Students from film schools around the country created commercials shot on 16mm film answering briefs from advertising agencies Libertine and Mother. The awards were presented by one of the world's leading feature film directors, Sir Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning, Midnight Express, The Commitments), who made his name in commercials. Westminster Film students created an elaborate set inside the film studio (right) led by production designer April Ibinceanu, which netted them Best Production Design and 2nd place in brief, with the commercial ‘Office Military’.  

The victorious second years with the John Viney Cup trophy