Congratulations to the three LFS alumni, one current student, and four graduates who have films in this year's Flicker's Rhode Island International Film Festival.
This will be the World Premiere for THE VIOLIN TEACHER, Barbara Diril's graduation film, tells the story of Clara, a rigorous violin teacher living in San Francisco. She is an overprotective mother, who keeps a secret from her Asian daughter. Suddenly, 20 years later the encounter with her former student from Hong Kong - now a rising violin star who is in town for a concert - prompts Clara to tell her daughter the hurtful truth. The fact that she kept the secret for so long becomes more harmful to their mother-daughter relationship than the secret itself. Four other LFS students worked on the film: Darren Joe (Director of Photography), Jonathan Samuel Brostoff (Producer), Alyssa Stratton (Production Designer), and Astrid Carlen-Helmer (Gaffer).
MAST QALANDAR, the graduation film from Divij Roopchand, tells the story of Montek, a Sikh Boy, who is about to turn thirteen. Whist tying his turban in the morning his mother asks him what he wants for his birthday. He doesn’t respond. If he tells her what he wants, she won’t let him have it. In addition to Divij's Writer-Director role, a number of other LFS students worked on the film, including Nikolai James Hamel (Producer), Joao Paulo Garcia Silva (Cinematographer), and Fevronia Tsolina (Assistant Director). Mast Qalandar was awarded Best Student Film at the Manchester International Film Festival 2016 and the award for Best Short Film at Flicks International Student Short Film Festival earlier this year.
Chun-Yi Li's graduation film SEA BREEZE tells the story of Shu-Juan, a middle-aged Taiwanese woman who runs a cheap clothes shop, leading a routine life by regularly visiting a park around her shop after work, having night snacks, and observing dodgy activities among young foreign workers looking for romantic fun. One late evening, in that park, an incident brings Shu-Juan and a young Filipino guy together. Although they can barely communicate with each other, she takes care of him out of instinct. The short won both the Best Student Film award, and the Best Crowdfunded Film Award at this year's Aspen Shortsfest.
Emre Kayis's graduation film THE TRANSLATOR is an intimate portrait of a Syrian refugee boy; Yusuf, a shy, sensitive Syrian refugee who lives in exile in a remote Turkish border town is chosen for his newfound power but he has to experience how to use it, at the cost of his innocence. The short has won awards at Cluj Shorts 2016, Okan University Short Film Competition and was nominated for the European Short Film Awards.
LFS student Christopher Manning's short JAIME tells the story of Jamie, a quiet loner in his early twenties, who is clumsily looking for his first relationship. Shy and lacking self-confidence, his past experiences with men have yielded disappointing results. One Sunday, he meets Ben. As they spend the afternoon together, Jamie begins to wonder if he has finally met his match.
In RHONNA & DONNA, written by LFS alumna Daina O. Pusic, there is nothing standing in the way of aspiring 15-year-old actress Donna and the leading role in her schools production of "Romeo and Juliet" - except her unsupportive conjoined twin, Rhonna. The film is a comedy short film supported by the Creative England Funny Girls initiative, co-developed with Baby Cow and Big Talk.
Fateme Ahmadi’s CHANDRA has also been officially selected to screen in both the East End Film Festival and Palm Springs Film Festival this year. In CHANDRA, seven-year-old Chandra and his elderly grandfather have to travel on foot through earthquake-hit Kathmandu in order to get to hospital, where Chandra's mother has just given birth. Chandra is oblivious to the scenes of misery on the streets, and is fascinated by the many curious and beautiful sights, and excited about meeting his new sibling. Grandfather, who knows the sheer scope of destruction, attempts to protect Chandra from the grim reality of it all, while gradually coming to terms with the fact that the city is no longer the same, and that the hospital may not even stand. Written and codirected by LFS alumnus Fateme Ahmadi and supervised by Award winning director, Naomi Kawase, CHANDRA is the result of South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival and Youku (the biggest Chinese video hosting website) collaboration project titled "Asian Masters and Newcomers”. It was premiered at the 20th Busan International Film Festival and Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland. Ahmadi's graduation film from LFS titled ONE THOUSAND AND ONE TEARDROPS was one of the nominees for the Best UK Short at the East End Film Festival in 2015 and got Special Jury mention.
Ben Bee's microshort METROLAND 1987, will be showing with the feature film LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED? at the Festival. The short was produced as part of the crowdfundinf campaign for Ben's new film Metroland: A Short Film for Creative England.
[Content note: Previous version of this article did not include Ben Bee or Chris Manning's entries, this has been ammended.]