Time to shine the spotlight on our students, graduates and alumni! Continue reading to learn about their latest achievements. Have an exciting achievement of your own? Then don’t hesitate to get in touch because we want to hear all about it! Don’t forget, you can sign up to our alumni newsletter to get the updates direct to your inbox.
Congratulations Jing Wen whose film Air Lily recently received a Top Three honour at the NewHer Workshop of the 16th Beijing International Film Festival. We’re also proud to see that this is a shared achievement with fellow alumni Winfred Wang (producer), Siwei Zhu (assistant director), Longhua Yang (sound recordist & sound designer), and Siyu Ma (editor) all contributing to the project. We love to see continued collaboration amongst the LFS community!
The project began its journey earlier this year when it was selected for the NewHer Workshop, where Jing developed the film for the feature project. It was later shortlisted as a finalist in the feature project section, and the concept film has now received this special recognition.
NewHer is a meaningful platform supporting women filmmakers in China, and it has been a great honour to develop and present the project there while receiving encouragement from filmmakers and mentors I deeply admire. I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve received during my time at LFS.Jing Wen
We’re thrilled to celebrate two alumni films selected for Quinzaine des Cinéastes 2026, Oh Boys by Antonio Donato and MADRUGADA by Sebastian Lojo. In both productions, LFS alumni were behind the scenes as part of the crew. Congratulations to all involved!
Well done to Rachel Walsh-Williams whose screenplay BÁNSOLAS was selected for the Lottie List (which celebrates screenplays of outstanding achievement) as well as won the Best Screenplay award at the British Animation Film Festival 2026.
Announce another major milestone for Carla Simón, who will lead the Short Films and La Cinef Jury at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Carla’s film Romería was officially selected for Cannes last year, confirming her status in European auteur cinema. Joining Carla on the jury are actress and visual artist Park Ji-Min, writer, director and producer Ali Asgari, director and actor Salim Kechiouche and writer, director Magnus von Horn. They will be awarding the Short Film Palme d’or and the three La Cinef prizes dedicated to student films. Congratulations!
Rachel Walsh-Williams
Oh Boys, dir: Antonio Donato
Carla Simón
Congratulations Nicole Woodford on Incarnation being selected for this year’s BIFAN NAFF Project Market in South Korea which is part of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. Nicole has been writing and developing the feature film screenplay in the MAS programme and will pitch the screenplay for development grants and potential co-producers with her producer Anthony Chen. Best of luck!
Adding an extra sweet cherry on top, Nicole’s feature film Last Shadow At First Light has been selected as the closing film for Women Without Borders Film Festival where she will take part in a special Q&A. Well done!
We’re delighted to share screenwriting alumna, Zoé Mahfouz, recently had her debut full-length book published, ADHD in D Minor: A Collection of Short Stories, and has already received a 5-star reader review!
ADHD IN D MINOR is a high-speed, television-flavoured mixtape of sketches, manifestos, character monologues, rage letters, and love notes that orbit the unhinged core of a mind too fast for traditional structure.
Zoé’s screenplay POTATO, POTAHTO, which she worked on during her time at London Film School, was also nominated at the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival, a Canadian Screen Award qualifying event. Double congrats!
Masashi Kawamata’s debut feature OUT had its world premiere at LA Independent Filmmakers Showcase where it closed the festival. We recently sat down with Masashi and his co-writer and producer, Nicholas Zabaly, where we discussed the exciting process behind making the film. Follow the link to learn about their exciting adventure and discover pearls of wisdom you can apply to your own filmmaking journey.
Finally it’s a pleasure to report more success from Emilia Cotella (writer-dirctor) and John Mathis (director) debut feature, The Devil Whispered My Name, which will be screening at the Raindance Film Festival this June.
The film is based on the feature screenplay Emilia wrote during the MA Screenwriting programme, and has been doing really well on the festival circuit. So far, it has screened at seven festivals, including Screamfest Horror Film Festival and BARS. The film has also received several awards, including Best National Film at Terror Córdoba and Best International Actress at BARS.
Emilia and John also signed with Reel Suspects, who are representing the film in Europe and North America, the film is currently playing theatrically in Argentina. Congratulations!
Feature image credit: Air Lily BTS, photographer: @mingqiji6
