Towards the end of the November this year, LFS graduate Yanqi Chen’s THE ROAD screened at the UK Film Festival (UKFF). The film followed Jinle, a Chinese high school student, who tries to find a way out of the educating system. Nothing changes until he finds a collection of poetry in the drawer of his essay teacher, a young lady who has been asking him to follow the model essays every day. "I saw a bus parked by the gate of the school when I was in middle school,” said The London Film School’s Chen when talking of his inspiration for the film: "It was the bus of my classmate's father, he drove the bus to pick up his son. It was surrealistic and left a deep impression on me.” While the film revolves around the education system, Chen tried to focus on something much broader with his film. "Jinle tries to write poetry but he can't. But I didn't highlight that actually, I tried to highlight that life is a dilemma."
This was the first official festival selection for THE ROAD, but after glowing reviews at the end of term critiques, it is perhaps unsurprising that Chen and his film walked away with the Best Student Film Award. Chen accepted his award alongside veteran film actor Timothy Spall, who won the Edgeware Outstanding Achievement Award for his performance in the feature film STANLEY A MAN OF VARIETY, which had its world premiere at the festival. “Maybe we can work together some time,” Spall offered Chen, an opportunity Chen admits he would be glad to take up in the future.
In the words of UKFF Director Murray Woodfield - “Watch this space”.
Written by Ben Corbett