It's always a delight to share the achievements of our brilliant students, grads and alumni. Continue reading for details of the new heights that have been reached over the month of March. Please get in touch if you have any news you’d like to share and sign up to our alumni newsletter here to get the updates direct to your inbox.
It’s a pleasure to see the growing success of alumnus, Janis Pugh’s (MAF154), debut feature film, Chuck Chuck Baby. The musical drama has already been sold to a range of territories including North America, UK-Ireland, Spain, Scandinavia and Baltics, Germany and Austria and Spain. After successful premieres in Edinburgh and Toronto, a theatrical release is being planned for LA. Congratulations!
"On a 26 day shoot we had everything thrown at us, covid, rain, sleet and snow, it was all made bearable because of an amazing team of cast and crew. This is the beauty of indie film - we'll stand together because we believe in the story.
"It's wonderful to see the world open its arms to Chuck Chuck Baby, from Edinburgh to Toronto to Palm Springs to Europe, festival audiences are wrapping their arms around this little film with love, which is amazing as it's made with love from an amazing cast and crew" – Janis Pugh
We’re delighted to share that Frank Fang, Serena Aoya Su and Harry Zhang (all MAF graduates) have set up Sequence Film Lab, a production hub with a 400 square metre studio in central Beijing. It aims to serve as a bridge between European and British filmmakers and the Chinese film industry.
Sequence Film Lab offers production services, recruitment on film projects, workshops and film industry forums where filmmakers are invited to network and exchange information. They also offer assistance with enrolment at LFS to international students by providing guidance and accurate information.
“A space where international filmmakers can communicate, share, create and empower within a community that is purely dedicated to film.” - Sequence Film Lab
Truly inspiring! Well done and best of luck!
Congratulations to screenwriting alumnus, Vishaal Desai (MAS4), whose documentary film, Uniting Through Yoga, acquired distribution online in the US and is currently streaming through Gaia on Amazon. The documentary promises to take its audience on “an emotional journey encompassing the yogic practice and personal life of one of the greatest yoga masters to have ever lived.” See the trailer here.
“This film was partially produced using crowd-sourced interviews and the narrative had to be built around the experiences and stories of the interviewees. My goal was to first compile the footage, which included interviews that I shot in India and interviews that were sourced remotely from people across more than 50 different countries.
“Once we had acquired close to 200 hours of footage in addition to archival material, I proceeded to find and build the story through the edit. In essence, I only had a sliver of a concept i.e. to discover the legacy of this man. And only when I began combing through hours of footage was I truly able to delve into the magnitude of his impact, not only on the world, but also on the practice and perception of yoga itself.” – Vishaal Desai
We would also like to congratulate Orkhan Aghazadeh (MAF186) whose debut feature film, The Return of the Projectionist, will be having its world premiere at the esteemed Visions Du Réel. The film has been selected to be in the main competition at Visions du Réel and has already been picked up to be represented by Cats&Dogs. Good luck!
We're delighted to share thatThe Sun Sets on Beirut (Wri-Dir: Daniela Stephan, Prod: Yuanhao Song) screened at Oscar Qualifying Tampere International FF (Finland).
Wonderful news as grad film Kimaya was awarded Best Student Film at Manchester Film Festival (UK). Congratulations to the team! Writer-Dir: Manasi Bedekar, Assistant Dir: Tom Chambers, Script Sup: Alexander Emborg. The festival also screened Matterhorn (Writer-Dir: Anne Madeleine Mancosu, Prod: Florian Kasperski & Spandana Patanaik, Assistant Dir: Maya Wills, Prod. Manager: Julie Magnaudet, DoP: Fyras Slaiman).
Sparare alle Angurie screened at Stockholm International FF (Sweden) and ONE Country ONE Film 2024 (France) and Landshut Film Festival, Germany. Writer-Director-Editor: Antonio Donato, Producer: Patrick Verlin, DoP: Sahil Kotwani, Prod Design: Anastasiya Mykhaylova.
We had a fantastic five LFS films this year screening at Crystal Palace Festival (UK) including:
Saving Art. Writer-Dir-Editor: Remi Moses, Prod: Victor Nauwynck, DoP: Pui Man Leung, Prod.Design: Anastasiya Mykhaylova, Art.Dir: Elitsa Marielle.
Rickshaw. Writer-Dir: Raphael Hernandez, Prod: Anastasia Savinova, Raphael Hernandez, Jaina Liu, Spandana Patanaik, Editor: Mengyao Zhang, DoP: Eng Teck Ng. Herbert and Humprhey. Dir-Writer: Siddarth Joshi, Prod: Antonio Donato, DoP: Sahil Kotwani Prod.Design: Anastasiya Mykhaylova, Art.Dir: Kelly Diapère.
Coming of Age. Writer-Dir: Zhao Wu, Prod: Jiayin Bao, Editor: Longhua Yang, Prod.Design: Ziyan Gao, and finally Lo Sguardo. Writer-Dir-Prod: Edoardo Ulivelli, Associate.Prod: Antonio Donato, Patrick Verlin. Congrats to the teams!
Un Dia screened at Nouveaux Regards Film Festival in Guadeloupe. Dir/Prod Nathan Legger, Prod Julie Magnaudet and Spandana Patanaik.
Saving Art won the “Jury’s Choice” award at The South London Film Festival. Congratulations!
Thread Tension continues a busy Festival run and screened at Montreal Independent FF and (Canada) and UPTILT Film Festival (USA). Writer-Dir: Ruby Mastrodimos, Producer: Oliver Staton &Harry Hayton Iles, Editor: Benjamin Sivo, Sound Designer: Ruby Mastrodimos, Costume Designer: Anastasiya Mykhaylova.
Big Fridge International Film Festival 2024 (UK) for emerging filmmakers, had two LFS winners in their programme! Sharks in Colwyn Bay won Best Student Short Film (Writer-Director: Jonathan Williams, Prod: Siddharth Menon, DoP: Christopher Cutting, Prod. Desig: Ben Packwood, Editor: Tom Chambers) and Thread Tension won Best Horror Short Film and Best Actress (Writer-Dir: Ruby Mastrodimos, Prod: Oliver Staton, Harry Hayton Iles, Editor: Benjamin Sivo, Costume Design: Anastasiya Mykhaylovas). Congratulations to all!
Beeston Film Festival 2024 (UK) included two LFS films: Rickshaw (Writer-Director: Raphael Hernandez, Producer: Anastasia Savinova, Raphael Hernandez, Jaina Liu, Spandana Patanaik, Editor: Mengyao Zhang, DoP: Eng Teck Ng) and Thread Tension (Writer-Dir: Ruby Mastrodimos, Producer: Oliver Staton, Harry Hayton Iles, Editor: Benjamin Sivo, Sound Designer: Ruby Mastrodimos, Costume Designer: Anastasiya Mykhaylova).
Salt was part of The Independent Days Intl FF (IDIF) (Germany). Writer-Dir: Zhijie Jade Cao, Producer: Siddhanth Srikanth, Emma Schilders, DoP: Wenxuan Xu, Prod Designer: Getian Han, Costume Designer: Zhiqi Wang, Editor: Nan Gao.
Broken Hearts had a busy March and screened at Hastings Rock Film festival (UK) 19th Sunscreen Film Festival 2024 (USA). Writer-Director: Julie Magnaudet, Producer: Nathan Legger, DoP: Bo Giesen, Editor: Tsz Wai Ling. The film also screened alongside Ariane's Baby (Dir Mahee Merica, Prod: Mathilde Jouaud, Mahee Merica & Chen-Ling Liu, DoP: Sheherezade El Moumni Berdai) will be) at the Short sweet film festival 2024 (USA) too!
Lacerate was accepted to 8th 20minmax Intl SFF (Germany) and 19th Festival de films européens de Paris (France). Writer-Director-Editor: James Menelaus Rush, Producer: Patrick Verlin. Congrats!
Chai Coffi will be part of Ca' Foscari Short Film Festival (Italy). Writer-Dir: Sanjoli Malani, Prod: Sanjoli Malani, Associate Prod: Siddhanth Srikanth, Visual Effects: Semyon Voinov, Sound Design: Nimay Goswami.
Coming of Age screened at Fargo Film Festival 2024 (USA). Writer-Director: Zhao Wu, Prod: Jiayin Bao, Editor: Longhua Yang, Prod Design: Ziyan Gao.
The House that Stood has been busy screening in March at, 22nd Riverside Intl Film Festival and Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival (USA) and also Los Angeles Film Fashion and Art Festival. Writer-Director: Antonella Spirito, Prod: Nathan Legger, DoP: Bo Giesen.
Runaway Killers screened at Budapest Movie Awards (Hungary) and was awarded Best Action Film at Atlanta After Dark Film Festival (USA) Honourable Mention at Vienna International Film Awards 2023 (Austria) and screened at ViZ Film Festival in Odessa. Congratulations to the team! Writer-Director: Martin, Ignacio, Prod: Tom Chambers, Prod. Design: Jonathan Williams, Editor, Sound Recordist: Tom Chambers.
Per Aspera screened at Lancaster FF (UK). Writer-Director: Yue Zhu, Prod/Editor: Michelle Griffen, DoP: Alexander Emborg, Sound: Nimit Kaushik.
Photo credits (top to bottom)
Still from Chuck Chuck Baby (writer-director: Janis Pugh), still photographer: Carlton Dixon
Photo of Janis Pugh
Sequence Film Lab Film Practise Workshop BTS by Frank Fang
Still from Uniting Through Yoga (writer-director: Vishaal Desai), Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute Archive
Still from The Return of the Projectionist (writer-director: Orkhan Aghazadeh)
Still from The Sun Sets on Beirut (writer:director: Daniela Stephan)
Manasi Bedekar (Writer-Director of Kimaya) at Manchester Film Festival March 2024, Best Student Film Award
Still from Saving Art (writer-director: Remi Moses)
Sharks in Colwyn Bay at Big Fridge International Film Festival 2024, Best Student Short Film