It’s time to shine the spotlight on some excellent achievements of our students, grads and alumni. Continue reading to learn about their individual success stories. If you have any exciting news, don’t hesitate to get in touch because we want to hear all about it!
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We’re also delighted to see Remi Moses’ latest short film, Hindsight, is an Official Selection at BFI London Film Festival. It recently had its UK premiere at the BIFA & BAFTA-qualifying SOUL Fest, and had its world premiere at the BAFTA-qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival in the US. Continuing a successful festival run, Hindsight also screened at Bolton International Film Festival, Dinard British & Irish Film Festival, and will screen at Leeds International Film Festival and Norwich Film Festival. Congratulations!
Speaking of BFI London Film Festival, it’s also a pleasure to report that Rafael Manuel’s feature, Filipiñana, also screened there and has been selected to represent the Philippines at the 99th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. Huge congratulations!
The short version of Filipiñana (Rafael’s grad film) recently screened at Encounters Film Festival along with five LFS graduate films, Lara Zeidan’s Three Centimetres, Ariq Khan’s Transit, Zhiyi Wang’s Some Manifestations Of The South, Servane D’Alverny’s Shoegazing and Daniel Guliyev’s Bastard. Well done to everyone!
Transit, wri-dir: Ariq Khan
Shoegazing, wri-dir: Servane D'Alverny
Some Manifestations Of The South, wri-dir: Zhiyi Wang
Congratulations to filmmaking alumni Alex Grigoras (DoP) and Scott Trotter (producer/1st AD) who worked on the feature, Salvation, which recently had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Collaborating on a bold and ambitious film with a talented and passionate team made shooting it such a memorable experience. I am very grateful for this journey together.Alex Grigoras
It’s wonderful to see two filmmaking alumnae celebrated success at the Venice International Film Festival!
Shalini Adnani had her feature film, Our Share of Sand, premiere in the festival’s Critics’ Week. The Hollywood Reporter debuted an exclusive clip from the film, head over to the article to watch the clip and read more.
As Shalini told The Hollywood Reporter: “Sand, in this world, is currency — and many people are unaware that we are running out of it, and that its extraction is causing land erosion worldwide.”
Jacqueline Lentzou won the Orizzonti Award for Best Director for her second feature film, A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra.
According to Greek Reporter, “Orizzonti is one of the Venice Film Festival’s main competitive sections and is dedicated to new cinematic trends and different forms of storytelling.” Read the full article to find out more about the film.
Congratulations to both Shalini and Jacqueline!
Ginevra Elkann’s third feature film, The Roses of Marrakesh, starring Fanny Ardant, also screened at TIFF. The sales company True Colours launched international sales of the film at the festival. They have already sold the film to Karma Films, Spain.
Ginevra told Variety The Roses of Marrakesh is “about love, about the ordinary business of surviving our own pain, and about the tenderness we find along the way.” Follow the link to read more.
Congratulations screenwriting alumna, Sabrina Semidei, who was selected to take part in the Torino Film Lab Next TV Series & Story Editing 2026 edition with her project FIAMMETTA. Sabrina has begun the programme – we look forward to hearing how it goes!
We’re also pleased to report that writer/director, Fateme Ahmadi, is one of Screen Daily’s Stars of Tomorrow 2026. Fateme is currently in post-production with her debut feature, Daughter Of Eden, an English and Arabic-language psychological thriller about a British Iraqi nurse.
Sabrina Semidei, Torino Film Lab Next 2026 - TV series
Fateme Ahmadi, Screen Daily
Alex Grigoras and Scott Trotter at TIFF
Zhannat Alshanova’s debut feature, Becoming, recently screened at the Barbican, followed by a Q&A.
Congratulations Shahrukh Naveed on Gulmina’s official selection at Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival.
We’re delighted to report that Vaibhav Sanghavi has been recognised by the American Society of Cinematographers, with a nomination in its new International Student category for his fantastic cinematography on the grad film SHUCK. The only British nomination – congratulations, Vaibhav!
And brilliant news for screenwriting alumnus Peter Davenport whose drama screenplay QUETICO SUPERIOR has reached the second round of the Austin Film Festival and the quarter-finals of the Final Draft competition. Well done!
Graduate Film Highlights
LFS graduation films haves been screening globally from Bosnia to Brazil, from Canada to India, and China to Australia. See the details below.
We’re very proud two LFS grad shorts were selected at prestigious Sarajevo Film Festival:
Hidden in Frame (wri-dir: Ana Sarukhanov) and Abracadabra (wri-dir: Amay Mehrishi, editor: Ananyaa Gupta, DoP: Aditya Sharma, sound recordist: Mriganka Goswami).
Raphael Manuel’s wonderful debut feature Filipinana also screened at Sarajevo.
A great LFS showing at this key European Festival.
Additionally, the equally prestigious Kinoforum – Sao Paulo Film Festival, probably the second largest short film festival globally, selected Abracadabra and Mother and Ulysses (wri-dir-prod-editor: Mushi Cai, prod: Qiuhui Wang, sound: Jing Wen) in competition in August.
Three LFS films are selected in competition for BIFA and BAFTA qualifier Bolton International Film Festival (UK):
Abracadabra,
Mol (wri-dir: Dhairya Zaveri, producer: Nitya Kumar, DoP: David Witton-Davies)
and Memories of Zhi (dir: Mingxin Li, DoP: Yanxiang Qiu, assistant director: Ting Tu)
As part of our 70th Anniversary, we’ll also be holding a talk at Bolton Int Film Festival with Chris Auty and two alumni discussing steps into the industry.
Bolton has also selected five films by recent alumni with ex LFS crew:
Hindsight (dir: Remi R Moses)
Jealous People Are Ugly (dir: Theo Krekis)
Where to Find Foxes (dir: Leo Villares, prod: Victor Nauwynck, writer: Bea Ralston, DoP: Tamas Meder)
Quietness (dir: Goncalo Almeida)
Thanks for Considering Me (dir: Patrick Verlin , producers: Victor Nauwynck, Bea Ralston, co-writer: Paolo Rabone, production designer: Anastasiya Mykalova, editor: James Rush)
Encounters Film Festival takes place this month in Bristol, and again celebrating our 70th, we’ll be screening a selection of films that have been selected at Encounters over the previous 15 years, followed by tea and cake!
Abracadabra screened at Open Air Filmfest Weiterstadt (Germany), Indian Festival of Melbourne (Australia), Bengaluru International Film Festival (India), Fine Film Festival (Serbia). And plenty further screenings still under embargo.
Mother and Ulysses is having a great festival run and screened at Holly Shorts Film Fest (US). Bueu International Film Festival (Portugal) and Concorto Film Festival 2026 (Italy).
Small but sweet Sunrise Film Festival – Lowestoft (UK) screened LFS films: Settle (wri -dir: Voy Bach, producer: Jack Cameron, DoP: Moritz Lips) and Sriracha(wri-dir: Li Hsing Wei, producer: Karina Carl Stephan)
A Winter Mirage / Dong Shen Shi was screened at 86358 Jia Village Short Film Festival (China). Wri-Dir-Editor: Guoju Wang, producer: Kuo Li, production designer: Yige Yang.
Sugarcane, Burning screened International South Asian Film Festival Canada. Writer-Director: Tashing Singh, DoP: David Witton-Davies, editor: Daniel Mizrachi.
Keep was selected for New Renaissance Film Festival and Exit 6 Film Festival – London (UK). Writer-Director: Charles Cracknell, producer: Emily Kirby, editor: Jade Guest.
Last but not least, homecoming drama Splinters screened at the Worcester International Film Festival (UK). Writer-Director: Leo Finnan, editor: Keira Sultan, DoP: Vaibhav Sanghavi, assistant director: Gregory Hackel-Johnson.
