Film
students from the International Film School, Wales are celebrating an
unprecedented 6 awards, including ‘Best In Festival’, at the 2010
Ffresh Student Moving Image Festival.
(L-R)
Chris Morris Head of Newport Film School with Lauren Muchan, Victor
Ortega, Jim Birkett, Stephen Thomas, Jo Sharp, Michael Howard and
Laurence Cameron
The festival aims to promote and
celebrate the work of students working with ‘moving image’ and studying
within Wales. Hosted by Aberystwyth Arts Centre, the festival ran for
two days last week and film students from Newport scooped many of the
important film categories.
Still from Moments by Luc Bartlett
Fiction
film student, Luc Bartlett scooped two awards - ‘Best Music Media’ and
the all-important ‘Best In Festival’, for his beautiful and haunting
music based short film, “Moments”. The judges were enthusiastic about
the thought-provoking piece - “We appreciated the range of ideas
in this accomplished piece and it's always refreshing to see a reliance
on in-camera tricks and atmospheric lighting.”
“I am so please for Luc,” said Christopher Morris, head of the film school at Newport, “the
award is especially pleasing for him, as this film was made in Luc’s
second year on the Film & Video course and was in competition
against graduation work from other Universities.”
Most of
the work entered at Ffresh is graduation work – but another second year
film, this time from the documentary course, won the best ‘TV award’ at
Ffresh. The film was made by documentary students David Brittain and
Victor Ortega and the judges felt the film was good enough to be
broadcast. “A dynamic and vibrant documentary that brought the
energy and colour of Speedway to the screen, and showed a professional
flair for storytelling.”
Other winners from Newport
included ‘Best Factual’ won by documentary film students, James
Birkett, Michael Howard & Laurence Cameron for their film ‘Tough
Guy 453’. The 20-minute film takes us into the demanding world of the
Tough Guy assault course, where 1000’s of people attempt to complete an
absurd obstacle course of fire, wood and water. The film was described
by the judges as a blend of ‘Rob Roy’, “mixed with Riefenstahl’s Olympia, and Rocky! It was beautifully shot with energy, style and humour!”
The film has already been noticed by executives at CBBC and remade
(with the students) for children’s TV – ‘Tough Kids’ is due to be
broadcast on BBC 2 in late February 2010.
MA Film students
Nicolas Booth & Cyrus Mirza’Shara won best Post Graduate Fiction
for their disturbing short drama - “Birthday” The judges thought that
the film achieved a “Dark and mysterious, with a gripping tense tone” through its use of sound and they thought that Nicholas was a directing ‘talent’ to look out for!
The
Royal Television Society (Wales) also presented an award at the
Festival, for the Best Student Documentary made in Wales during the
year. All of the nominations for this important award, came from film
students at Newport. This years winners were documentary film students
Lauren Muchan and Jo Sharp for their campaigning film “Letters to
Angola: An Unlikely Friendship”. The story of an unlikely friendship
between a young British woman and an American Black Panther, who has
been incarcerated in solitary confinement in Angola Prison Louisiana,
for 37 years impressed the judges. “It was a film that kept the
viewer thinking long after it had finished. It was slick, beautifully
filmed and edited, and fantastically inventive. The music was subtle
and compelling It didn’t stray into drama and was effortlessly
thought-provoking. Curious, poetic and unique.”
The winning
film - “Letters to Angola: An Unlikely Friendship” will now be entered
into the UK wide Royal Television Society student competition to be
held in London later in the year.
“Newport documentary students have an impressive record at this event”, said Christopher Morris, “We
have made the national UK finals of the RTS student awards with our
strong documentary films for the last four years and crucially we have
won it for the last two years. If we win ‘Best Documentary’ this year
with ‘Angola’ it’ll be an unprecedented RTS triple for Newport!”
The Ffresh Student Moving Image Festival
has be held at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre for the last eight years,
featuring student work, workshops, master-classes and guest speakers –
including Stephen Frears (director), David Morrissey (actor) and Andrew
Davies (screenwriter).
Next year however the festival goes on
the road - The University of Glamorgan will host the event in 2011,
and in 2012 the Ffresh Festival will come to Newport.
Below is the full list of Newport winners and the judges comments:
Factual
Tough Guy 453
James Birkett, Michael Howard & Laurence Cameron
IFSW, University of Wales, Newport/ YFfRC, Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
The
story behind the UK Tough Guy competition – Billed as the most
physically challenging, mentally demanding, fear inducing ordeals in
the world. This film follows the four time runner-up James Appleton,
who dreams of one day being crowned “Tough Guy Supreme”
“Unusual
and compelling characters on a fantastic, intoxicating journey; I was
hooked the whole way! The film was tongue in cheek, with twists and
turns, and just the right amount of melodrama. The key to a great
factual documentary is to draw in the viewer from the start – and then
keep them! It was a documentary that got to the very essence of the
“macho” man. It was filmic – think Rob Roy, mixed with Riefenstahl’s
Olympia, and Rocky! It was beautifully shot with energy, style and
humour – perfectly complimented with the music. Technically, the sound
and editing was head and shoulders above the rest. It unfolded
brilliantly and the structure was spot on. This film was slick and
unabashed. I was drawn into the chaos and tension. The juxtaposition
between the main character and event he was taking part in, was
captivating. I was swept along by the mix of beautiful stylized shots
and frenetic actuality. It left me eager for next year’s event. A
Boy’s Own fantasy for the 21st century!”
Fiction Postgraduate
Birthday
Nicolas Booth & Cyrus Mirza’Shara
IFSW, University of Wales, Newport/ YFfRC, Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
Mary
celebrates her twentieth birthday with Leonard, a middle-aged
professional in their small suburban home. However, Mary is determined
this will be the last day of her captivity as she dreams of a gruesome
escape from her keeper of ten years.
"Dark and
mysterious, with a gripping tense tone, 'Birthday' uses sound design
and frame composition effectively. Director Nicolas Booth is a talent
to watch."
Royal Television Society – Best Factual Film
Letters to Angola: an unlikely friendship
Joseph Sharp & Lauren Muchan
IFSW, University of Wales, Newport/ YFfRC, Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
A
documentary story of an unlikely friendship between a young British
girl and a Southern American Black Panther, who has been incarcerated
in solitary confinement in Angola Prison Louisiana, for 37 years.
“It
was a film that kept the viewer thinking long after it had finished. It
was slick, beautifully filmed and edited, and fantastically inventive.
The music was subtle and compelling It didn’t stray into drama and was
effortlessly thought-provoking. Curious, poetic and unique.”
Music Media and Best In Festival
Moments
Luc Bartlett
IFSW, University of Wales, Newport/ YFfRC, Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
A
young girls naivety changes into an overwhelming self awareness when
the unforgiving outside world starts to invade her private space.
“We
appreciated the range of ideas in this accomplished piece and it's
always refreshing to see a reliance on in-camera tricks and atmospheric
lighting.”
TV
Newport Speedway
David Brittain and Victor Ortega
IFSW, University of Wales, Newport/ YFfRC, Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
Victor Ortega collects the award for Newport Speedway
We
travel down to Newport Speedway for a day at the races, the sounds,
smells, thrills and spills of the Newport Wasps vs The King Lynne Stars
for the final of the premier trophy.
“A dynamic and
vibrant documentary that brought the energy and colour of Speedway to
the screen, and showed a professional flair for storytelling. An
intriguing documentary that found fascinating subjects, and went to
some lengths to get inside their world.”