Extraordinary work on celluloid

POWERFUL films from young MMU directors are catching the eye at film festivals across the UK.

‘Ryan’, directed by David Schofield and produced by Kurt Brookes, has been selected to screen at the highly prestigious British Film Institute London Festival, October (29/30) as part of the short film programme.

‘Fight’ by Lewis Metcalfe was screened at the Canary Wharf Film Festival in August, and won the Short Film award at the Renderyard film festival in September.

The narrative fiction films, both dealing powerfully in anxieties of male adolescence, are winning plaudits from all quarters.

Singled out

At the Manchester International Film Festival earlier this year Metcalfe, Schofield and Brookes, all graduates of the Contemporary Film and Video degree course, were singled out by programmer John Wojowski for special praise. John said: “In three years time I would put money on these guys producing an equally outstanding feature film. Future talent to look out for!”

Both films have been selected for the Exposures National Student Film Festival at Manchester Cornerhouse in November, along with films from MMU graduates Jack Whiteley and Gemma Walsh (‘Concrete Drift’), Ben Thompson (‘Personal Assistant’) and Gavin Sodo and Harry Shotton (‘Paradigm Shift’).

Further documentary success has came with the selection of first year students Kai Leech, Jim Morgan and Stephen Roe’s film ‘Auntie Niecey’ by the prestigious Sheffield International Documentary Festival.

The film, a touching portrait of a woman known as ‘everyone’s auntie’ who desperately wants her own child, will be screened at the Festival in November, where it’s also been nominated for the Wallflower Press Best International Student Documentary Award.

Successful

Jenny Holt, Senior Lecturer on the CFV course said: “This is a really popular course with very high artistic standards, so it is no surprise to us that so many people are graduating successfully onto the film-making circuit.”

For more about the Contemporary Film & Video degree at MMU, go http://www.cfv.mmu.ac.uk/course.