At the 8th BFI Future Film Festival, Screentest went along to see what this year’s latest talents have to offer. Focusing on young filmmakers, the festival gives a close insight into the film industry, how to kick-start your career and how to develop new and existing skills with inspirational screenings, masterclasses, Q&As and workshops.
Here’s an insight into the first day for fellow festival organiser, Joseph Ruddleston:
Friday, a day predominantly set for Animation, has an air of respectful quietness about the BFI Southbank Centre at the 11am start. With a delegate’s tag around my neck, I’m in need of a screening, so I look to the Future Film Animation+ Awards for competing animations as well as music and dance videos.
Walking into NFT3, a cosy cinema theatre, it takes me seconds to notice the seated average age of nineteen, with some as young as fifteen, twitching anxiously in their seats. A panel of four judges hosted by Future Film Programme Manager, Noel Goodwin, can be seen in shadows at the front. Noel begins to speak as lights focus on the panel. The categories are split into two age-groups: 15-18 and 19-25. He explains that there will also be an award given for Best International Short Animation+ – the winner of which has already been notified in December.
Lights dim and it’s onto the 15-18 category, with each film being discussed after all are screened.
The first film is a zombie music video collaboration between music supplier Soundcheque and film training program Iconic Steps. The judges described the video as “gruesome” and “claustrophobic”, seemingly in all the right, cinematic ways.
Escape, a dimly-lit modern dance film by David Bartkiewicz, is next. The judges have a lot of good to say about this one. All four note the effective use of “escaping”, and the emotional maturity of the content. They inform Bartkiewicz that collaboration is key.
Emmie Thompson is the fifteen-year-old creator of Mitchell Goldfield, an animated humanoid enduring a terribly unlucky day. “He,” according to one judge, “is everyone.” An Adventure Time influence is agreed upon, and there’s an interest in the use of shape to tell the audience something. The film is unanimously understood to be impressive animating for a girl of fifteen and her thirteen-year-old creative partner.
The 19-25 category contains four nominees.
Village Kids by William Powers is a beautifully crafted stop-motion music video. The judging panel praise Powers for his confidence in use of material and ideas, as well as his control of the central metaphor. One judge puts forward the possibility of a Tree Of Life likeness.
Ana Stefaniak’s I May Be Some Time… is an animated surrealist journey for all involved. While stating they enjoyed it, the judges felt there was a lot of information being established throughout the film. I personally loved the style, the editing, the music, but the script wasn’t keeping up.
The Bigger Picture by Daisy Jacobs was perhaps most anticipated, owing to her Oscar nomination for best Short Animated Film. It isn’t hard to grasp the reasoning for her nomination when only seconds into the film. The unique style of animation––painted upon walls––along with the grippingly accessible story makes this film a hit with the panel. One judge eloquently defines it as a “story made up of a series of moments”.
Briana Franceschini and Ho Kwan Au were winners of Best International Short Animation+ Award with Nexus, an exceedingly professional CG creation, starring a salamander and a bat. The graphics are undeniably detailed, not to mention realistic. Their aim over 9 months of work was to follow a sense of realism with a previously unseeable “micro-realism” inside the eye of a hunted salamander. The judges love how much was incorporated into such a short film.
Results:
Winner of aged 15-18 category: Escape by David Bartkiewicz
Winner of aged 19-25 category: The Bigger Picture by Daisy Jacobs
With the award ceremony setting my excitement bar high for the festival, I join in a full applause for all nominees. Then, I follow the crowd out of the theatre and onto the next event as they join their fellow filmmakers, in desire of the key to a successful award-winner of a film. If there’s any weekend to find out, it’s at the BFI Future Film Festival.
See you next year, Future Film!
By Joseph Ruddleston