Commissions

Each year Exeter Phoenix commissions new work from filmmakers and visual artists as part of our commitment to supporting artists. In 2021, we introduced our first commissions for theatre makers. These bursary schemes nurture great talent and support the production of new work.

Over 100 filmmakers and visual artists have received our support, many of whom have gone on to exhibit and screen their work nationally and internationally, winning awards including Best Short Film at BFI London Film Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner, Virgin Media Shorts, Media Innovation Awards and First Light Awards.

2024

Exeter Phoenix 2024 Short Film Commissions

Exeter Phoenix are pleased to announce the lineup for the 2024 Short Film Commissions. The completed films will be premiered at Two Short Nights Film Festival 2025.

Devon Short Film Commission: Micha Colombo – Abigail’s an activist now

Micha is an actor and writer working in theatre, film, poetry and storytelling. Her first film, I Want This commissioned by Exeter Phoenix, premiered earlier this year. Her children’s book, ‘A Mossy Story’, commissioned by The Art and Energy Collective, and her prize-winning audio drama ‘Shreds’ with Theatre West will both be published in 2024, and she has just co-launched a new project, Shakespeare@The Priory exploring classical theatre. Micha can regularly be found performing on stages across Exeter and the region and her work is published in collections including Demeter Press, Hot Poets, and Oranges Journal. She is an alumna of the Exeter Northcott Futures Programme and an active member of The Daylight Collective. www.michacolombo.com

Micha’s film, working title Abigail’s an activist now, is a female-led comedy exploring what happens when unassuming Abigail decides to become a climate change activist on her way home from work.

South West Short Film Commission: Lydia Jenkins – Fishwife

Lydia Jenkins is a writer-director based in Cornwall. Her practice focuses on female experiences, using colourful analogies to address social and gender issues. Previously, she has worked with Screen Cornwall on her short film, Pillow Talk, which is now entering a festival run.

Set in the 13th century, Fishwife focuses on Maggie, a young woman who has been dressed as a shrimp and left on the sea shore as a sacrifice to a sea monster. The film aims to reflect on systematic violence against women as well as contemporary gender roles and expectations.

19-25 Devon Film Fund Commission: Sapphire Medeema – Remember

Sapphire Medeema is an emerging artist and filmmaker. After an unconventional childhood spent unschooled and growing up at festivals and political gatherings, Sapphire completed an Extended Diploma in TV and Film from Exeter College, for which her final major project was exhibited at Exeter Phoenix. Sapphire’s work has been was also shown during Exeter Art Week as part of ‘Shorts from the Block’.

Sapphire pitched Dogs and fireworks – a (gentle) comedy drama, at Two Short Nights 2024 19-25 Devon Film Fund Live Pitch. Sapphire’s work to date has been experimental, and Dogs and fireworks is an exciting jump to making narrative short film. The film follows a neurodivergent teenager and her older brother, sitting in a car on the anniversary of their grandmother’s death as they discover they have surprisingly different memories of the same family events.

Micro Short Film Commissions

Natasha Lay – lippie

Natasha Anthea Lay is a Devon-based theatremaker and screenwriter originally from Indonesia and Aotearoa New Zealand. She has been shortlisted twice for Playmarket NZ’s Playwrights b4 25 award and her short film Love is Real! (dir. Calvin Sang) was part of the official selection of Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival 2020. Natasha is excited to expand her screenwriting practice to filmmaking.

Natasha’s micro short film, lippie, is a snapshot of a moment between two friends in the girls’ bathroom on a night out during Freshers Week.

Emma Johnson – Other

Emma is an aspiring stop motion filmmaker currently in her final year at Falmouth University studying for her Illustration Masters Degree.

She has experimented with animation since watching Creature Comforts (Aardman) as a child, builds 3D models as part of her creative process, even for 2D outcomes. In 2020, she was longlisted for the emerging Laydeez Do Comics Graphic Novel prize. Other will be the first short film she has worked on and she is excited to work with industry professionals to bring this Deaf inclusion short into fruition. When not creating elaborate models and generally terrifying her studio mate with spooky mobiles, she can be found walking her kids and dogs on a blustery beach in north Devon (who sleep under her desk… dogs not kids!) and running collaged zine workshops. Emma dreams of creating a giant interactive installation that improves community morale by engaging people of all ages in wonder

Other will be a short stop motion animation film about a Deaf boy called Oliver. This inspiring story celebrates community and promotes an inclusive society.

Artists Moving Image Commission: Alice Clough – I would crawl into a horse’s left ear

Alice Clough is a research-led artist with a background in archaeology and anthropology. Her work interrogates cultural storytelling, asking questions like: which stories shape our lives? How do stories reside in objects and materials? Which stories take on a life of their own?

Her sculptural practice encompasses a wide range of media including ceramics, installation, photography, printmaking, text, and moving image. Drawing on theories of posthumanism and vibrant matter, Alice explores themes of wonder, folklore, and powerful materials like flint and horsehair.

Alice is making a film that explores the space between fact and fiction. Inspired by ancient myths and using traditional folk tales as a starting point, she will focus on horse-human relationships to ask what the nonhuman can teach us about kinship and care.

2023

Exeter Phoenix 2023 Short Film Commissions

Exeter Phoenix are pleased to announce the lineup for the 2023 Short Film Commissions. The completed films will be premiered at Two Short Nights Film Festival 2024.

19-25 Devon Film Fund Commission:Leila Lockley – In Memorium

Leila is an aspiring screenwriter and filmmaker currently in her final year at Exeter University studying English Literature & Film with French. Whilst she has been performing from an early age and even dabbled in playwriting in recent years, In Memorium will be the first short film she has worked on and she is eager to transfer her skills to the medium of the screen. 

When not holed up typing away furiously at various script ideas, she can almost always be found in the kitchen whipping up some unnecessarily extravagant dish (normally as study procrastination) and sharing recipes on her food blog. It’s her dream to one day move to Paris and combine her language and creative skills to work as a filmmaker for arthouse French cinema!

In Memorium is a dark comedy that centres around female friendship and what it means to be a ‘bad’ person. Lola has planned the perfect break-up, little does she know her boyfriend is dead.

Micro Short Film Commission: Micha Colombo – I Want This 

Micha Colombo is a writer, actor, storyteller & poet based in Exeter. Recent performance credits include: Storyblaze, Artemis Storytelling, 2023; Hamlet, Southwark Playhouse, 2023; Iphigenia, Bristol Uni, 2023; Mother Tongue, Spork! 2022; To Refuge, Exeter Phoenix 2022; Slices of Soundless Scream, Documental Theatre 2022. Recent writing credits include: a(wake) (Rebound Productions, London 2022); I am Medusa (Exeter Fringe R&D 2021); Branded (Theatre West 2021) and Care Don’t Care (Northcott Relaunch Festival 2021). Her poetry features in Demeter Press, Oranges Journal, Hot Poets Sparks anthology, Birch Moon Press and a commission for Two Short Nights Film Festival 2023. She is a director of PiE (Performance in Exeter), alumna of Northcott Theatre Futures program, associate artist with Lazarus Theatre and an active member of Mothers Who Make. She is currently part of an Exeter University research project exploring eco-anxiety.

Micha’s film follows a woman, overwhelmed by the onslaught of daily life, who finds release during a midnight moment in nature.

Micro Short Film Commission: Penn Bálint – Soviet Fantasia

The Yoko Situation is a Devon-based collective of multidisciplinary creatives, centering on gender-diverse and disabled storytelling. Director Penn Bálint (they/he) has a background in theatre, most notably directing the award-winning play ‘No One Needs to Know’ (Howard Theatre, 2021), ‘Attrition’ (2022, National Student Drama Festival), and ‘Blue & Pip’ (2022, Edinburgh Fringe Festival). His writing has been commissioned by ADC Theatre, and they completed an R&D residency at Exeter Phoenix in October 2022. Their first film with The Yoko Situation, ‘Moments I Saw in Red,’ will be shown at the BFI-funded Queer Vision festival this summer.

Soviet Fantasia is a surreal exploration of queer identity in the face of immigration, following teenager Hajnal as they grapple with the demands of leaving behind their post-Soviet country in favour of a new life in England.

Devon Short Film Commission: Robyn Egan – Dolls

After many years in the industry as a hair and make-up artist, Robyn, from Torbay, started to write for TV and Film when a broken foot left her unable to work on set. Based on her first short screenplay, Dolls, she won a scholarship from Channel 4 which gained her a place on a screenwriting course at the National Film and TV School. This experience gave her the confidence to apply for the Devon Film Commission. Robyn is delighted to be working with the team at Exeter Phoenix to make her first short film, which will be shot in the Torbay area in September this year. 

Dolls tells the story of teenager Dory and her unsolicited collection of judgemental, style-cramping, porcelain dolls. 

South West Short Film Commission: Liberty Smith – My Exploding House

Since graduating from UAL’s London College of Communication in 2010, Liberty worked in independent production companies creating (mostly) history documentaries before moving to the South West and becoming a freelance filmmaker.

Her practice is often highly collaborative and based on close relationships with the film’s subject/s. She has made a wide range of films including independent arts projects, commercial work, and produced television series and singles for the BBC and Channel 4. Liberty is interested in exploring the boundaries of documentary and being playful with form, and in recent work has been researching and developing ideas of more inclusive, accessible storytelling. 

My Exploding House follows an absurd quest originating from a childhood memory, along the way connecting the dots between community, family, shared memory, the power of place and the concept of home.

Denhams Digital Short Film Commission 2023: Luke Fannin – Space(s)

Luke Fannin is an aspiring Director & cinematographer, born and raised in Bristol, with a passion for storytelling through film. Growing up in a diverse community, Luke was drawn to film as a way to share unique perspectives and connect with audiences across cultures and backgrounds. 

Fascinated by the power of film to capture emotions, convey messages, and transport viewers to different worlds. He honed his skills by studying film at university and working on a variety of projects, from short films to documentaries, music videos, and commercials.

Luke is of mixed-race heritage which has influenced his unique perspective on life, art, and culture. He feels his experiences as a mixed race male gives him a unique perspective on the world, and he aims to use his talents to help break down barriers and bring diverse stories/conversations to the forefront of cinema.

Luke remains determined to pursue his dream of becoming one of the best cinematographers in the industry. Working tirelessly to hone his craft, experimenting with new styles and techniques, hoping to bring a fresh dynamic perspective to his work, and this is how he hopes to stand out in a competitive industry.

Luke’s film Space(s) is about race, glass ceilings, urban environments and the importance of access to green outdoor spaces.

Artists Moving Image Commission: Georgia Gendall

Georgia Gendall (b.1991 in Falmouth, Cornwall) lives and works on the Roseland Peninsular in Cornwall. In 2023 Georgia was awarded a Henry Moore Foundation Artists Foundation Award for sculpture and an Arts Council England Project Grant to run her project space Allotment Club and Falmouth Worm Charming Championships 2023. In 2022 Gendall was awarded the Peoples Choice Award and the Additional Award for her work in Exeter Open Contemporary. 

Recent exhibitions/events/ commissions include: Falmouth Worm Charming Championships, (2022 & 2021); Exeter Open Contemporary, Exeter Phoenix Gallery, Exeter (2022); Thanks for the Apples, Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth (2021); When was the last time you lay down to look at the sky? Whitegold, St Austell (2020); In Other Words, Darling, Kestle Barton, Lizard, Cornwall & Auction House, Redruth, Cornwall (solo show) (2019); also, also, also, Whitstable Biennale, Whitstable (2018). 

Georgia is making a film that will set the stage to eavesdrop upon the agrarian landscape and follow the artist coalesce with the form of a scarecrow; reflecting upon its role in our food systems and the queer rural body. 

2022

Peninsula Producers Network

BFI NETWORK South West has partnered with Screen Cornwall and Exeter Phoenix for another year to bring a second iteration of the Peninsula Producers Network to talent in the region.

New and emerging producers in Cornwall and Devon have been invited to join workshops, events, and a peer network centred on skills development. The group receive support and expert guidance, in a series of three events held both online and in person and that will hear from some of the top producers in the region, drawing upon the expert advice of producers including Kate Byers and Linn Waite of Early Day Films (BAIT), Denzil Monk of Bosena (ENYS MEN) and Bex Rose (THE PISS WITCH). The final session will be an in-person event at the Two Short Nights Film Festival at Exeter Phoenix in February.

Cornwall participants

Nick Winchester

Nick is a freelance writer, video producer and editor, who has worked across journalism, documentary, music video and corporate content. He has spent some time in distribution, managing short docs from independent filmmakers and international broadcasters. Nick also works on music promos and live shows and has created marketing comms content and product campaign commercials.

Rachel Clear Burton

Rachel Clear Burton is an aspiring film producer, with a passion for telling unique, meaningful and relevant stories through both narrative and documentary. Following her Film degree at Falmouth University, Rachel is now working in the film industry, most recently as Production Coordinator on BBC/BFI feature Knockers and USA feature documentary Tony Foster: Painting at the Edge and is producing her own short films, one of which has been selected for BFI Future Film Festival 2023.

Henry Simmons

Henry has worked in the Film and TV industry in Cornwall for several years. He has been Location Manager on Doc Martin 10 (Buffalo Pictures), Into the Deep (Teashop Productions) and Knockers (BBC/BFI). His interest is in the stories we tell about ourselves and the land we inhabit.

Hugo de Rijke

Hugo is Associate Professor in Law at Plymouth University and a practising Barrister. In 2020, Hugo had an idea to make a series of short film dramatisations, based on famous landmark cases that established leading precedents in English common law. Together with Hugh Janes (screenwriter and director) and Rob Giles (editor and co-director), Hugo (producer and legal dialogue) produced two short films entitled Mrs Carlill v Carbolic Smokeball Co. (2021) and The Strange Case of the Snail in a Bottle (2022).

Devon participants

Naomi Turner

Naomi is a freelance producer, theatre/film-maker, and for the past five years has worked at Exeter Phoenix, programming the theatre and creating talent development opportunities for local artists. She has created award-winning short dance films as Co-Artistic Director of LeMoon, a performance and film collective. Most recently, she co-directed and produced Scapelands – a BBC commission as part of the New Creative scheme which premiered on BBC4 during lockdown.

Daniel Wilding

Daniel is a registered Social Worker in England; owner, founder and CEO of Daniel Wilding CIC, a social enterprise helping people with lived experience of Severe and Enduring Mental Illness recover through employment in the company by co-creating and co-producing its information products & services. He is an Associate Producer on the award-winning sci-fi web series Horizon (2015-17) and writer/director of the short film, 16. Currently he is co-executive producer of the short crime drama film Plymouth Souls, due in 2023 from his original screenplay.

Ashish Ghadiali

Ashish is a writer, filmmaker and activist based in South Devon. He was director of the BIFA-nominated 2016 feature documentary, The Confession, and co-writer of the BIFA-winning 2016 short film, Jacked, financed by Film London. He was also the founding director of the Freedom Theatre Film Unit in Jenin Refugee Camp. He currently has a short film and feature package in development with BBC Films and he’s working on his first artist film commission, funded by the BFI – bringing material from the South West Film and TV Archive to the Big Screen at the Box in Plymouth in spring 2023.

Léonie Hampton

Léonie is part of Still Moving, an artist collective that is process-orientated and was founded by three artists who live in Devon, who met when they were 13. Léonie has an internationally acclaimed art practice; studied Art History, specialising in contemporary European, American and Japanese Art; and is a part-time AL Associate lecturer in photography at LCC London.

2021

Devon Short Film Commission

Dom Lee – Croak

I’m a Devon based filmmaker/editor and my commission ‘Croak’ will be very different to anything I’ve made before. The film follows a disgraced television presenter who forms a pact with a desperate stranger. I think it could be a film where the less you know about it before watching the better…

Recent projects include musical/comedy ‘Between The Lines’ which I’ve been working on with composer Grace Hancock. It’s nearing completion and will start its festival journey soon. Alongside D&C Film I’m a co-founder of ‘SW FilmMail’ – a fortnightly newsletter sharing opportunities/the latest work by South West filmmakers.

I was lucky enough to previously be commissioned by Exeter Phoenix in 2016 with my microshort ‘Rocketshed’ and am looking forward to developing another project with them.

South West Short Film Commission

Jonny Dry – Open Country

Jonny is immensely passionate about regional voice in film and stimulating social change through cinema. His previous projects include ‘Tom’s Dream’, currently touring Cornwall through Hall for Cornwall’s ‘Behind the Postcard’ programme; experimental documentary ‘Small Groups Through Time’; and ‘An Tarow’, widely recognised at the BAFTA Cymru qualifying Carmarthen Bay, as well as Cornwall, Little Wing and Two Short Nights, including a win for Best Director. As an assistant director in Cornwall his recent credits include BAFTA winning director Mark Jenkin’s up-coming ‘Enys Men’; Jamie Adams’ ‘She Is Love’; funded shorts with BFI NETWORK, Directors UK, and the Challenge Alexa Film Fund; and the Minack and Ha-Hum-Ah’s theatre production of Carl Grose’s dark comedy ‘Superstition Mountain’.

‘Open Country’, currently under-going workshopping with the principle cast, explores a tense male relationship between brothers and cousins as they attempt to find common ground with each other following a death in the family.

South West Micro Film Commissions

Vicki Helyar – Potholes

As a filmmaker, I’m passionate about honing in on full-rounded, meaty characters within engaging stories, often with a comedic – and sometimes dark – edge.

I’m also keen on setting my projects in and around Somerset, as well as involving Westcountry characters, as I feel the South West is often overlooked or misrepresented.

Potholes is a comedy drama about a clash of ideals yet an affecting encounter, all set in the one location of a Westcountry village hall.

When two starkly different South West residents – a non-binary, female-assigned 20-something and a 60-something cis-gendered man – are both early to attend a local meeting, THOUGH they discover that they are both called Sam, they quickly find themselves at odds with one another’s world views after the 20-something discloses that they are non-binary. Thus, a verbal conflict between the two ensues, yet, can they find common ground?

Micro Film Commissions

Alex Blackwood – A Pirate Love Story

Hi! I’m Alex, and I’m an aspiring filmmaking who hails from Plymouth. I work in post-production as an edit assistant for a local TV company, but I also love creating and producing my own content. I have always been drawn towards those ‘What If…’ ideas for stories, and try to seek out a unique perspective or filmic technique, from which the narrative of my films can unfold. Such is the premise of ‘A Pirate Love Story’ – a new found footage short that explores using the ‘pirate video’ format as a storytelling device.

My previous work has found some acclaim; My graduation film, Grade, won ‘Best Undergraduate Fiction, at both the regional and national RTS Awards. Likewise, a short horror film I wrote and directed, Don’t Open, was shown on BBC3, as part of the competition programme, The Fear. I look forward to developing my skills as a filmmaker, under the tutelage and guidance of Exeter Phoenix. Thanks for reading!

19 – 25 Devon Film Fund

Anastasia Bruce-Jones – Microwave

Anastasia is an award-winning writer and director. Over five years directing theatre, they worked in numerous buildings from the West End and Almeida theatre, to Edinburgh Fringe and London’s Vault Festival. Having now turned to film, they are currently developing a slate of projects including the short, All Girls (currently in post-production), feature False Positive (with Emergence Film) and HE-TV Series The Highwaymen. They are drawn to stories exploring the eerie fringes of human experience, particularly through magic realism, dystopia and folk horror.

Artists Moving Image Commission

Natsha MacVoy – The Mother as Stunt Performer

Natasha MacVoy is a visual artist living in rural Dursley, Gloucestershire, which she uses as an extension of her studio at Spike Island, Bristol.

With the Artist Moving Image Commission Natasha will produce her first film and the first chapter of an expansive new body of work, The Mother as Stunt Performer, a generous, gentle and complex study of mothering, identity, loss, gain and unconditional love through the lens of neurodiversity.

The Stunt Performer’s paradox, where illusionary techniques deny their existence to the audience, creates a cloak of invisibility suturing them to their star, whilst The Mother’s use of repetition, rehearsal and visualisation is coupled to her removal from the frame. The film will present a portrait of doubling, masking and rehearsing, with a spoken narrative layered over intimate images of her being measured for, and learning to weave, a wig with Louise, a local mother and master wig maker from Dursley