2018 Film Commission Winners Announced

Published April 12, 2018

Ideas for new short films have been streaming in since we opened entries for our filmmaking commissions at Two Short Nights, and we are delighted to announce the winners of our 2018 Short Film and 2018 Micro Film Commissions. These four filmmakers will receive a share of over £10,000 worth of support to make their ideas a reality.

The exceptionally high quality of this year’s applicants and winners is a real mark of how Exeter’s filmmaking scene is continuing to develop and grow, putting it firmly on the industry’s map.

The filmmakers who have won our two Short Film commissions for 2018 are:

MATTY CRAWFORD
HIS ENGLAND

Matty Crawford is an award winning Writer/Director and 2018 Sundance Ignite Fellow. With his short films screening at BAFTA recognised festivals and collecting a number of awards such as; ‘Best Director Award’ at the Kodak/Nahemi Competition and a ‘New Talent Award’ at BFI Future Film Festival. His England explores the story of an Asian British kid as he begins to question his British identity on the day of the EU Referendum.

 

 

RIYADH HAQUE
SHEAR

Riyadh is a Portsmouth-based freelance filmmaker focusing on narrative drama as a writer/director. Familial and romantic entanglements engage him as a filmmaker, gearing towards more candid, naturally lit scenes with a move towards socially-conscious filmmaking by incorporating gender, sex, identity, race and religion into his current work. Shear is a drama about a South Asian teen who struggles with her need to rebel when she is caught between her strict family and the man she is in love with.

Image credit: Bensalem Mitchell

 

The winning Micro Film commissioned filmmakers are:

ANDY THATCHER
WALKS OF LIFE

Andy Thatcher is an Exeter-based, part-time student at University of Bristol’s MA in Film and TV. His photography has appeared in The Guardian, and he holds an MPhil in Creative Writing. Walks of Life is a documentary project examining the importance of place, walking and nature, especially during or following difficult times. 

 

 

 

ALEXANDER WARN
PAPER THIN

Alexander is a Plymouth based actor and long term member of outdoor theatre company Burn the Curtain. He has also worked in wide a variety of roles across other disciplines, such as visual arts and film. Paper Thin is a surreal representation of the sudden, frightening and depersonalising effects of a panic attack. 

 

 

 

The winning South West Animation commissioned filmmaker is: 

Holly Summerson
Birdwatching

Holly is an animator from Cornwall, particularly interested in 2D and mixed-media techniques. Birdwatching will look at possessiveness, isolation and rural queer love, through the relationship of two characters and their obsession with birds. The story will be told in a combination of paint, charcoal and collage animation, with an expressive style and warm, humorous tone.

 

 

The winning Artists Moving Image commissioned filmmaker is: 

LIAM JOLLY
AMEN BROTHER (DUM DUM KA-H)

Based in Redruth, Cornwall, Liam Jolly is an artist working across installation, video, performance, painting and public intervention

Whilst exploring the shifts in meaning that can take place between a fiction and reality, his works tread a fine line between these opposing concepts, employing double take and changing points of view as a mechanism to challenge our assumptions of what we are being presented with.

In playfully questioning the material, mechanics and structures of when something is considered an art work and when it is not, he is making us question our perception of reality in unexpected or subversive ways.

For this commission, he will be making a film that attempts to remix, into a visual score, the ‘Amen Break’, arguably the most sampled drum break in musical history and the corner stone of music sub genres such as Hip Hop, Drum & Bass & Jungle

Film Previews

The successful filmmakers will complete their film over the course of the year, with their films being shown at a special preview screening at our Two Short Nights film festival this winter.

Have you got an idea for a film? Find out all about our Film Production Resource here >>