The BFI Future Film Preview

February 12th, 2012

A haven for those who’ve gone from yelling ‘cut!’ to making the cut and those with visions of visualising, the BFI’s Future Film Festival is less than a week away and already looking to be one of the most excitable showcases of new film talent this side of the country. Primed to celebrate its fifth year running, and more relevant for us Brits than ever in this current climate of economic and cinematic downturn (i.e. we’re paying too much for shitty movies), the two day event running from the 18-19 of February at BFI Southbank presents only the highest standard of new talent.

“It’s been a really good year for submissions to the Future Film Festival which has made it extremely difficult to make a final selection of short films we’ll be screening at BFI Southbank during the festival,” said the BFI’s Young People Education Programmer, Noel Goodwin. “We only show 6 films in each category – Fiction, Animation and Documentary – that’s 18 in total from over 150 submissions!” There will be awards for these films in two categories: 15-18 and 19-25, each taking place at the start of both festival days, at 11am. Obviously to remain unbiased Goodwin couldn’t talk about a favoured director or film being showcased, though he did say that thanks to the introduction of DSLR’s for filmmaking alongside a huge up climb in the standard of writing the quality of this year’s entries are perhaps higher than ever.

If talented amateurs aren’t, for some snobby reason, your thing and you want professionals who’ve proven their worth the Future Film Fest has you covered. Screening on the second day is car crushed Kickass and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star Dexter Fletcher’s directorial debut Wild Bill, and the duo Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe’s lauded and BAFTA nominated debut Black Pond. Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A session, and will highlight just why now is a good time to be excited about British Film.

Far from being the main attraction however, throughout the two days are a huge variety of workshops and masterclasses to give hopeful cinematic visionaries some guiding light. “We’ve tried to fill the gaps that we think are less frequently offered to ‘youth audiences’, and at the same time we want to provide workshops and masterclasses that tap into the aspirations of young filmmakers and young creatives,” explained Noel Goodwin. “There’s more to making films than just being a Director so we’re focusing on lots of other areas too like Producing, for example, which is a bit of a dark art so we’re running a Producing Masterclass in partnership with BAFTA which will be led by Lisa Bryer (Last King of Scotland).” Every possible avenue a young filmkaker may wish to wander down has been signposted, with sessions in Visual Effects, Making Your First Feature, Getting Your Work Seen – Festival vs Online, Pitching, Blogging and Funding. For a full programme of the events on both festival days go to www.bfi.org.uk/futurefilm.

If the Pitching session, hosted by Doc Next Network with actor (The Iron Lady) and Producer (Mandela’s Children) David  Westhead, particularly peaked your interest then there’s something you might just want to know. If you’ve always had a niggling idea for a inspiring, thought provoking or just bizarre documentary but have lacked such essentials as funding, an outlet or any way to let people know it exists in your brain, then Future Film are asking young people to come up with a 140 character pitch for a documentary film. Just post the idea for the film you’d like to make on Twitter either @BFI or with the hashtag #FFPitch, or in an email to futurefilminstitute@bfi.org.uk. Six finalists will be invited to the fest to pitch their idea to an industry panel, who’ll select a winner for an expenses paid trip to a filmmaking workshop with one of their partners in Holland, Spain, Poland or Turkey. Finally, my idea for a film examining the history of centaurs depicted in the media has finally become realized! Don’t steal it. Please.

The entire event is as much for those with a love of movies as making them, and though the idea of heading to you local cinema and seeing a commercially funded movie made by someone under thirty is unheard of, the need to focus on the new talent is precisely what ‘Future Film’ festival embodies. Considering the recently released report ‘A Future For British Film: It begins with the audience…’, which was headed by a panel of film experts, outlined that it isn’t always clear how young people can find a way to work in the industry and the need to provide these opportunities is vital.

Furthermore, it helps us envision the next big innovations and dramatic changes that will engulf cinema as we know it. “I think DIY filmmaking will be the biggest change in  cinema – and by that I don’t necessarily mean making a set out of sticky back plastic and cereal boxes but making films on a shoe-string budget” said Noel Goodwin on the upcoming evolution of cinema. “People like Marc Price (Colin), Gareth Edwards (Monsters) and now Will Sharpe and Tom Kingsley with Black Pond have been leading the way in low/micro-budget/guerrilla filmmaking. And what’s impressing me at the moment is the amount of young, talented filmmakers out there that are just getting on an doing it. And more and more young people I know are now making their first feature films as young as 17 or 18, which is just astonishing!”

The BFI Future Film Festival takes place at BFI Southbank on 18-19 of February.

Pricing is as follows:

15-18 year-olds: £5 one-day; £8 two-days

18-25 year olds; £10 one-day; £15 two-days

Weekend passes are available by calling the Box Office on 02079283232

If you wish to attend individual sessions you must register for those you’d like to attend on the day. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment as there are limited places for each session.

Keep an eye on Rhythmcircus for our coverage of the Festival!

Words > Graham Ashton

Tags: BFI, Black Pond, British Film Institute, Future Film Festival, Gareth Edwards, Monsters, Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe