By Ré Poko
Just over a year and a half ago, our university didn’t have a Digital Film Society, so for them to be in the position that they find themselves in now is no small achievement. Tonight, the Digital Film Society presented their first Student Film Festival, which they plan to be an annual affair.
A mainly student audience of mixed ages and course groups watched 11 films that their peers had submitted for their enjoyment. This was clearly a student film festival, there were all the signs: the inevitable technical difficulties, whoops of delightful recognition from the audience when they heard a friend’s film was next to be screened, the same actor seen in a multitude of roles throughout the evening’s viewing and, of course, the wine table was much, much busier than the one for soft drinks during the interval.
One massive thing that differed from your average expectation for a student film festival was the quality of the productions shown. All of the picture, sound, dialogue and editing was of a superb standard and you could see the pride in the faces of all of the society’s members.
The films covered a wide variety of themes and genres: From Ghislaine Moolenaar‘s flashing rhythmic edit of facial features in Face The Music, to Amber Jayde’s use of bold nature images in The Light. Gems such as the unbelievably comical The Party by James Lee stood out alongside short, refreshing, informative documentaries like Yvonne Marfleet’s Jokes.
Of course, no film festival is complete without awards, and the audience was asked to pick winners in four categories: Best Sound, Best Picture, Best Edit and Best Film. There was no shortage of quality on display and all four awards seemed to be fiercely contested. Some members of the audience could even be seen spiritedly debating amongst themselves over which film was their favourite to win.
Here’s a list of the winners:
Best Sound – Becci Mansell –Rots and Stinks
Best Edit – James Lee – That Party
Best Picture – Amber Jayde – The Light
Best Film – Kial Kirlew – You’re Doing It Wrong
Kial took home a bottle of Cava for his efforts, and his imaginative and exciting short film will be screened at the Hastings Odeon later in the semester.
A mainly student audience of mixed ages and course groups watched 11 films that their peers had submitted for their enjoyment. This was clearly a student film festival, there were all the signs: the inevitable technical difficulties, whoops of delightful recognition from the audience when they heard a friend’s film was next to be screened, the same actor seen in a multitude of roles throughout the evening’s viewing and, of course, the wine table was much, much busier than the one for soft drinks during the interval.
One massive thing that differed from your average expectation for a student film festival was the quality of the productions shown. All of the picture, sound, dialogue and editing was of a superb standard and you could see the pride in the faces of all of the society’s members.
The films covered a wide variety of themes and genres: From Ghislaine Moolenaar‘s flashing rhythmic edit of facial features in Face The Music, to Amber Jayde’s use of bold nature images in The Light. Gems such as the unbelievably comical The Party by James Lee stood out alongside short, refreshing, informative documentaries like Yvonne Marfleet’s Jokes.
Of course, no film festival is complete without awards, and the audience was asked to pick winners in four categories: Best Sound, Best Picture, Best Edit and Best Film. There was no shortage of quality on display and all four awards seemed to be fiercely contested. Some members of the audience could even be seen spiritedly debating amongst themselves over which film was their favourite to win.
Here’s a list of the winners:
Best Sound – Becci Mansell –Rots and Stinks
Best Edit – James Lee – That Party
Best Picture – Amber Jayde – The Light
Best Film – Kial Kirlew – You’re Doing It Wrong
Kial took home a bottle of Cava for his efforts, and his imaginative and exciting short film will be screened at the Hastings Odeon later in the semester.