November judge Jeanne Finlay has provided us with her decision on November’s short film entries, finding Chris Green’s Tortured to be her favourite. Jeanie’s new film Orion: The Man Who Would Be King is following a very well recieved UK run with an American premiere this Friday 4th Dec.We hope her success with the film continues, and look forward to what she produces next.
Master documentarian Louis Theroux joins us for the December Film of the Month. One of the most prominent and respected figures in documentary, Theroux has been bringing his singular style of filmmaking to audiences for seventeen years. Having trained and worked as a journalist, Theroux transitioned into presenting documentaries first as a correspondent on Michael Moore’s TV Nation (1994), before leading his own series for the BBC, the highly influential Weird Weekends (1998-2000).
Suffragette Director Sarah Gavron judged October’s entries for Film of Month, in what proved a busy month for her. (Suffragette received its European premiere as the London Film Festival’s Opening Film that month.) October proved one of the strongest contests of recent months. As she said, “I admired all these films. They all deserve accolades – they all worked very successfully as short films and all had high production values and compelling performances.”
Celebrating the release of the film that lifts the veil on the scheme that had a mystery masked singer pose as Elvis back from the dead, Orion: The Man Who Would Be King (2015), British artist and director Jeanie Finlay will be “in the building” as Film of the Month Judge for November. Jeanie has an intimate, funny and personal approach to her films and artworks, creating compelling portraits of other people’s lives in a contemporary and innovative way. As…
Having finished directing one of the biggest films of the year, Suffragette (2015), which will open this year’s BFI London Film Festival, Sarah Gavron is coming on board as Film of the Month judge this October. Sarah is a versatile filmmaker, who has directed films from documentary to fiction, all of which have garnered her awards. This Little Life (2003) won a BAFTA; Brick Lane (2007) won both the Silver Hitchcock Award at the Dinard British Film Festival and C.I.C.A.E…
Film of the Month returns this September with a fresh new look. Cutting the red tape (metaphorically speaking) is award-winning documentarian Sean McAllister. Sean is known for his candid, frank films, depicting with extraordinary intimacy the lives of ordinary people who are struggling to survive but are survivors, caught up in political and personal conflict, struggling to make sense of the world we live in. His most recent film, A Syrian Love Story (2015) picked up the Jury Prize at…
Huge welcome to our July Film of the Month judge, award-winning British director Asif Kapadia. His most recent film is the much-acclaimed documentary Amy, which is screening at the East End Film Festival on 2 July with a special Q&A with Asif and out in cinemas on 3 July. Asif’s previous work include the critically acclaimed documentary Senna, which garnered awards all around the world including the BAFTA for Best Documentary, and fiction feature The Warrior, starring Irrfan Khan, which…
The rather lovely Drake Doremus (Like Crazy, Breath In, Spooner) came on as judge in May for Film of the Month. All top 3 films were, ironically, of a romantic demeanour – and Drake loved each one. His favourite was a beautiful piece on the probability of finding your soulmate: “Asks a very simple question in a highly original way. Tightly packed with emotion and honestly. This short exemplifies what a great short can and should be. Makes you think…
Kicking off British summertime Film of the Month is renowned documentarian Ondi Timoner, who most recently directed a documentary on Russell Brand (Brand: A Second Coming) which opened SXSW Film Festival 2015 to rave reviews. Ondi is an American film director, producer, editor and entrepreneur. She has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice (for her documentaries Dig! and We Live In Public), runs her own production company and is preparing a scripted film on photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Prepare…
David Oyelowo judged Film of the Month back in April – it was a close call, but here are his top 3: First place, “This is a tender, imaginative and truthful take on the joys and challenges of caring for an impaired loved one. I was surprised and moved.” – David Oyelowo Director – Mustapha Kseibati “To have David Oyelowo watch and select Mohammed as film of the month is brilliant! Myself and the rest of the team would like to thank…