We've been thrilled to see the current 1st years' Drawing for Animation (DfA) exhibition in the Spinal Corridor Gallery. An incredibly rich offering of observational drawing, sequential imagery and stylistic exploration. Huge congratulations to the year.
We've said it so many times but one of the reasons we do this job is having the honour of seeing people develop such strong independent voices. This was never any truer when looking through the depth and range of work handed in by the current 2nd Years last week. So many different styles, so many different approaches, such talent. No pressure for your next films guys.
Time moves on unstoppably and nothing can stand in its way. This month has seen us say goodbye to Stuart Hilton as he cycles away into the sunset of 20 years at the UCA towards a dawn of a brand new life at the LCC. We wish him more than the best, so much that a tiny paragraph like this cannot contain the words. Toot toot.
The work of Sinead Stoddart continues to travel across the world entering festivals at an unstoppable rate. Her graduation film from 2018 'Tone Death' has been nominated for Best Student Film at the Blodstained Indie Film Festival in Japan.
There are some big congratulations loaded into the celebration dispatch unit here at Farnham Animation HQ; it turns out that not only did we have some of our excellent grad films screened at the gorgeous Manchester Animation Festival but Megan Earls only went and won the Best Student Film award for her beautiful and raw film Borderline which tackles the subject of the abortion laws in Northern Ireland in a powerful and poetic way.
Most excellent to see that Vicky Carr has won Peoples Choice Award at Screentest: The National Student Film Festival for her creepy and adorable 2nd year short film Spin - and this only moments after having it screened at the Farnham Film Festival. Spin is clearly out of control etc...
Director, UCA grad and UCA tutor-tech, Elly Ekrem, was part of a four people panel including three other practising animation directors and producers as part of the How to Get Ahead in Animation talk run by the Royal Television Society in London. The entire talk can actually be viewed here!
Not only has BAFTA nominated, Studio AKA director, Farnham Animation UCA and RCA graduate Marcus Armitage (that’s a lot of pre-name qualifiers) had his talent rightly acknowledged over the last few years, as of November this year he has been inducted into the One Club For Creativity, part of the Young Guns 17 awards. He joins 28 other industry recognised directors, designers, illustrators and creatives. Quite rightly too.
Both Animation and Illustration students had the utter treat of listening to visiting Lecturer Lizzy Hobbs talk us through her process and even gave us a brief tour of her downstairs bathroom (it is and has been her studio for the last 13 years). Not only are her films vibrant explorations of process but also stunning examples of animation and technique. As she says “find out what the material wants you to say”. And there were badges too. Thank you Lizzy.
A healthy squadron of Farnham Animation students made their way up to to the Manchester Animation Festival last week to sample the northern culture and marvel at the affordable drinks. There is also evidence that they watched some films too.
When they were young, some of our current 2nd years made a group film. They were just 1st years at the time and since then that curious little film has found its way to Screentest: The National Student Film Festival in London. The film is called Aliens Abroad and was made by Sian Taylor(Director), Cole Payce, Patrick Lowney and Augustina Bartkute all of whom are now grown ups.
The New York International Children's Film Festival, an Oscar qualifying event and North America's largest film festival for kids and teens will include Taylor Freshwater’s 2019 graduation film CROSSOVER in next year's Festival. Each year NYICFF presents over 100 films to an audience of over 25,000 families in the greater New York area and they want Taylor to go over to NY for some screening fun in March and maybe shoot a few hoops....
Let’s give a big hand to Phoebe Morrison currently in her 3rd year as her grittily beautiful 2nd year film Handmade has gained a screening at Animateka film festival in Slovenia. A little trip over to Ljubljana could be in order for this splendid festival taking place early December. Take a scarf. And gloves.
Congratulations are in order now that Emma Monk has her super fresh graduation short film Invisible shown at Underwire Festival 2019 this month as part of the Little Truths screening.
Underwire has become a BAFTA recognised festival and is working with some of the best independent cinemas in London, including Barbican, BFI Southbank, Prince Charles Cinema, The Castle Cinema and Curzon Cinemas. Nice one Emma!
We are very excited to release the news that 2 of our new graduates will have their films screened at Manchester Animation Festival in October. Crossover by Taylor Freshwater and Borderline by Megan Earls are a couple of striking and original films and this is their first screening out beyond the Farnham state line. We’re sure both films will cross over many borders now that they’re off the leash….
It’s very splendid to see that Milo Bonnard who is only just starting his 2nd year adventures here at UCA Farnham has already got his excellent little short film Contemporary Trash into Stoptrik Stop-Motion animation festival in Slovenia. In fact he’s off to have a nose around over there for a few days to start the networking process!
Kicking off the new academic year in style our Keynote speaker, Candy Guard, took the animation department through her journey as a writer and director including how her, essentially self-taught, short films from the 80's developed to become the calling card for her numerous TV series' and illustrations. She stuck around at the end for some more personal chats and (obvs) some selfies.
We think it may be ok to now reveal the great news that no less than THREE of this year’s National Film and Television School intake will be a Farnham Graduate!!! Mim Fox who graduated last year will be joined by this years graduates Sophie Bird and Leto Meade. A fabulous well done to them and it’s great that they’ll be joining Gagandeep Kalarai who’s deep into the production of her final film over there in the wilds of Beaconsfield.
Though a traditionally quiet time on the festival circuit it's nice to see that recent graduate Nitisha Meshram has her graduate film Maa screening at the WOW Film Festival over there is sunny Tunisia. Her film is also in the semi-final round at the FilmAid Film Festival in Kenya; the admirable aim of this festival is to inform, inspire and empower refugees and other marginalised populations throughout the world.
Tommy Cui graduated just moments ago and his new film is just too young to be walking into festivals yet but his fabulous 2nd year short film Within a Drop has gained another screening, this time through UK Monthly Film Festival. We're confident his new one will get busy on the festival circuit when it's on solids....
It’s gowns and clapping and pride and joy and whooping and clapping and mums and dads and clapping and water and tassels and hats and sweat and clapping and makeup and dresses and socks and clapping and hair. Yes it’s Love Island season finale but also its the Graduation Ceremony!! A beautiful thing to witness if you’re ever passing the Royal Festival Hall on a hot June day in June.
This year we have not only our cherished awards to give to the most deserving student filmmakers but we also have 3 genuinely quite heavy and very shiny and see-through Animation Industry Awards to hand over. Picasso Pictures, Animade and Slurpy Studios have each picked their favourite films in several categories and we nervously polished them until we found out who won. Leto Meade and and Agata Leniartek were multiple winners on the night as was Taylor Freshwater and is that Megan Earls with more Champagne?
The Show is up and all shiny and ready to view. It’s like the night before Christmas and everything is calm before the edgy wine begins to flow and the smuggled half bottles of spirits in your mum’s handbag and dad’s big cardy start to lubricate the private view chat situation….
He’s not even out of the door yet but brand new graduate Jack McEntire has already been offered work on a commercial over at his dream home Blue Zoo! Check out his sweet little chesnuts as they fall to earth in his graduation film Conkered. His work can be seen here too.
Megan Earls now has a fresh new grad film under her belt but while that film is only days old and has yet to learn to walk, her 2nd year film Women and Power, with a voice over by Mary Beard herself, has now run off to London and has ended up at Hackney Shorts Festival for a fun evening out.
Well, graduates are graduating as we type and it’s great to see that Leto Meade, currently grabbing his coat as he departs, has had his excellent 2nd year film Losing The Sponge selected to screen at yet another excellent festival - now it's the 16TH International Festival for Short Film, Animation & Music Video over in Vienna as part of Vienna Shorts Festival.
It’s with a heavy heart and some quality grooming that we say a fond farewell to Shashi Khalon of this parish (handsome bespectacled gent in the middle) as he moves on to pastures new over near the Shard of London - not sure what pastures he found over there in the city but he assures us he will benefit from an attractive and lucrative new package. Ever since he won the Good Egg award when he was a shiny fresh animation student here he’s been a valuable force in our technical universe and we’re going to miss that smiling face and dazzling aroma. Bless you Shashi!
News-wise May traditionally goes a bit quiet whilst everyone puts the finishing touches to their final films. Meanwhile off campus and in the real world it’s great to see that last year’s graduates Anna Molnar and Marta De Lemos are both working together at local animation and video production house Shoot You. Here’s a couple of images from Anna and Marta's ace films.
The big fun news is that Lauren Sandercock of our current 2nd year is going to Cannes Film Festival this year with her short film Match. It recently screened at the Animation Nights New York festival and has since been added to the list at the Marché du Film alongide Ben Couzens' film Nudge.
Great to see Cat Kennedy get her short film What Remains into the 60 Second International Film Festival. Upon further investigation it turns out that the festival actually lasts much longer than 60 seconds so there’s more time to view Cat’s splendid film and maybe even a few others...
Nice to hear that Vicky Carr's short film Party Time has been travelling about a bit and has now been selected by Filmfort Festival where it will be screened in good old Boise, Idaho if you’re passing by.
Time for a celebratory pop and crisps as Ciara Kerr has her first film Down The Pub travelling lengthways across the Atlantic pond to screen in ANNY: Animation Nights NY alongside Ben Couzens’ short film Nudge and Lauren Sandercock’s sparky Match.
Our experience-hungry 3rd years have been out and about on visits to various London animation studios this week; here they are holding aloft a real life Hey Duggee facsimile at Studio AKA over there in Clerkenwell. The wonderful Grant Orchard popped in for a quick quiz and it was frankly adorable to be hosted by a couple of directors who also happen to be ace Farnham alumni Kristian Andrews and Marcus Armitage seen here clinging to each other for dear life.
London animation studios Nexus, Jellyfish, The Line and Passion all hosted our 3rd year animation exploration team but with notably less crowd-surfing involvement than might be experienced at other studios such as StudioAKA.
Check out 2018 graduate Matt Whitmore walking away from White Elephant Film Festival with no less than THREE awards!!! Jo Bartlett, the organiser of the White Elephant Film Festival helped present Matt with this significant haul; 2019 Tri Counties Winner – Best Animation, Best Documentary and Best Over All Entry. A trip to the B&Q shelving aisle is probably in order…
Most excellent to see several of our 2nd year films getting a screening at the White Elephant Film Festival, part of the Camberley International Festival. Onysha Lamers has her Short Film In my Shoes playing alongside films from Ross Stringer, Kat Kennedy and Lauren Sandercock - delicious images to follow. Current 3rd year Jordan Brunton and 2018 graduate Matt Whitmore also get their films screened as part of the substantial Farnham contingent!
Massive congratulations to Senior Lecturer Stuart Hilton who composed all the music to Jonathan Hodgson’s BAFTA winning short animation film Rough House. The film is set in Liverpool around 1979 and features various styles of music to create an authentic and gritty post-punk, new wave sound that helps set the scene for a funny and emotional story of young friends navigating their way into adult life.
Nice to see 2nd year student Phoebe Morrison’s short film entitled Pieceful Bodies has a first screening all the way over in Mumbai at the Dadasheb Phalke International Film Festival, DPIFF. If you’re passing by why not drop in for a minute and see it!
It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Mim Fox who graduated last year with her film Look For Me which examines her own experience of autism and the prejudices around it’s perception. Animation Dingle 2019 which takes place in the west of Eire have now taken her films 3 years in a row!
We have all just been knocked out by a lecture visit from bona fide animation legend and friend of the course, Caroline Leaf. It was amazing to see the artwork for some of these works up close, especially the scratched 70mm and 35mm frames from key works such as Two Sisters.
The Webisode Film Festival 2019 taking place in downtown Houston, Texas, USA will play host to some of our 2nd year films this year. Megan Howlett’s short film Painting By Notes will screen there along with Ciara Kerr’s adorable film Down The Pub. See you there…the pub, not Texas, although…
Congratulations to Ciara Kerr who is our first 2nd year to get a festival screening from the Short Film project! Her film Down The Pub is barely even dry and yet off it flies, unaccompanied, all the way to The Webisode Film Festival 2019 taking place in downtown Houston, Texas, USA.
Animation directing duo and 2016 graduates Remus and Kiki were in this month to show and tell all they’ve been learning in the world of commercial directing. It was a brilliant and completely hilarious talk full of daft stories and illuminating insights - and it was only their first ever lecture! We think they should do this for a living…
Some really nice news just in - our 2nd years have been producing some lovely work and it's great to see Ben Couzens' gaining a screening for his short film called Nudge (pictured above) at the wonderful Dorking Film Festival 2019 this March.
Our thoughts are with Caleb Adekanmbi, his family and his friends at UCA and beyond. There are no words - he was a truly decent, kind and talented young man. He has gone too soon.
First day back and we rushed headlong into a fabulous talk from BAFTA award winning storyboard artist and animator Peter Western. Peter is a legendary figure in the animation industry and was key animator on the groundbreaking Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It was great to see how important that film still is amongst the next generation of animators sat enthralled in the big lecture theatre. Peter is here pictured with his treasure - he’s the real person on the right.
High quality update from Hattie Croucher as her award winning film Blue Light from 2017 has now gained a screening at InSHort Film Festival in Lagos, Nigeria. As she says herself, ‘Especially pleased with this one as it marks 6 continents down. Just one more to go….tough crowd in Antarctica.’ We feel confident that Hattie’s filmmaking skills can enflame even an Antarctican’s frigid soul.