Current second year Finn Morgan-Roberts is set to have his debut film 'Lonely Souls' screened internationally at the Paus Premieres Film Festival. Not bad for his first film, eh? What's even more astounding is he only finished making it last week! Hot off the press. Straight out of the Rostrum. We eagerly await his next film idea. Well done Finn, amazing achievment.
Our very own Ciara Kerr and Ross Stringer both jetted off to This is England Film Festival in France where their Graduation films 'Right Now, I Am' and 'Trunk Calls' (respectively) were showcased. Yes, thats right... France. Bonne Chance!
Kieran Firth Bernard's graduation film 'Cloud Boy' continues its international film festival success with multiple awards nominations at Film In Focus, Romania. And the nominations are: ...Best Student Film, Best Documentary and Best Animation. Good luck Kieran!
Excellent news as not one but two of our recent graduates' films have made the bill at this year's Manchester Animation Festival. "In Harmony" by Markus Ouvre and "Behind the Jugular" by Zoe Armit will both be screened for competition. Good luck you two!
Current third year Kerry Howlett has had her 2nd year film "Osiris's Gift" shortlisted at the Cinematic Young Filmmaker Competition in Belfast, Ireland. She's hard at work on pre-roduction for her graduation film and we look forward to seeing what she has in store for us next... watch this space.
Stop everything. "Sundae Afternoon" has been screened at 19 international film festivals and won 3 awards! This film was directed by Lauren Hammersley and made by fellow farnham animators Becky-Lulu Dartnell, Milo Bonnard and Cameron Carr in their first year no less. An incredible achievment for a first year film! Celebratory Ice creams all round.
2020 graduate Ciar Kerr has been off to Berlin with her grad film "Right Now, I Am" which is still doing the festival rounds. She is currently studying for her MA at National Film and Television School, and we look forward to seeing what her next film! Well done Ciara.
The wonderful and talented Celine Ufenast's graduation film "Scroll Alice" has been awarded Best Student Animation at BAFTA qualifying Bolton Film Festival. This follows a win at Munich Film Awards for Best Experimental Film. You can watch her talking all kinds of sense about animation here.
It should come as no surprise that current student Sally Gamble has had her debut film 'Mama Nature' selected for no less than 10 international film festivals! As she starts her third year, we can't wait to see what she has in store for her graduation film. Well done Sally! An amazing achievement.
Mere weeks out the gate and recent Graduate, Zoe Armit has already had her beautifully devastating graduation film 'Behind the Jugular' selected for Soundscreen Film Festival. A documentary in which an ex-slaughterhouse worker recounts his experiences: once seen never forgotten. Great news Zoe, a fantastic achievement!
The one and only Kieran Firth-Bernard is busy taking the world by storm with his graduation film 'Cloud Boy'. It has been selected for screening at Swedish International Film Festival, Prague International Indie Film Festival, New York Long Island Film Festival and the Bright Future Independent Film Festival in Gothenburg. Well done Kieran!
Lauren Hammersley's graduation film 'Twitch' has already been selected for Lift Off Global Network Sessions 2021, she hasn't even graduated yet!
Current second year/soon to be third year Khalidah Mclarty's debut film, 'Hands to Hold' has been selected for Animart Festival in Greece. A fantastic achievement for a first film, we look forward to what she has in store for her graduation project.
9 of our Animation graduates collaborated on the UEFA Euro trailer: 'Good Times Start Here' for ITV, starring national treasure Ian Wright. Our very own Hannah Fey, Bella Bernard, Gabriella Ditton, Hannah Privett, Milda Kargaudaite, Phoebe Morrison, Ciara Kerr, Jak Samual Nicholas, and Elmaz Ekrem teamed up with UCA Games Art graduate Freddie Littlewood to create the ad with a break-neck turnaroud of just 2 weeks. Phew. You can catch it in full here.
Exciting news for the team here at Farnham: Gagandeep Kalirai: Alumnus, NFTS Graduate, 2017 BAFTA Scholar and 2021 Best Animation Winner at ITFS, and Josh Saunders: RCA Graduate and Royal Television Society award winning animator and illustrator: They'd be nice to have around while your making a film, right? We thought so too, so we gave them a job. They have joined the team ahead of next term, and we can't wait to let their brains and know-how loose on our students!
Current 2nd Year, Alicia Johnsen has had her debut film "Sensory" selected for the INDIs Film Festival. We are all looking forward to what she has in store for us with her next film. Our spider sense is tingling.
Marrianne Lang graduated in 2020 with the delightfully disturbing 'Tinker, Tailor'. The film has been selected for screening at FLICKFAIR and was a semi-finalist at the Horror Movie Awards. Don't watch it if you have a delicate constitution - it's like pulling teeth.
Current 3rd Year Izzy Argent has two films touring around the world. Her Debut Film 'The Cut' has been screend at Lift Off Global Sessions, BAM Film Festival and Scout film festival to name a few. Her second film 'Beautiful Bondage' has also been shown at the First-Time Filmmaker Sessions and the INDIs Film Festival. Her graduation film is on it's way, and we can't wait for the world to see it. Well done Izzy. Amazing achievemnents!
"So Hot Right Now" is an upcoming, original series with guests discussing topics covering climate change and ocean activism. It has been created by three farnham animation graduates from different graduating years and all of them women: Gabriella Ditton, Phoebe Morrison and Hannah Faye. The stars really have aligned on this one. It's a good time to be a woman in animation, and that's about time. Well done ladies, we can't wait to see it!
Some of our current third years collaborated on a PSA for the NHS, to spread a positive message in light of the ongoing pandemic. "Dumb Ways to Spread" has already recieved more than 40000 views on YouTube! Harvey Aurbach-Dunn, Cameron Carr, Jack Hilder, Kieran Firth-Bernard and Chise Tuna all contributed their animation know-how. "For me the best part was collaborating" explained Harvey, "there was a type of symbiosis... where our attitudes and perspectives really seemed to compliment eachother". There is more info (and some nice pictures) about the project here.
Of this merry bunch, Cameron Carr has secured an Artist in Residency post at Chawton, (Jane Austen's House). He hasn't even graduated yet! Well done Cam!
Ciara Kerr's unstoppable graduation film 'Right Now, I Am' continues an epic international film festival run. This month it was screened at Atlanta Film Festival, where Ciara joined a panel of filmmakers to talk about their work: "I got to chat to these guys and watch their films, I'm super honoured to have mine screened alongside theirs". It's well deserved Ciara.
Alemsah Firat graduated last year with the utterly spellbinding, 'Weight of Consciousness', made with an oil-on-glass technique. Since then the film has been screened in 9 international film festivals, and has been awarded two international awards for Best Animation. We expect the awards weigh more than conscious thought, but are waiting for Alemsah to get back to us on that. Updates to follow.
Spring has officially sprung. New-born lambs bound through rolling hills, and baby ducklings waddle up the river bank . Apparently its also a good month for goats. Our very own Milda Kargaudaite's graduate film 'To Be A Goat' has been nominated for a Royal Television Society Award! With pub gardens opeining up, this is cause for something sparkling!
Phoebe Morrison's graduation film 'Senescence' is still taking the world by storm. It has been selected for screening at this year's ANIFILM over in Czech Republic. Well done Phoebe!
The phenomenal Gagandeep Kalirai (formely of this parish), has been longlisted for the Best British Short Animation BAFTA for her NFTS graduation film 'Cha'. These days, she can be spotted back among the church pews, divulging her know-how to our current first years. They are truly a lucky lot, and we wish her all the gold-faced statues in the world.
Two of our recent graduates have had their films selected for competition at the Tricky Women Film Festival this year. Milda Kargaudaite's 'To Be A Goat', and Phoebe Morisson's 'Senescence' will be screened as part of Tricky Womens' 20 year anniversary celebration of female voices in animation. We like this. We like this a lot.
We do like to spoil our students, and the year so far has seen a host of incredible visiting lecturers. The incomparable Joanna Quinn: world renowned, Emmy and BAFTA winning animator whose distinctive drawing style and sense of humour are a joy to behold. Edwin Rostron: award winning animator, artist, writer, tutor at the Royal College of Art, CalArts visiting artist and editor of Edge of Frame experimental animation blog. Our very own Michelle Brand: multi award winning, geometric shape loving, all round good human and Stewart Powers: also Farnham alum, currently Motion Graphics Lead at Chelsea Football Club, but we don't hold that against him.
Again, a little late onto the news sheet but towards the end of last year saw the supremely interesting and always informative Fantasy/Animation Podcast release an episode discussing the founder of the Farnham Animation course, Bob Godfrey's seminal TV series from 1974 Roobarb (and Custard) with Farnham's very own Dr Birgitta Hosea. The podcast always delivers fascinating insights to animated films and TV series but this was extra special to hear about how influential and underrated Godfrey was and is.
Farnham Animation is unique in also housing Godfrey's collection of animated works (a few hundred boxes of them!) carefully curated by Dr Hosea herself.
The podcast is highly recommended for a long walk or doing the ironing, especially the rendition of the theme tune at the end.
Enormous congratulations to 2nd yr Millie Campbell whose frankly dark and terrifying Ice Ceiling has been selected by First Kiss Theatre's February Film Festival. I would suggest any ablutophobes out there to watch this from behind the safety of a cushion.
Yes, you may want to Google that.
Technically this fell at the end of January but due to an administrative confusion (basically lockdown has meant we are no longer aware of what day/week/month it is) it now falls into February.
Huge congratulations to 2nd Year Sally Gamble for her recent film, Mama Nature, which has been selected for two festivals and recently won Best Animated Micro Short at Vesuvius International Monthly Film Fest.
Such a gratifying and well deserved moment for Sally. You totally rock.
January is the month where the 2nd years hand in their first proper forays into filmmaking with the Short Film Unit. This is the first time that they have full control of the filmmaking process from pitching through to production and, as always, this year's 2nd years have just exploded with talent.
So many filmmakers begining to mature their voices and discover that the process of creating a film is both demanding but yet also incredibly rewarding.
Well done all of you. Your next film awaits.
It may be a bit odd to blow a trumpet for filmmakers on other courses but enormous congratulations to Ollie Magee, recent graduate from the RCA whose superb Nod.Wink.Horse. landed online recently.
The reason? Well, none other than our recent graduate Ciara Kerr, a stunning filmmaker in her own right, assisted with animation on the film whilst finishing her graduation year in 2020. It's so wonderful to see how our students enter into the world of animation in so many different ways and how supportive the community is. This is the reason why we do it.
More news from current 3rd year Tilly Wallace whose 2nd year film Mind (FULL) was an award nominee at the BFI Future Film Festival 2021. Her graduation film is shaping up to be a beautifully painted journey which we can't wait to see and share.
Oh January. What a quiet month with never anything happening in the world. Snow occassionally falls, children play on the streets and... what? A world wide pandemic? What do you mean? Holy moly, you're not joking! We really should watch the news more.
Well that's not stopped the powerhouses of students continually managing to create such unique work with such incredible skills.
Case in point current 3rd year Milo Bonnard with his extraordinary stop motion talent and singular filmmaking voice. His 2nd year film 'Fyodor' (completed in lock down using wonderful problem solving skills, a lot of masking tape and no little patience) at the Canadian Digital Juice Festival. It's a lovely tender, tragic story of love and class set in an apartment lobby.
As well as this was a 30 second short he made with Jáchym Bousek in his first year has been selected five times. Rock on Milo, the world is simply waiting for you to take it over.