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The 1998 Fujifilm
The 1998 Fujifilm
Scooping no less than seven of this year’s awards, including the Best Overall Production, Most Promising Director and the Film Most Suitable For Theatrical Release, The London International Film School was a clear 1998 winner at the prestigious 18th Fujifilm Scholarship Awards.
Their entry, Great Falls, which also won in the categories for Camerawork, Lighting, Editing and Production Design, was written and directed by young Canadian, François
Méthé, whose inspiration was from a haunting short story by the American
cult author Richard Ford. His superb
short film, along with all the other win-
ning entries, was honoured at a gala cer-
emony held at BAFTA on October 9.
Master of ceremonies was Martyn Lewis and guest of honour was flamboy- ant British filmmaker Michael Winner. The winning students received a collec- tion of trophies, certificates and £7000 worth of prize money.
Though set in Montana during the early 1970s, Méthé and his student crew ingeniously managed to shoot their film utilising very convincing Thames Valley locations in place of backswood America. It tells the chilling story of youngster (Adam Sheffield) whose life will never be the same again when his hard-drinking father (Nicholas Farrell) decides to take him home early after one of their regular night-time duck shoots.
The UK’s Film Consortium chief Colin Vaines, one of the Awards’ judges, described Great Falls as “an incredibly accomplished piece of work. It is very confidently directed and manages to build up great atmosphere and a proper sense of character. I think François has a big future in cinema.”
Méthé can now lay claim to joining a most dis- tinguished long list of past London International Film School graduates, including such cinematic luminaries as Mike Leigh, Bill Douglas, Michael Mann, John Irvin and Franc Roddam.
Overall runner-up as well as a two-time cate- gory winner in its own right was the quirky, A Dog’s Life, a tragi-comic tale well told from the Kent based Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication. Written and directed by David
Squire, it won the Yorkshire TV Award for Best Comedy and the Carlton TV Screenplay Award.
Third Place went to Bournemouth & Poole College Of Art & Design’s Boxed On Arrival, written and directed by Julian Sykes. This clever short, about how an action figure comes between a father and his hyper-imaginative young son, was also overall runner-up in the Screenplay and Production design sections. Charting a schoolboy crush that has a remarkably simple but effective twist in the tail, Teacher’s Pet, written and directed by Benjamin Verrall from the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, was named a very popular
fourth place winner.
All the winning students receive a col-
lection of trophies, certificates and £7000 in prize money, but more importantly recognition of a job well done. Their enthusiasm, energy and imagination shows up clearly on the screen as a production value one cannot fully budget for. ■
Photos: above top; Ravensbourne College (A Dog’s Life), middle: London International Film School (Great Falls); below Bournemouth & Poole (Boxed On Arrival)
EXPOSURE • 18 & 19
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