NFTS graduates are celebrating a record-breaking year with 13 nominations for Academy Awards and BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards.
At the 86th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills this week, Roger Deakins was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography for the film Prisoners - his 11th Nomination. And we have 36 graduate credits on 16 Oscar nominated films (see full list below), including Lee Thomas who is a producer on The Voorman Problem,www.thevoormanproblem.com which is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film.
Lee Thomas is also a tutor on the NFTS Producing MA course.
Cinematography graduate Melissa Byers who was the 3D Previs Stereo Advisor on Gravity told the NFTS that she was thrilled to have worked on the Oscar and BAFTA nominated film.
This announcement comes hot on the heels of a bonanza year at the BAFTAs with 12 NFTS graduates nominated for individual awards. We have 78 graduates involved on these 17 BAFTA nominated films: Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, The Selfish Giant, Rush, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, For Those In Peril, Iron Man 3, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Captain Phillips, Philomena, Despicable Me 2, Gravity, Keeping Up With The Jonses, Orbit Ever After, Room 8, Swimming With The Fishes, Saving Mr. Banks, The Invisible Woman.
NFTS graduate Paul Kirby, who is the Production Designer on the Oscar and BAFTA nominated film Captain Phillips, praised the training he received at the School: "The NFTS remains one of the richest seam of creative talent and ideas assembled under one roof. I envy new students starting their adventures there. I would willingly do it all again."
Graduates involved in Oscar nominated films:
Gravity:
Giacomo Matteucci (Digital Compositor)
Thomas Goodwin (Junior Draughtsman)
Melissa Byers (3D Previs Stereo Advisor)
Captain Phillips:
Paul Kirby (Production Designer)
Thomas Goodwin (Junior Draughtsman)
Niels Reedtz Johansen (2nd Unit DoP)
Sara Deane (2nd Unit Camera Operator)
Simon Chase (Supervising ADR Editor)
Jason Price (Assistant Sound Editor)
Kia Coates (Digital Compositor)
Tom Harrison-Read (First Assistant Editor)
Philomena:
Valerio Bonelli (Editor)
James Devlin (First Assistant Editor)
Jason Price (Sound Editor)
Michael Lee Taylor (Sound Assistant)
Despicable Me 2:
Claire Dodgson (Associate Editor)
Prisoners:
Roger Deakins (Cinematographer)
The Invisible Woman:
Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decorator)
Marco Anton Restivo (Assistant Art Director)
Huw Arthur (Stand-by Art Director)
Rob Prynne (Foley Editor)
Michael Lee Taylor (Sound Assistant)
The Act of Killing:
Charlotte Munch Bengtsen (Editor)
Ariadna Fatjó-Vilas (Editor)
The Square:
Pierre Haberer (Supervising Editor)
The Hunt:
Charlotte Bruus Christensen (Cinematographer)
The Lone Ranger:
Dillan Nichols (Digital Compositor) CHECK
Saving Mr. Banks:
Will Field (Art Director – UK)
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom:
Roni Rodrigues (Digital Compositor)
Iron Man 3:
Dean Koonjul (Digital Compositor)
Giacomo Matteucci (Digital Compositor)
Star Trek: Into Darkness:
Dean Koonjul (Digital Compositor)
Andy Quinn (Digital Compositor)
The Croods:
Roger Deakins ( Visual Consultant)
Sharon Coleman (Story Artist)
The Voorman Problem:
Lee Thomas (Producer and tutor at the NFTS)
For a full list of graduates involved in these BAFTA nominated films click here
The BAFTA winners will be announced at a ceremony at London's Royal Opera House on 16 February. The Oscars will be announced at the Academy Awards in L.A on Sunday, March 2.
