NFTS 2010 graduate Paul Wright’s debut feature film For Those in Peril, has been making waves following its screening in Critics Week at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film tells the story of Aaron, who has returned to his remote fishing village following a tragic expedition from which he was the only survivor. Aaron, played by George MacKay, has to deal with survivor’s guilt, and the small religious and superstitious community turning against him. It is produced by Warp X with backing from Creative Scotland, the BFI, Film4 and Screen Yorkshire.
Robbie Collin in the Telegraph gives the film 4 out of 5 stars and says: “The film’s young cast are terrifyingly good: George MacKay ... is simply heartbreaking in a performance that leaves you feeling like your own soul has been peeled.”
Variety’s Charles Gant describes the film as, “a visually arresting poetic reverie that should strike a chord with adventurous audiences who don't mind mood over matter.”
Paul is also interviewed by Nick Clark in the Independent, by Screen International’s Editor Wendy Mitchell and by The Guardian’s Henry Barnes for their Film Talk strand.
Paul is an NFTS Directing Fiction graduate and was a 2007 Screen International Star of Tomorrow. His acclaimed shorts include Believe and the BAFTA winner Until The River Runs Red. He is in the early stages of writing his next project.
Another 2010 NFTS graduate Anthony Chen was also at Cannes with his first feature Ilo Ilo, which follows a family coping with the fallout of financial crisis, which was shown in Director's Fortnight (La Quinzaine).
According to Anthony Chen, it was a world premiere 'marred by technical faults, with power outages and disappearing subtitles.' Despite the hiccups, Ilo Ilo drew a standing ovation from the 800-strong crowd and the Director’s Fortnight organisers had to ask people to stop because they had to prepare for the next screening!
Anthony added: "When the film stopped, it was in the middle of the birthday scene with the characters singing Happy Birthday. Yet the audience continued to sing Happy Birthday and it showed how invested they were in the film. No one walked out and we had a standing ovation at the end. I was so moved that both the audience and actors teared up, because it showed me they understood the film.”
Praised by Screen Daily as a film that “…could enjoy worldwide theatrical attention when one considers that, although the movie is set in Singapore, the issues at play are universal," Ilo Ilo has attracted so much interest, it was even mentioned on Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Facebook page.
The NFTS’ 2013 graduate film The Magnificent Lion Boy (Directed by Ana Caro and Produced by James Cotton) was shown in the Cinéfondation section at Cannes – the only film from a UK film school. It received a roar of applause from the packed audience that included Jane Campion the Head of the Jury for Cinéfondation.
Speaking after the screening, Director Ana Caro said: "It was very exciting to present the film to both the public and the jury members at Cannes, including Jane Campion, who is inspiring to me."
Producer James Cotton added: "The response from the audience was fantastic. Already, we can see that this film is something special; making people laugh and cry. It's quite a trick to pull that off, and Ana is a genius at achieving it."
There was success also for Clio Barnard, a graduate of the NFTS’ advanced course, who has been toasted at Cannes for her film The Selfish Giant - described as "hauntingly perfect" and "jaggedly moving" by critics when it premiered in the Director's Fortnight section of the film festival.
Clio has been hailed by Charlotte Higgins in The Guardian as a significant new voice in British cinema; Variety’s critic Guy Lodge says the “film should elevate Barnard to the bracket of streetwise femme compatriots Andrea Arnold and Lynne Ramsay,” and the Telegraph’s critic Robbie Collin gives the film 5 stars saying: “So hauntingly perfect is Barnard’s film, and so skin-pricklingly alive does it make you feel to watch it, that at first you can hardly believe the sum of what you have seen: the astonishingly strong performances from her two young, untutored leads; Barnard’s layered script; Mike Eley’s snow-crisp cinematography that makes the streets of Bradford shine.”
Lynne Ramsay’s BAFTA winning film Swimmer was in the Directors' Fortnight short film section and she is on the Cannes Film Festival Jury that will choose the winner of the coveted Palme d'Or. There was also a Special Screening of Director Stephen Frears’ Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, which was written by Shawn Slovo.
These films were all supported by a talented crew that included many graduates from the NFTS:
For Those in Peril- Producer Polly Stokes; DoP Benjamin Kracun; Editor Michael Aaglund; Additional Sound Effects Recordist Dario Swade Ilo Ilo - DoP Benoit
Soler Last Days on Mars - Editor Peter Lambert; Art Director Steve Lawrence The Magnificent Lion Boy (NFTS) - Writer Jonathan Carr; DoP Alfie Biddle; Production Designer Natasha Mackey; Editor Paulo Pandolpho; Production Manager Natalie Langowski; Sound Designer/Dubbing Mixer Ania Przygoda;VFX Supervisor/Online Editor/Grade Jason Evans; Composer Sarah Warne; CGI Pre-visualisation James Miller & Jack Whinnett
Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight - Writer Shawn Slovo
The Selfish Giant - Editor Nick Fenton; Rerecording Mixer Martin Jensen; Development Editor Jamie Wolpert
Swimmer - DoP Natasha Braier; Production Designers Jane Morton & Kiera Tudway; Art Director Kristine Maj De Neergaard; Sound Designer Paul Davies; Production Assistant Emily Morgan.
If you’d like to join our award-winning alumni, there are still places left on these NFTS MA courses: Sound Design for Film and Television; Sound Recording for Film and Television; Production Design; Digital Effects; Directing Animation as well as a new Certificate in Animation launched with Aardman Animation’s studio in Bristol.
There are also places on Diploma courses such as Production Management and Script Development. For a full list of courses click here.
Pictured: The crew from The Magnificent Lion Boy at Cannes.
L-R: Jonathan Carr (Writer), Paulo Pandolpho (Editor), Ana Caro (Director), James Cotton (Producer), Sarah Warne (Composer) and Ania Przygoda (Sound Designer)
