DOK Leipzig

58th International Leipzig Festival For Documentary and Animated Films

This past weekend Black Sheep had two nominations at the Oscar qualifying festival DOK Leipzig. Nominated for the prestigious LEIPZIG RING PRIZE  - last year won by Citizenfour - and the YOUNG EYES FILM AWARD along with being part of the International programme.

Black Sheep had three screenings in the heart of South East German with critics applauding the film as  -

'With a feature-film-like camera the director captures the battle of wills between more than two different characters with impressive precision.'

 http://films2015.dok-leipzig.de/en/film?ID=10029&title=Black+Sheep

Black Sheep at BFI LFF

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59th BFI London Film Festival

The closing gala to the BFI LFF at Tobacco Dock was a great send of for the Capitals festival. Over the course of 12 days of films, elegant parties and talks Black Sheep was screened three times (twice at BFI Southbank and once at the Curzon Soho). 

Part of both the 'Families at War' program and the Education screening, the latter of which gave me the opportunity to answer a number of questions in a Q&A with the audience. The film raised much discuss with how I portrayed the two young brothers in the doc and If by not overtly/directly critiquing the Islamophobic right wing cause I was influencing and trying to sympathize the audience with the EDL. My response to that question was that he should probably re-watch the film. 

Still not as bad as the Q&A I had in France over the summer where I had the blunt question of 'are you a racist'..... and  I thought the French where an intelligent audience.

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=familyatwar

Deep South - Back Sheep In Competition at the Oscar Qualifying New Orleans Film Festival

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26th New Orleans Film Festival

So Black Sheep rolls on, this time its stopping in Louisiana for the New Orleans Film festival an Oscar qualifying festival for short documentary films.

Lets hope the Sheep doesn't get fed to the crocodiles.

http://www.neworleansfilmfestival.org/film/info/2558/black-sheep?from=44

Black Sheep To Have its UK Premiere at BFI London Film Festival

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59th BFI London Film Festival

So Black Sheep will finally have its Official UK Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival which I am very excited about.

The film is part of the Dare Gala and will be shown at the Curzon Soho and Southbank on the 12th and 16th October. Black Sheep has also been selected along with five other British shorts to be shown as part of an educational programme for teenagers which will take place on the 7th October and include a Q & A.

More updates to follow.

Maltese Sheep

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11th Kinemastik International Film Festival  

Black Sheep popped up in Malta this weekend. Although I wasn't able to attend I was informed by the festival organizers that 'the film was very well received with lots of question appertaining to it.'  

Black Sheep Screened in Floriana, Malta at the 11th Kinemastik International Film Festival on the 7th August 2015. 

http://kinemastik.org/index.php/festival/kisff-2015--/

Black Sheep Shortlisted for Grierson Award

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Just had one of those fantastic emails that come along every once in a while. Black Sheep has been Short listed for a Grierson Award in student documentary film-making.

Nominations will be announced on the 15th of September.

Lets hope we get the nod.

http://www.griersontrust.org/awards/the-grierson-awards-2015/shortlist/

Bike Rides and The 35ml Club

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BAFTA Recognized 31st Hamburg International Short Film Festival - International Competition 

Arriving in Hamburg for their international short festival it became apparent very quickly that there seemed to be only form of transport in the city with one of the busiest ports in Europe  – Cycling. In fact the first thing I was offered at their festival HQ was a bike. I seemed to spend most of my three days in Hamburg in a seat - whether it was a cinema or a bicycle seat.

The German festival offers some of the best and most prestigious short films on the festival circuit and directors from around the world had come, like me, to supply Q&A’s to accompany their short films.  It was at the 35ml club, on every night during the festival, that we had the chance to talk about each other’s films over a global variety of Schnapps. You see the niche for the 35ml club is that all the drinks are free. This is because attending filmmakers have brought their countries finest Schnapps for everyone to drink. So I spent my evenings there sampling spirits from China to Bulgaria and every where inbetween. It’s a great way to celebrate the night having had your filmed screened and for me personally after the Black Sheep screening, which garnered a lot of praise from the audience, it was definitely a moment to celebrate.  The only problem was that at the end of the night there was no way I was riding home.

Black Sheep screened at Zeise 1 in Hamburg, Germany at the 31st Hamburg International Short FIlm Festival on the 10th June 2015.

http://festival.shortfilm.com/en/programme/programm-schedule/?tx_immoviedb_pi1%5Bday%5D=10.06.2015

Albanian and Russian Awards

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Moscow International Documentary Film Festival - Special Jury Mention

Tiriana International Film Festival - Best First Film

So this month has been great for Black Sheep receiving two international awards.  The first came at the Tirana International Film festival in Albania with the documentary being honoured with ‘best first film’ award. The foreword form the jury about the film was as follows:

"Black Sheep lets us enter deep inside a not only English political issues but the racist extreme right party increasing power, through the look of two young guys. Follow them in a journey to a manifestation, the director analyses without filters the psychology, the social background and finally, the melancholy of a whole young generation."

The second award came just a few days ago when the film got a ‘special Jury mention’ at the Moscow International Documentary Film Festival.

I can't wait for the awards to come in the post.

Black Sheep Screened at TEN Multimedia Centre in Tirana, Albania at the Tirana International Film Festival on the 10th May 2015.

Black Sheep Screened in Moscow, Russia at the Moscow International Documentary Film Festival on the 24th May 2015

http://tiranafilmfest.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1662&Itemid=580

http://www.midff.com/#!news/cpn4

RTS National Student Awards Update

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Just a very quick updated. Bun Oven is one of three short films nominted at the RTS National Student awards in the Entertainment and comedy category. Very Happy. The awards will be televised on Sky Arts 1 in June.

Wild Nights in the Desert and The American Documentary Film Festival

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American Documentary Film Festival - Official Selection

I think this picture of Black Sheep editor Sam Haskell perfectly sums up our week of wild nights of debauchery in Palm Springs at the American Documentary Festival. This picture taken the morning after our wildest.

Black Sheep Screened at the Camelot Theatre in Palm Springs, USA at the American Documentary Film Festival on the 29th March 2015

http://www.americandocumentaryfilmfestival.com/#!official-selections-a-e/c1ejq

RTS Student Awards - Bun Oven Update

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So the RTS London Student Awards took place last night at the always impressive London Television Centre. My short comedy Bun Oven had been nominated in the comedy and entertainment category and I am happy to say that we won our category! The judges said they were especially impressed by the female lead performances and the professional slick look of the film. The film will now go forward to the national awards which shall be judged in March.

I want to thank the crew, especially producer Genia Krassnig, who worked on the film and let’s hope we can get the national nomination! (and I buy contact lenses)

World Première and 'What Cinema is'

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BAFTA Recognized  27th Premiers Plans Angers Film Festival - Offical Selection

The time had come. I sat in the Centre de Congrès in Angers with my left leg shaking uncontrollably. This was it. My first film, Black Sheep, was about to be screened for the first time. Screened in front of an audience of what the festival programmer had just told me was over one thousand people. One thousand people I thought to myself who had taken time out if their lives to see something I had directed. The lights went down, BLACK SHEEP came up.

I attempted, in vain, to focus on the film. Instead my attention was draw into examining my audience. To See if I could find some sign they were intrigued and entertained by my directorial debut. And it was at that moment I think I realised what cinema was. what I understood in that moment as I sat in a room with a group of strangers was that at its most basic, at its most primitive, cinema is a tool that allows whoever watching to entertainingly and intriguingly passes their time. And with truly great cinema, I think of Kubrick here, the intrigue and entertainment permeate beyond the length of the film and stay in your mind and continue to pass your time long after the credits roll. I guess that was what I was trying to figure out while I observed my audience during my first screening, if I had directed something worthy of passing their time.

Black Sheep screened at the  Centre de Congrès in Angers, France at the 27th Premiers Plans Angers Film Festival  on 21 January 2015

http://www.premiersplans.org/festival/selection_officielle-competition-FE-film.php?id=4777&p=2