IFT Press Releases
05-12-2010 - IFT-backed Raindance Training Scholarship goes to producer of 'Son of Babylon'
This year's Raindance Training Scholarship (RTS), which is financed by the IFT, was tonight awarded to Isabelle Stead, producer of the feature film Son of Babylon, at the annual British Independent Film Awards (BIFA).
The RTS, now in its fourth year, finances the winner to participate in a variety of Raindance courses and events, as well as one-to-one mentoring sessions with leading film-makers. The scholarship was this year linked to the Raindance Award for the film which best illustrates the spirit of independent film-making. Son of Babylon is a multinational co-production, shot in Iraq. It tells the story of a young boy and his grandmother who travel across the country in an attempt to discover the fate of a missing man his father and her son who never returned from war.
The film is Iraqis official entry for the Oscars in 2011. It has already won several other awards including two prizes at the Berlin International Film Festival for director Mohamed Al Daradji.
See the trailer for the film here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbNfnnKEDmg
The BIFA awards, created in 1998, were set up to celebrate merit and achievement in independently-funded British film-making, to honour new talent, and to promote British films and film-making to a wider public.
See http://bifa.org.uk/
17-11-2010 - IFT programme gets national broadcast
The IFT-produced television programme Vision Shorts was premiered on 17th November 2010 on the nationally-broadcast Community Channel (run by the Media Trust) and shown another eight times between then and 4th December 2010. It can still be seen online on the Community Channel website at www.communitychannel.org and on its youtube channel at www.youtube.com/communitychanneltv (search for Vision Shorts).
The 30-minute programme examines the work of the IFT project also called Vision Shorts - to provide basic film training to people recovering from mental-health problems. The project was run by the Trust between January 2010 and April 2010 in partnership with the Raindance film organisation and Portugal Prints, part of the mental-health charity Westminster Mind. The project was also supported by Westminster Arts.
The Community Channel is carried on the following platforms: Sky 539, Virgin 233 and Freeview 87 (between 5am and 8am).
10-10-2010 - Alexandra Lynn wins IFT-backed award at Raindance Film Festival
The trailer is always innovative, highly creative, and acts as the signature of the RFF to all Festival audiences and to cinema-going audiences throughout the South East of England. And it can provide a huge boost to the maker's career.
“I never expected to win Film of the Festival,” said Alex, speaking from New York. “I wanted so much to be there, but as I had already sold a good bunch of my comics and emptied my change bin for festival submissions and DVD duplications, a trip across the pond wasn't in the cards, or on the maxed out cards to be exact.
“This was a very special film for my friends and I. We all grew up in New York City and have been making films since our late teens. It was my goal to carve out a piece of a great city and stick it on a screen. I love films that carve their characters from the places that formed them.”
See the trailer for Alex’s film on her YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/AlexBrookLynn?feature=mhum
Or on the film’s website at: http://iamafatcatmovie.wordpress.com/trailer/
Alex is following in a strong tradition. The trailer for this year’s RFF 2010 was directed by Brian Durnin and produced by Paul Holmes of Red Rage Films in Dublin.
See http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/2010-raindance-film-festival-trailer
Previous RFF trailers can be seen here http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?id=539,6615,0,0,1,0&highlight=archive
09-10-2010 - Vision Shorts films shown at the at the One in Four Film Festival
Some of the films produced through the IFT-backed Vision Shorts project, which was set up to provide basic film training for people recovering from mental health problems, were shown today at the One in Four Film Festival at the University of Central Lancashire
The festival, now in its fourth year, reflects the fact that one in four people will be affected by mental health issues during their lives, with some, according to the World Health Organisation, never seeking or receiving help. The event features films which explore the effects of mental illness for individuals and society at large. Each film is accompanied by a guest speaker who specialises in or is affected by the condition the film depicts.
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/schools/school_of_nursing/one_in_four_film_festival.php
The Vision Shorts project was run by the IFT between January 2010 and April 2010 in partnership with the Raindance film organisation and Portugal Prints, part of the mental-health charity Westminster Mind. The project was also supported by Westminster Arts.
07-09-2010 - Vision Shorts film selected for Raindance Film Festival
Night Music, a film by Paul Jacques which was made as part of the IFT-backed Vision Shorts film-making project for people with mental health problems, has today been selected for this year's Raindance Film Festival, which starts on 29th September.
The RFF, which is the largest festival of independent film-making in Europe, made the announcement as part of its official unveiling of this year's programme at the Mayfair Hotel in London.
"For once in my life I'm short of words," said Jacques. "I really don't know what to say".
"It just goes to show what can happen when you give disadvantaged people the chance to make a film," added Neil McCartney, chairman of the IFT. "At the start of the project none of the participants thought that they would be able to make a film at all. It has done wonders for their self-confidence."
Night Music, a 12-minute animation, was hand-drawn in ink entirely by Jacques. It was created between January and March during the Vision Shorts programme that the IFT helped to set up and fund in collaboration with the Raindance film-training organisation (which also runs the RFF) and Portugal Prints, part of Westminster Mind, the mental health charity. The project also received financial support from Westminster Arts, the charity which seeks to engage local people, communities and artists in arts and cultural life in the area.
The Vision Shorts programme comprised a series of four-hour workshops led by Elliot Grove, the founder of Raindance and the RFF, which were held over eight consecutive weeks and involved the use of Flip cameras, Mac laptops and iMovie HD and Final Cut editing software. The workshops were attended by 11 of the people supported by Portugal Prints, whose ages range from 18 to 65. Eight of these participants decided to make their own individual films.
Under Grove's direction, these group members devised their own separate story ideas and then collaborated in the production process, with the writer acting as director but sometimes sharing camera duties with others in the group, and with various members taking roles such as acting or dancing. Some of them also did some or all of their own editing, under the direction of course editor Charlotte Knowles.
Portugal Prints project worker Jill Bryan also helped to run the workshops. "We are staggered by how much people are getting out of the sessions", she said at the time. "And Elliot's ability to hold the group spellbound is phenomenal."
Night Music is being screened as part of the Animation section of the RFF Shorts Programme, which is showing at 1.30pm on Sunday 10th October at the Apollo West End cinema in central London. Click here for more info.
Notes for Editors
The Independent Film Trust
The Independent Film Trust was set up to advance the cause of independent film-making by various means. It supports ventures and initiatives that encourage an interest in film production and help emerging film-makers to develop and express themselves. It also finances activities such as basic film courses for the disadvantaged and the provision of training scholarships for those who have demonstrated talent but need monetary or other help. However, it does not directly fund the development or production of films themselves.
Contact: Neil McCartney (chairman) on +44 7788 108111 and neil@independentfilmtrust.org
The Raindance organisation
The London-based Raindance organisation is dedicated to fostering and promoting independent film in the UK and around the world. It combines the Raindance Film Festival, a wide-ranging selection of courses on various aspects of film-making, the prestigious British Independent Film Awards and the Raindance.tv internet-television service.
Contact: Elliot Grove (founder and director) on +44 20 7287 3833 and elliot@raindance.co.uk. Listen to the radio interview with Elliot Grove on the biggest radio station in Brussels here
Portugal Prints
Portugal Prints is an innovative mental health project based in central London. It operates as a commercial print business as well as a charity, and aims to promote good mental health by providing the opportunity for its workers to use their creativity in a commercial design studio as a stepping-stone into paid work.
Contact: Jill Bryan (project worker) on +44 20 7404 4267 and pp@westminstermind.org.uk
