A series of events and successes are marking the revival of film appreciation, creation and success at Luffa this year. Film Club has been a mainstay of the Film and Media department for nearly 15 years and our first cohort of students have just completed our new A-Level Film Studies course, but the department is expanding more than ever…
The First Annual Interhouse Short Film Competition
This term saw the launch of the Film and Media Department’s inaugural Interhouse Short Film competition. The simple brief sent out to students throughout the school was to create a short film in any genre that addresses the theme “Life in all its Fullness”. After looking through the entries, two clear joint winners emerged, both very different but equally superb.
Oliver Taylor’s (9Sherborne) sci-fi adventure expertly deploys temporal and continuity editing with drone shots and tracking shots to tell the story of a dog who jumps into a portal that transports him to other dimensions. Laura Kiselyk-Molina’s (10Story) abstract documentary uses poetic mode and a soft, hazy aesthetic to capture the moments, places and people that provide us with life in all its fullness. She poses the question “what makes you happy” to a diverse array of participants who we hear but never see, an absorbing technique which draws the spectator’s eye more closely to the beautiful images captured.
Laura and Oliver have received an “Oscar” as well as 10 points each for their respective Houses.
This was a truly stunning selection of films which bodes well for the future of this exciting new annual competition.
Film Club Review of the Year National Winner!
Congratulations to Ella Saxton (11Sherborne) who won in her category at the star-studded INTO Film Awards ceremony in London’s Leicester Square. Serial Film Club competition winner Ella previously won prizes in not one but two national INTO Film competitions through Bishop Luffa Film Club. Ella impressed the organisation with her review of the seminal 1902 French silent era classic La Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon), noting how “this 12 minute short laid the foundations for science fiction cinema that would later bring us '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Star Wars', and Marvel”, and the film’s mastery of “techniques like superimposition and dissolve transitions”. The review went through to the national stages and Ella won. We thank her for her amazing contributions and have no doubt you’ll be watching an “Ella Saxton Picture” at the cinema in the next few years!
We look forward to welcoming new and established Film Clubbers back to Film Club on Tuesdays in the new school year.
See Ella and more highlights of the event here…https://www.intofilm.org/news-and-views/articles/into-film-awards-2022-winners
Here is an interview feature with Ella, and her winning review… https://www.intofilm.org/news-and-views/articles/into-film-awards-2022-review-of-the-year-ella-a-trip-to-the-moon
Harry Potter Studio Tour
On 7th July, our Year 10 Media Studies and Year 12 Film and Media Studies students embarked on a trip to Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden and enjoyed the fantastic Harry Potter Studio tour. A mecca for Potter fans and film buffs alike, the studio is invaluable for showing young people the many routes into the film and media industries and the cross section is shares with other skills and disciplines such as art and design, music, costume making, special effects, graphics, writing, acting and construction. As well as this, they enjoyed interacted with the real props and iconic sets such as Diagon Alley, Platform 9 ¾, Hogwarts Express and Gringotts Bank.
We look forward to returning to Hogwarts next July with our new Year 10 and 12 witches and wizards!
Luffa and the Chichester Film Festival
Bishop Luffa has been handpicked to take part in the Chichester Film Festival this August. Five of our Y10 Media Studies students have been asked by New Park Cinema’s manager Walter Francisco to select, curate, promote, market and screen a selection of films to be screened as part of the festival. Lyla Andrews (10Story), Phoebe Fairall (10Otter), Laura Kiselyk-Molina (10Story), Amy Morris (10Ridgeway) and Sophie Wylam (10Burrows) are currently creating a logo and name for this strand of the festival and selecting the films that will be shown. An initiative known as Young Film Programmers funded by the British Film Institute, a permanent Luffa group made up of Film Studies and Media Studies students will be established in September working alongside New Park to continually give students an exclusive insight into the distribution, curating and exhibition of film. We hope this first team will be part of it!
Details of our screenings will appear here soon… https://chichesterfilmfestival.co.uk/