Category: NEWS

BAFTA has a brand new monthly podcast especially for you!

Each month they’ll bring you a new instalment of “The Guru”, packed full of interviews, top tips and clips from our recent events; all in a bite-size chunk.

The first episode concentrates on directing; Catch David O. Russell chat with host Rhianna Dhillon about the exciting combinations in his latest film ‘American Hustle’; Romola Garai discusses her directorial debut ‘Scrubber’ and the peers who have influenced and inspired her; Jim Field Smith runs through his career so far – from comedy sketch troupe to Hollywood, via a few long pauses; and we get all the directorial gossip, direct from the BAFTA bar.

So, what are you waiting for? Get stuck in and listen to the first episode now, on BAFTA Guru.

University of Bedfordshire Media Production students and graduates had their films screened at the prestigious Berlin British Shorts Film Festival.

At this seventh annual festival, a venture funded by organisations including the University and the British Council, three venues across Berlin played host to the crème of UK film-making talent.

Three Bedfordshire films were screened; Walking in the Clouds – made by MA Documentary 2013 graduates Bosi Zhao, Ling Yin Pan, Shan Jiang and Yawen Hu; It’s a Good Life – made by Tasos Giapoutzis, a third year Media Production BA student; and Take Your Seats – made by MA Documentary 2013 graduates Davinia Dillon and Helen Easter.

Tasos, 27, who originates from Greece, has already experienced the “great” buzz of festivals during his studies, having attended the star-studded Cannes International Film Festival last year.

He said having his own work shown at Berlin was “an honour”.

Following screening, Tasos – whose film is about a young Rwandan refugee in London – took part in a question and answer session, as did Davinia, whose film is about the preserved Rex cinema in Berkhamsted, Herts.

Tasos added: “I had some really good comments, from film-goers and fellow film-makers. The experience has inspired me with ideas for future film projects.”

David Green, a senior lecturer and course leader for the MA Documentary and BA (hons) Media Production courses at Bedfordshire, was a festival organiser.

He said “Bedfordshire’s students were in very strong film-making company this year”, and all the University’s films received “much praise” including Walking in the Clouds, which is about Chinese mountain porters carrying painfully heavy loads up a mountain.

David chaired the jury for the Best Short Film Prize – won by a Scottish Documentary Institute film, Pouters, – and also co-ran a workshop with Bedfordshire senior lecturer in Video Production, John Digance, where film-makers were given 48 hours to make a short film about a Berlin journey.

Describing the four-day festival as “a great success, with sell-out screenings throughout”, David added: “Our media production students benefited from the experience in so many ways – showing their work and receiving feedback from their peers and industry experts, making many useful contacts along the way.

“I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival.”

The University of Brighton is sharing in £4.6m grants with projects to improve the accessibility of digital film production data and to trace people back through history to medieval times.

British film director Sally Potter’s critically-acclaimed movie, Ginger & Rosa (2012), will be used as a pilot for new tools developed by the research.

The ‘DEEP FILM Access Project (DFAP)’ is one of 21 around the country which aim to make ‘big data’ information more accessible and easier to interpret by the public.

They are being financed through the £4.6m ‘Digital Transformations in the Arts and Humanities: Big Data Research’ initiative, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council with support from the Economic and Social Research Council.

Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, announced the new funding today/yesterday  (6 Feb). He said: “Getting quality data out of the hands of a few and into the public domain is an important goal for this Government. This funding will help to overcome the challenge of making vast amounts of rich data more accessible and easier to interpret by a lay audience. These 21 projects promise to come up with innovative long-lasting solutions.”

Dr Sarah Atkinson from the university’s Faculty of Arts will be leading the DEEP FILM project and partner organisations are the National Media Museum, BBC, Screen Archive South East, Adventure Pictures and the University of Southern California’s Large Scale Video Analytics project.

Dr Atkinson said: “Filmmaking as a process recently reached a scale and complexity where a new role has emerged to manage the data generated by the cameras alone – and this has been further complicated by Computer Generated Imagery and shooting in 3D.

“Data generated by the creative process on the logistics and organisation of each shot, on props information and more, is recorded separately from camera data. Currently, the archival systems for all this data contain duplication and opportunities for error; it also makes it impossible to search different kinds of data in an integrated way.

“DFAP will develop an integrated process and framework for the management of all of the assets created by digital feature film production.”

DFAP will be an inter-disciplinary project between arts and computing. Co-investigating for the project will be Dr Roger Evans, a Reader in the university’s School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics.

Dr Evans is heading a University of Brighton team in a second Big Data project, ‘Traces Through Time’, led by The National Archives. It will develop methods and tools to identify and trace individuals across the historical record – back to medieval times. It brings together expertise in historical research, data analysis and statistics with collections spanning over 500 years of British history and will enable the identification of events in the lives of real people.

Dr Evans said: “This builds on our recent successes analysing text in medieval charter documents. Being able to use information buried in text documents as well as structured databases greatly increases the range of evidence about individuals and, in particular, it allows us to go much further back in time, to periods for which organised datasets are not available.”

Celebrate the career of a truly great actor at a special tribute screening of THE MASTER and help raise funds for Adfam, a national charity dedicated to supporting families affected by drugs and alcohol.

We invite you to donate £1 to Adfam when you buy your ticket, and Picturehouse Cinemas will match every donation.

To book tickets and donate visit  or call 0871 902 5747

Adfam is the only national umbrella organisation working specifically with and for families affected by drugs and alcohol. Their final goal is that no family member in need of support should go without it.

As well as providing support materials and training specifically for families and professionals, Adfam informs policy development and campaigns both locally and nationally for improved family support services.

To find out more about Adfam visit http://www.adfam.org.uk/