Canadian Film Giants Guide Young Welsh Filmmakers at Newport and Glamorgan

Skillset Screen Academy Wales hosted two days of crash seminars for young Welsh film school students and new graduates.

Masterclasses were held on the Caerleon and Trefforest campuses for Welsh film students.

The sessions were led by Canadian Film & TV expert Sherry Lawr, who is also a professor in the Media Arts Depratment of Canada's world famous Sheridan Insitute School of Arts, Animation and Design.

Sherry Lawr has worked as a producer in the Canadian television industry for more than 20 years.

Specializing in news and current affairs programming, Sherry spent 12 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation working in Toronto as an Associate Director, Line Producer and Coordinating Producer on a number of award winning programs including The Journal, The 5th Estate and Marketplace.

In 1994 Sherry left CBC to help launch Studio 2 at TVOntario. As Coordinating Producer she was responsible for all production aspects of the show. In 1997 she launched her own lifestyle program with host Maureen Taylor, and in 1998 became the Head of Production for TVOntario.

For the past 8 years she has been a Professor and Program Coordinator of the Media Arts program at Sheridan College in Oakville. Sherry continues to work in the industry on a freelance basis and last year line produced CTV’s The Next Great Prime Minister.

Professor Lawr 'Sherry' led the Newport and Glamorgan film students in a session on Monday considering pre-production planning. The cutting edge technology of Pre-Viz was discussed, as well as the rudiments of the film business.

Toronto has emerged in the past two decades as a world class centre for film and the arts, and the industry and academic ties between Ontario and Wales go way back. The Welsh speaking church in Toronto is among the largest in North America, and will celebrate its 100th anniversary this summer.

Accompanying Professor Lawr was Sandy McKean, ‘Sandy’ McKean, Sheridan Institute's Associate Dean of Media and Journalism programs. Sandy talked with Welsh film students after the sessions about their careers. Sandy told the Newport and Glamorgan students about his distinguished career in television and journalism.

Dean McKean 'Sandy' headed development and the management of CBC Newsworld and his most recent title was Director, CBC TV News, Administration and Staff Development, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Sheridan Institute

Academi Sgrin Cymru Skillset / Skillset Screen Academy Wales (SSAW)

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

Gyda bob hwyl i bawb, Mark

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© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Film Agency Wales Signals New Cooperation with Welsh Film Scholars and Industry Experts

Pictured above Professor Elan Closs Stephens CBE, photo courtesy S4C.

The appointment to the Board of Film Agency Wales of Professor Elan Closs Stephens signals a new willingness by the Welsh film agency to recognize the key role played by Welsh film scholars in small nations, including Wales.

Small nations are historically deprived of full participation in the international audiovisual industry, for various reasons. Those who seek to participate, must overcome historic obstacles, and must transcend prejudices, blocking their inclusion in the global marketplace.

One way for small nations to overcome their disproportionate disadvantage to larger, better funded nations, is to 'leverage' the talents and energies of their scholars. Scholars who wear 'two hats' of educator and film critic, for example, maximise limited resources for small nations.

Film scholars provide a low-cost 'bridge' between the study of film and the film industry, through their knowledge and business contacts. Many small nations overlook this valuable resource, and neglect or ignore the potential of utilizing the talents of these scholars.

For example, film scholars valuate films as they study them, similar to the valuation of films that occurs by newspaper film critics and judges at international film festivals. These critical valuations contribute to the 'marketing copy' and 'promotion verbage' which can be used to promote and advertise films. Historically, Wales has neglected this valuable resource.

Film scholars also interview and regularly are in close contact with industry 'players' and celebrities, and can facilitate the funding of new films, and the employment of film school students.

Canada, Ireland, and Scotland have benefitted from the contributions of film scholars, i.e., Canada's scholars have been pivotal in elevating the worldwide visibility of the Toronto International Film Festival; Ireland's film scholars have created research which may have helped to create key partenrships with Irish-American Disapora film producers, who in turn are funding new films in Ireland.

According to Film Agency Wales's press reports:

"Elan Closs Stephens CBE has joined the Board of the Film Agency for Wales and used the first meeting of the new Film Education Forum, hosted by the Film Agency, to encourage the various factions of the education sector to work together to realise the benefits that film education can bring to all aspects of society."

In every other industry, scholars are tapped for knowledge and innovation, but in the fledgling film industries of many small nations, film scholars are mostly an after-thought. We believe Stephens will have a unifying effect for the nurturing of a film culture in Wales.

This is one very bright development, in a contested and politicized history of film agency management and film policy in Wales. The fact that Peter Edwards and his team are even establishing this committee is an indicator that someone in Wales is actually thinking.

The question is, will Stephens's committee consider the successes of other small nations, or will Wales once again try to 're-invent the wheel'? We ask this, because, it's one thing to establish a committee which 'in theory' listens to scholars; it's another thing to actually entertain and implement policy based upon a diversity of opinion, both domestically-trained and external.

Furthermore, previous incarnations of film agencies in Wales have failed to consider the political advantage of 'bringing on board' the expertise and goodwill of this small nation's critical minds (especially a linguistically balanced group of consultants), and this has been to their detriment, if not their eventual demise.

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© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Llongyfarchiadau i bawb! Screen Academy Wales Student Scores Big BAFTA Win for Short Film

The first Screen Academy Wales student co-production clinched the Best Short Film Award at the 16th Annual BAFTA Cymru Awards Ceremony, which was held on Saturday 28 April in the Cardiff International Arena.

Mummy's Boy, by Oskari Korenius, Nick Davies, Steve Jones, Josh Cowdry and Joe Naftalin (IFSW) and Ed Casey (Film Academy) won in the competition, competing against Scratching by Matt Brown and This Mortal Coil by Wyndham Price.

The film, which was a 15minute graduation project by the International Film School Wales third year BA Film and Video students and Ed, who was completing the MA Film Producing at the Film Academy, University of Glamorgan, was shot over a week at Treowen House in Monmouth during the summer of 2006, and cost £5,000. The film also involved crew members from IFSW and the Film Academy and one of the lead roles was undertaken by Liz Barnett, IFSW BA Performing Arts student.

"As young, ambitious film-makers winning a major industry award like a BAFTA Cymru Award is a dream come true," said Ed Casey.

"We are all very proud of this achievement and very excited about the opportunities such an award brings. It has been a tremendous amount of hard work but it has been worth every minute. Also, we could not have made this film without all of the support we received from our cast, crew, family, friends, Skillset Screen Academy Wales and everyone else who gave us their help when we needed it most. We would like to thank everyone for that support, we surely wouldn't have got to this stage without it!"

The film has garnered international interest with screenings worldwide including Montreal Film Festival and has won awards including the 2007 Best of Festival Award at the Ffresh Student Moving Image Festival. The film will now go on to be featured at the Short Film Corner in Cannes 2007.

The filmmakers have gone on to work in the industry both in the UK, in Finland (Oskari Korenius) and in Africa (Nick Davies has been working with Welsh director Karl Francis) and Ed Casey has been selected by SSAW to attend the MEDIA Funded Wajda Film School in 2007 and is developing a slate of projects.

Read more about Screen Academy Wales here.

Visit BAFTA Cymru

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Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

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© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods