Students from Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) have progressed to the next round of the ‘Wild Card’ section of the Campus Moviefest (CMF) film festival.

The ‘GH12 Crew’ created a film called ‘The Foreigner’, in which a lonely man walks the streets of Brighton, unable to properly communicate with those around him.

He passes many focal Brighton landmarks, such as the pier, the Big Wheel and Banksy’s graffiti.
The ‘Wild Card’ competition runs parallel to the central contest.

Instead of being judged by a panel of specialists, the films progress based on the number of views they have received.
‘The Foreigner’ ran alongside another University of Sussex production, ‘The Stranger’, in the first round of the competition, but was the only one to progress to the second round.

‘The Stranger’ is one of only two UK productions left in the competition.
There are a remaining sixteen participants but only eight will progress on January 22 to the semi-finals.
A participant from the University of Sussex also reached the finals of the central UK competition with her film ‘My Forgotten Girl’.
The movie was created, and performed by Kotryna Bass and follows the story of a lost love, with fast-beat electronic music and intermittent narration.

James Hickie, Activities Officer and one of the judges of the Sussex entrants, stated: “When Campus MovieFest first approached us last summer I had no idea it would go on to be such a great success at Sussex.
“The standard of the films, many of which were from students with no prior film-making background, was extremely high, and we were very unfortunate not to take home any awards.
“Alex Anpilogov, Media Development Officer for USSU, and I attended the end of year event in London, and it was a privilege to see some of the fantastic films from around the country.
“I hope that our relationship with CMF continues into the future, and that together we can help nurture the next generation of Sussex film-makers.”

There were seven other finalists alongside the seven who won awards.
The overall winner of the competition, for the category ‘Best Picture’, was a production from UCL, following the life of a lonely, eccentric old man as he goes about his day.

‘Best Comedy’ was won by students from the University of Arts, in London, with their movie ‘Wed Dress Redemption’.
Other award categories include ‘Best Drama’, ‘Best Actor’, ‘Best Actress’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Soundtrack’.

Out of the twenty-eight films submitted by students at the University of Sussex, eight reached the Campus finals.
A first-year participant said: “It was such a fun experience and very challenging.
“I wasn’t really disappointed when my film didn’t make it to the Campus finals as it wasn’t exactly a masterpiece.
“I’ll definitely participate again next year.”

The UK finals were held in London on 4 December.
The Grand Finale brought the student filmmakers from across the UK together for a night of movies and awards presentations.
Special guests to the celebration included Ian McShane (via video), Emily Head (via video), Callum Blue, Paul Franklin, and Shohreh Aghdashloo, who presented top honours to the students, and shared their praises of the top films.

Moviefest is an annual student film festival in which students from across different Universities compete to create the best short movie.
Each film must be five minutes or shorter and must be created in one week.
It was started in 2001 by students from Emory University in the USA, and has grown in participation and support.
More than 500,000 students have now entered from around the world.

To watch the finalists and see the University of Sussex entries go to http://www.campusmoviefest.com/uk/.
To see the status and views of the current participants of the ‘Wild Card’ competition, go to http://www.campusmoviefest.com/wildcard.

Categories: Theatre

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