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Watersprite 2013: The Cambridge International Student Film Festival

Friday, March 08, 2013

Last weekend Watersprite 2013: The Cambridge International Student Film Festival took place and London 3D Scheduler and film fanatic/producer and all-round appreciator Ben Burdock attended, alongside Head of Maya Development Sid Harrington-Odedra and Director Will McGregor.

>> Since its creation Watersprite festival has showcased some of the best student work from across the globe, combining the screenings with talks, demonstrations and workshops from leading figures in the world of film. This year was no different with entries from over 20 countries and nominations spread across the many disciplines of filmmaking. The festival is named after our very own Will McGregor's short film 'Who's Afraid Of The Watersprite?', which won the festival's inaugural 'Film Of The Year' award. Once again The Mill contributed to the festival, with a showcase of our latest work as well as a workshop for budding VFX artists and filmmakers alike. Will also hosted a Careers In Film 'speed dating' Q&A for budding directors.

The festival opened with a talk from the world-famous novelist and screenwriter, Neil Gaiman. Neil's graphic novels, books and films have been an inspiration for many, with his creations continuing to span across many different mediums. Neil held the attention of the audience for almost 2 hours as he explained his own route into the industry after starting out as a journalist in the early 1980's. Neil's passion for storytelling led him on to create early works including 'The Sandman' graphic novels and his first novel 'Good Omens' - a collaboration with Terry Pratchett - to name but two. His early years of storytelling would eventually lead him into the TV and film industry, with early notable works including 'Neverwhere' for the BBC and his first foray into feature film, 'Mirrormask'. Neil has gone on to write screenplays for Hollywood productions including 'Coraline', 'Stardust' and 'Princess Mononoke'. Neil's talk was an inspiration and a fantastic start to the festival.

The weekend continued to impress with a talk from playwright and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, John Logan. John's vast body of work has spanned across many different genres, which has led him to work with directors including Ridley Scott, Sam Mendes and Martin Scorsese. It was great to hear about a world-renowned artist's path into the creative industries. John was a playwright for many years after graduating, working in a library 9 to 5 to help sustain his income whilst he made a name for himself in the industry. John's plays include 'Never The Sinner' and 'Red', with the latter earning him 6 Tony Awards in 2010. His work in theatre eventually led him into film, having since worked on incredible titles including 'Gladiator', 'Hugo' and most recently 'Skyfall'. John took the audience through all aspects of writing, focusing on his personal approach and also the major differences between theatre and Hollywood.

The final day of the festival began with our very own Sid Harrington-Odedra hosting the Post-Production with The Mill talk. Sid took the audience through the latest work from The Mill before moving on to talk about two jobs in detail. Sid focused on 'Installation' for Kia and 'Cloud' for Guinness, which he broke down into key stages for the audience to raise awareness of the intense amount of planning and creativity required to complete projects of these types successfully. Starting from concept and R&D and working right through to 3D, compositing and final delivery, Sid completed his talk by taking a number of questions from the audience, who were keen to find out more about the industry.

The festival would of course not be possible without a vast amount of films submitted for awards across various disciplines. Live-action, animation and documentary shorts of many genres made it into the festival, which gave the screening sessions a great variety of work to showcase. Two particularly powerful films that I saw at the festival were 'Dancing In The Ashes' and 'Nyosha'. 'Dancing In the Ashes' (trailer here - hyperlink https://vimeo.com/48799433) follows the story of Edina, a young jewish ballet dancer who uses her talent as a means to escape the horrors of a WW2 Nazi concentration camp. The film features incredible performances from an up and coming cast, whilst also boasting incredible production design and direction, which all help the film to deal with the sensitive subject matter respectively. The film is doing very well on the festival circuit and won 'Watersprite Film Of The Year'.

'Nyosha' (trailer here) is an animated short which follows the story of a young girl during WW2, who becomes attached to a pair of shoes she believes to be special to escape the realities of war. The film combines a range of animation techniques which form build into a fantastic end result. The strong storyline is combined with amazing visuals which take the viewer into the world of the young girl as she tries to survive the war. Nyosha is also doing very well on the festival circuit so I'm sure we'll all be seeing more from the film's director.

The seamless combination of screenings, events and high calibre guests make Watersprite a festival which would appeal to all film makers and anyone else in the industry, so I would highly recommend it. I am sure the festival will continue to grow year on year and I'll be there again next year to see it!