Ken Russell To Coach Movie-Making Students At Chapter Arts Centre In Cardiff

Acclaimed film director Ken Russell will be casting his expert eye over films made by tomorrow’s top movie-making talent at the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff on Tuesday 16 October. The screening will focus on films made by students on the MA Film and MA Animation courses at the International Film School Wales (IFSW) where Ken is a Visiting Professor.
Among the work on show will be the award-winning ‘BabyCakes’ written and directed by rising talent Julie Owen-Moylan who is currently developing her first feature film. ‘BabyCakes’, about a young, working class girl torn between the conflicting expectations of her school friends, boyfriend, missing mother and unborn child, has won three awards to date - the hotly-contested Best Fiction Film at the Ffresh Film Festival 2007, the prestigious Celtic Media Festival Student Award for Fiction and the Best Wales Based Production award at the Swansea Bay Film Festival.
‘BabyCakes’ recently made its international premiere screening at the ReelHeART International Film Festival in Toronto and is due to be screened at the Everglades International Film Festival in South Africa next September.
Commenting on the high standard of films at the screening, Nigel Orrillard, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader on the MA Film course, said: “This is a rare chance to see films made by people with the creative talent to make a real and genuine contribution to the UK film industry.
“This has been an even stronger year for the MA Film course at IFSW with our graduate film-makers winning awards at the Celtic Media Festival, the Ffresh Student Moving Image Festival, visiting Cannes with professional producers, working with Peter Edwards and HTV professionals on the ‘It’s My Shout’ short film schemes, crewing low budget horror feature films and much more.
“Everyone deserves congratulations on coming a very long way. I am sure that our graduates have benefited enormously from the fact that the MA Film programme is distinguished by its emphasis on working with trained actors and providing specialist tuition in screenwriting, directing, cinematography and post-production,” he added.
For more information about MA Film – and all other courses at the University of Wales, Newport contact the University Information Centre visit: www.newport.ac.uk
(DS)