Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) have announced that two
Northumbria University Film and TV Production graduates have been
selected for its Film and TV Development programme.
Northumbria alumni,
Lucy Rose and Jack Tarling, have been selected
for EIFF’s Talent Lab Connects (TLC) 2021, a project development scheme running
online from April to December that aims to support filmmaking teams in
developing a feature film or serial television drama project.
They will begin by identifying a series of goals for their
projects before taking part in virtual workshops with EIFF Story Editor Kate
Leys, and industry mentors, who will guide them towards achieving these goals throughout
the programme.
Jack is a BAFTA nominated and four times British Independent Film
Awards winner. During TLC, he
will work with his team to further develop their feature film 'Daughter of
Adam’, which tells the story of a British-Iraqi nurse who meets an older
woman who she believes was responsible for the fatal betrayal of her parents in
Iraq many years earlier.
Commenting on the
achievement, Jack stated: "It's great for our project to be selected for
the lab as it gives us the support of some excellent mentors and a framework
within which to develop the screenplay for our film.”
Jack will work
with fellow producer Pietro Greppi and multi-award-winning writer-director
Fateme Ahmadi. He added: “I'm very excited to be taking the next steps towards
bringing this talented filmmaker’s first full-length project to the
screen."
Lucy Rose and fellow student Sarah Talbot won the Best Drama and Best
Writing awards at the 2019 Royal TV Society regional awards during their final year of study
at Northumbria for co-writing, directing, and producing ‘The Sycamore Gap’.
The awards celebrate some of the best talent from the region’s television and
media industry.
Working alongside her team at TLC, Lucy will now be writing/directing ‘A Man at The
Window’, a gothic horror film which will combine Lucy’s passion for folklore and
vampires and explore experiences of trauma. She said: “I think this story is
particularly exciting because it was inspired by a local folktale that
used to frighten me to death as a child called ’The Croglin Vampire’. It
gave me sleepless nights and I can’t wait to hopefully bring that feeling of
childhood fear to life.
“I’m
really eager to work with the other participants and the TLC team in the hope
of bringing to life a wonderful story and really building something profound
and meaningful, whilst still spine-tinglingly scary.”
Discussing how
Northumbria University supported her leading up to this accomplishment, she added:
“I think being on the Film and Television Production undergraduate course really
gave me an important foundation and understanding of how to make films and I’m
incredibly grateful for that time and space where I was able to start exploring
myself as an artist.
“Going on to do
an MA part-time in Creative Writing at Northumbria has been really incredible
too. In particular, working with lecturers Tony Williams, May Sumwanyambe and
Andrew Crumey to develop my voice and identity as a storyteller has been a priceless
experience. It’s a really encouraging environment.”
EIFF is the world's longest continually running film festival and
has a strong reputation for creating, shaping, and managing innovative talent development
programmes across all disciplines. Their aim is to deliver quality programmes
for filmmakers across Scotland, the UK and internationally.
TLC was established in 2019 as an initiative for EIFF Talent Lab, an existing programme which connects aspiring filmmakers with
the world’s key film industry experts in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. The
teams selected for TLC are required to consist of at least one Talent Lab alumni
and expected to leave with a strong, clear story outline for their projects,
along with a first draft screenplay; a pitch; and a clearer idea of where their
project sits within the market.
Dr
Solomon Lennox, Head of the Arts Department at Northumbria University, said: “It
is wonderful to see the success achieved by Jack and Lucy, and a pleasure to
hear how their BA (Hons) Film and TV Production course at Northumbria
University provided them with the skills to develop their creative talents.
“In
tackling concepts such as betrayal, trauma, and fear, the projects Jack and
Lucy are working on respond to important aspects of the human condition. The
ability to work with creative practices to understand what it means to be human
is a valuable principle underpinning the degree programmes within Arts. This
type of knowledge and way of working is useful for a range of industries and
sectors within the creative arts and beyond.”
Please visit this webpage for more information about studying Film and TV Production at Northumbria.
Read more about TLC 2021 here.
For the latest EIFF Industry and Talent Development news, please follow EIFF’s Twitter or Facebook.
