Northumbria University supports South East Asian film makers of the future

A long-standing partnership between Northumbria University and the London School of Public Relations (LSPR) in Jakarta has resulted in the creation of more than 2,000 short films.

Over the last nine years, academics from Northumbria’s School of Design have worked with Mass Communication students from LSPR, providing advice and judging their final year films during the annual LSPR Film Festival.

This year the festival took place at LSPR’s newly opened LSPR Transpark Juanda, Bekasi campus, with more than 30 awards handed out by Dr Lee Barron, Director of International Recruitment and Development for Northumbria University’s School of Design.

Speaking about the partnership, Dr Barron said: “Over the last nine years the partnership and the film festival have both developed, going from a small event with three awards in 2010 to a major awards ceremony with 33 individual prizes this year.

“Northumbria University’s School of Design is internationally recognised and we are very pleased to be able to share our experience and expertise in art and design with students from LSPR.

“The quality of the work continues to impress us every year and it is very exciting to see past students who are now working in the film and television industry attending the film festival and sharing their experiences with current students.”

With a background in film studies, and as former Head of Media at Northumbria University, Dr Barron is ideally placed to provide guidance to LSPR students.

The films he reviewed this year covered a wide variety of genres, including comedy, horror, action, crime, and drama, with awards for the best cinematography, special effects, script writers, makeup and costume, supporting and leading actors, best directors and best film handed out on the night.

During his visit he also spent time with students about to embark on their final year project, giving advice and explaining what he would be looking for during the judging process.

As he explains: “Northumbria is really committed to supporting the creative industries and that’s how I see my role in the partnership. Telling human life stories in just seven minutes is a challenge, but the work I have seen this year has been of a very high quality and very complex – there was no story told twice.”

LSPR Jakarta’s Founder and Director, Prita Kemal Gani, said: “We truly value our partnership with Northumbria University. Over the past nine years we have seen the talent and skills of our students at LSPR develop together and the level of film production produced continues to rise every year.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership and maybe widening the scope to include not only to our Mass Communication students but also to students from our Digital Media Communication and Advertising programme.”

Northumbria University’s School of Design has an International reputation for innovation and creativity, and includes Sir Jonathan Ive, principal designer of the iPad, iPhone and iMac, among its alumni.

Find out more about Northumbria University and LSPR Jakarta.