With over a month to go before the deadline, the industry judges are announced for the My Cam short film competition, including Hollywood director Chris Weitz.
With over a month to go before the deadline, the industry judges are announced for the My Cam short film competition, including Hollywood director Chris Weitz.
The University has teamed up with Watersprite student film festival to launch the My Cam short film competition. Open to staff, students, alumni and local residents, the aim of the competition is to entice members of the University community to submit films about any aspect of life at the University. The submissions can be between 90 seconds and six minutes long, and entries are divided into two categories, fiction and snapshot. The closing date for submissions is Friday 9 September.
The brief has been kept as loose as possible to encourage a wide range of entries. The creative challenge is to get the University in there somewhere, whether a University or College backdrop is used for a single scene, or the entire film is based on a specific aspect of University life. To find out more about entering the competition.
“From whale skeletons and hospital wards to underground walkways, the University is such a diverse place, and it is this that we hope the competition will capture”, says Sophie Smith, who coordinates the Festival of Ideas, at which there will be a My Cam screening event. “If the competition is able to capture a fraction of the enormous creative power of the University community, then we will consider it a resounding success!”
The competition entries will be shortlisted by a panel of University staff and Watersprite student committee members. The winners will then be selected from the shortlist by two judges, Cambridge alumni from the film industry. The judges are:
Brian Woods
A multi award-winning documentary film maker and producer, Brian co-founded the independent production company True Vision, which has been responsible for some of the most highly regarded documentaries of the last 20 years, including The Dying Rooms and Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children.
Chris Weitz
A diverse and hugely successful director, screenwriter and occasional actor, Chris has been at the helm of some of the most popular films of recent times. Beginning as a screenwriter in the industry, he wrote Antz for DreamWorks, before getting behind the camera. He went on to direct American Pie with his brother Paul, following this with About a Boy, Twilight: New Moon and The Golden Compass. His latest film A Better Life has just been released in UK cinemas.
“It is my great pleasure to help judge the My Cam film competition”, said Chris Weitz, “I am looking forward to seeing what people come up with!”
The category winners will be awarded prize money of £350 each. They will also be taken to lunch at BAFTA in London by Hilary Bevan-Jones, former Chair of BAFTA and top television and film producer. Hilary, whose credits include Cracker and State of Play, is also the patron of Watersprite student film festival.
After only its second year, Watersprite has become a major event in the student film making calendar, and is the only free, international student-led film festival in the UK. This year’s festival attracted stars such as Bill Nighy, and the director of the inaugural festival’s winning film, Will McGregor, is now working with Hilary Bevan-Jones to make his first feature film. To find out more about Watersprite, visit www.watersprite.org.uk
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