UNLOCK Film Festival roundup blog by Jasmine and Marucia.
Unlock film festival 2020 was Chol Theatre’s first virtual Film Festival. We were lucky enough to be a part of it along with many other amazing young filmmakers and film companies.
Opening Event
The Unlock film festival kicked off with an online documentary making workshop with Emery Kash. Emery Kash is a documentary maker working over in the United States. He shared his skills with us via an online Zoom workshop, which included discussing the process behind making a documentary. We learnt the 5 key stages of making a documentary and we saw it through a documentarian’s eyes. We took part in a variety of activities, including working in small groups and discussing our own documentary around the theme of climate change, using the 5 key stages. It was a really informative and exciting experience and everyone who went had really positive feedback.
Industry Experts
The second night, we kicked off with a Q&A session with local industry experts. These included sheffiled film companies Pale Raven, Blink Vivid and Sean Lovell, a is a freelance filmmaker. The evening began with each panellist introducing themselves, followed with a short clip highlighting their projects and experiences. The evening continued with questions from our viewers via Facebook and Zoom. The Q&A is still available on Chol’s YouTube channel which is definitely worth a watch!!
Film Premiers
The final night of Unlock Film Festival began with the screenings of 4 fabulous short films, produced and created by Isobel Carter, Marucia Ferreira, Joseph Dunn – Williamson and Adam Martin. For some of these young filmmakers, it was their very first time creating their own short films. Nonetheless all films turned out amazingly! After the screenings of each film Jasmine hosted a Q & A, in which the young filmmakers answered questions about their films. Questions from the audience covered a variety of areas including what inspired them and what they found challenging during the filming process. Finally, to end the Film Festival off we finished with the screening of the behind the scenes of each film, from the very first zoom call the young filmmakers had with the Chol to the final product of each film!
Overall the Film Festival was a fantastic experience. It was truly amazing to see each short film and what the young people/filmmakers came up with. Jasmine and I (Marucia) really enjoyed the whole experience and we learnt so much from it. It was truly a great and rewarding experience with Chol Theatre!
Jasmine & Marucia
