Excitement is growing as the AFU approaches its tenth annual screening of new films in the Amey Theatre, Abingdon School on Saturday 18 May 2013 at 7pm. Tickets are free and can be secured in advance or on the door (see poster above for details). As usual, we extend a warm invitation to everyone, and in this tenth anniversary year, we are particularly keen to welcome back former members of the Unit, as well as those who pioneered the making of films at Abingdon in the 1950s as members of ASPS, the Abingdon School Photographic Society. Indeed, it seems the school’s first serious attempt at filmmaking began in 1953, making this a sixtieth anniversary as well. The image above is a still from one of the earliest Abingdon films, Michael Grigsby’s No Tumbled House (1955). The man wielding the cane – purely for the camera, of course – is John Toplis, the Abingdon teacher who oversaw the ASPS, and young Grigsby’s first foray into filmmaking. Tragically, Toplis died shortly after the completion of the film, which was dedicated to his memory.

This year’s screening offers seven new AFU films, as well as a selection of the best from the last ten years. There will be tributes to Michael Grigsby and a chance to see some of the work of the ASPS from sixty years ago. Do join us if you can.

Since the sudden death of Michael Grigsby on March 12, many tributes and appreciations of Mike’s work have appeared in print and on radio, reminding all at the AFU – if reminder were needed – of the great good fortune we have enjoyed in being able to work with Mike for ten years.
Tonight, on BBC Radio 3, Mike’s friend and creative producer Rebekah Tolley discussed his place in the pantheon of great British documentary makers with Matthew Sweet and film critic Ian Christie, whose sensitive appreciation of Mike’s life and work appeared in the print edition of today’s Guardian newspaper (http://gu.com/p/3ej68). In its online edition, John Furse, Mike’s creative collaborator on the 1987 landmark documentary “Living on the Edge” wrote a moving tribute (http://gu.com/p/3eyk6).
Meanwhile, on 24 March, Jeremy Taylor and AFU alumni Will Mcdowell and Tian Ji joined Mike’s family, friends and colleagues at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London for a special preview screening of Mike’s last film, “We Went to War”, co-authored with Rebekah. The film receives its official release at the ICA on March 29.

It is with deep sadness that we report the death of Michael Grigsby. He died in London on March 12 after a short illness. Mike was not only the schoolboy who founded filmmaking at Abingdon in the 1950s as a member of ASPS (the Abingdon School Photographic Society), then returned in 2003 to help establish the Abingdon Film Unit and guide it through ten years of remarkable success. He was also, to use Patrick Russell’s phrase, “one of Britain’s greatest documentary filmmakers”, making more than thirty films in a career that spanned seven decades. Beyond that, Mike was a great friend, a passionate man of film and a truly lovely person. We will miss him very much. Mike’s last film, We Went to War, co-authored with Rebekah Tolley, and shot by Jonas Mortensen (both AFU tutors), receives its official release at the ICA in London later this month. There will be a screening of the film at 3pm on Sunday 24 March, followed by a Q & A with Rebekah. Tickets from: http://www.ica.org.uk/?lid=36899#booktickets

Mike Grigsby arriving in Texas in 2009 to embark on the research for what was to be his last film, We Went to War. Photograph by Rebekah Tolley.

James and Charly receive their award. From left to right: Charly Clive, James Yan, Noel Goodwin (BFI Education Programmer), Charlotte Dolman (Exhibition & Distribution Manager from First Light) Destiny Ekaragha (Short Film Director), Dave Hawkins (Film Director)

Congratulations to AFU members James Yan and Charly Clive, whose powerful fiction film Inside won the Best Fiction Film Award at the BFI’s Future Film Festival at the National Film Theatre in London last weekend. The film, which James wrote and directed in January 2011, explores the difficult subject of domestic violence and posed many new challenges for director and cast alike. Before writing the script, James talked to several victims of domestic violence, realizing the script would have to reflect the experiences of those who were willing to talk about the terrors they’d faced if it was to do them justice. Their experiences also informed James’s approach to cinematography which, instead of using a tripod and the best camera available to him, involved a small handheld camera that gave unsteady, grainy images to suggest covert filming. The story’s main character is trying to capture evidence of what is happening to her at home without being found out. For Charly Clive, whose performance in the lead role was itself worthy of an award, there was the further challenge of having to film herself for a number of the scenes. The film represents a significant advance for the AFU into the world of fiction, so its success at the Future Film Festival is especially welcome.

Veteran film director Michael Grigsby has agreed to become the AFU’s Director-in-Residence and work with senior and former members of the AFU on an original film, with a view to helping those who have graduated from the AFU, or are nearing the end of their time in its ranks, to launch careers in the film industry. The new group, known as The Loose Limbed Collective, held its first meeting in London today, where Mike outlined his initial ideas for the film. It is hoped the film will be ready for screening in the Autumn of 2012. Mike himself is nearing the completion of his latest film, a feature-length documentary shot in Texas and aiming for cinema release in the new year.

Hard on the heels of its Raindance screening last month, One Foot on the Ground receives another outing at the National Film Theatre on Saturday 27 November as part of the We the Peoples Film Festival, an excellent event organized by the Westminster Branch of the United Nations Association. The film screens as part of a special programme of events organized to run throughout the day under the banner of Young Filmmakers for Development. For further details, please follow this link: http://www.wethepeoples.org.uk/about-the-festival/young-filmmakers-info/

The AFU’s latest major documentary has been selected for this year’s Raindance Festival, the UK’s largest and most prestigious independent film event. One Foot on the Ground is a new 24-minute film by Matt Copson, Tom Bateman and Will McDowell that follows a young Moldovan basketball-player, Andreii Zelenetchii, as he struggles to keep alive his dream of playing professional in Europe’s poorest country. The film is screening at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly Circus, 19 Regent Street, London on Sunday 10 October in a programme of Shorts that starts at 11.30am. For tickets and further details, follow this link to the Raindance website – http://www.raindance.org/site/index.php?id=520,6325,0,0,1,0

Future Film Awards Ceremony in London

Congratulations to two sets of AFU filmmakers who achieved an unprecedented double at the BFI’s Future Film Festival in association with BBC Blast at the National Film Theatre in London last week, when they scooped the awards for both “Best Documentary” and “Best Animation”. In Tian Ji’s powerful 2009 documentary A Soldier, made with Matt Copson and Ben Hollins, Company Sergeant Major Nelson Macleod reflects on his career in the British Army and his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. By turns moving and thought-provoking, the film impressed all who saw it at the AFU screening in May 2009, and clearly had the same effect on the judges at the Future Film Festival. For Pierre Leveque’s 2008 claymation, Oh No My Dog!, this was a second major award. It won the National Young Filmmaker Award at the Leeds Student Film Festival last April, and this time it was hailed as the best animation in the 13-18 category. Tian, Matt and Pierre travelled to BFI Southbank last Friday to receive their awards from Radio 1’s James King and Switch’s AJ.

Pierre with the National Young Filmmakers Award

AFU animation member Pierre Leveque scooped the prestigious National Young Filmmakers’ Award and a first prize of £250 in the under-14 category at the Leeds Young People’s Film Festival in April. The winning film, which beat ten other finalists, was Pierre’s witty 2008 claymation, ‘Oh No My Dog’. According to its website, ‘The National Young Filmmakers’ Award (NYFA) showcases the best new filmmaking talent in the UK and presents the best short films from the movie geniuses of the future.’ Heady stuff! In the 15-19 category, Matt Copson’s splendid 2008 doc ‘Perception’ – about the experiences of blind and partially sighted students at a special school in Kent  – made it to the judges’ final screening selection, although it did not win the NYFA award this time round.

Still from The Sacrifice

The AFU’s sixth annual screening of new films is now only a few days away and final preparations are in full swing. There are 14 new films this year – 7 docs and 7 animations – offering an impressively wide range of subjects, styles and locations. You will see footage from Afghanistan and Hong Kong as well as Oxfordshire, and you will hear voices from Spain, Ireland and Peru! So come to the Amey Theatre at Abingdon School on Wednesday 13 May at 7.30pm. Tickets are free and can be obtained in advance from the Arts Centre Secretary: tel. 01235 849063, email arts.sec@abingdon.org.uk or go online at www.abingdon-booking.info

Still from James Yan's Dance With Stacey

News of more festival success for AFU films emerged this week, at both local and national levels. James Yan’s award-winning 2007 film, Dance With Stacey, has been selected for the Dance On Screen programme at the Phoenix Picturehouse in Oxford on Sunday 8 March at 4pm as part of the Dancin’ Oxford 09 Festival. James is delighted not only as the film’s director, but also as a keen and accomplished dancer who will be involved in some of the dance events at the festival. Further afield, Matt Copson and Pierre Leveque have heard that their 2008 films – Perception and Oh No My Dog! – have been accepted for the prestigious Leeds International Student Film Festival later this year. More details to follow soon.

Gravel and Stones at IMDB

In an exciting development this week, Gravel and Stones has become the first AFU film to achieve recognition on the Internet Movie Database, one of the largest collections of data about films and television programmes in the world. With an estimated 57 million users, the IMDb is certainly one of the most useful places to be for any independent film aspiring to connect with a wider audience. To view the page, use this link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt137619

Still from The Lamp

Congratulations to AFU member Will Abell, whose 2008 stop-motion animation The Lamp has been selected for the prestigious Future Film Festival at BFI Southbank in London. The film, which is about a romance between a pair of anglepoise lamps, seems perfect for the theme of this year’s festival – “The Darker Side of Love”. The Lamp will be screened at the NFT on Friday 13 February at 3pm and again on Saturday 14th Feb at 11am. Will has also been invited to attend the awards ceremony on Friday evening – we wish him luck! For further details of the screenings, and all the other workshops and events that form part of the Future Film Festival, please visit www.bfi.org.uk/futurefilm

AFU tutors Mike Grigsby and Jonas Mortensen

As 2008 draws to a close, we can reflect on another tremendously exciting year for the AFU. At its annual screening in May, the Unit presented a record number of 17 new films, bringing its tally in 5 years to 60 and marking the AFU’s 5th anniversary in style. Gravel and Stones was screened at two major UK film festivals – Raindance in October, and the London International Documentary Festival in April – and achieved a commercial dvd release in France, paired with Mike Grigsby’s 1970 documentary I Was A Soldier (http://www.dorianefilms.com/doriane_fiche.php/i_was_a_soldier.html). Four further AFU films were selected for national festivals in Leeds, Leicestershire, Lancashire and Bradford. James Yan’s Dance with Stacey, Matt Copson’s Perception and Tom Bateman’s Delicate Boys of a Secondary Age all won awards. The Unit collaborated with the Westminster branch of the United Nations Association and the BFI to pioneer the first Young Filmmakers for Development festival at the NFT in London in November, bringing together students, film professionals and representatives of NGOs to view films by young people from Colombia, USA, Israel, Palestine, Cambodia, Kurdistan and UK. All in all, it has been quite a year!

Welcome to our new website. Now you can see all our films right here on our own site. You can see the films in full-screen, read and leave comments, keep yourself updated and follow any responses to any entry through RSS 2.0, or link films back to your own social network.

“Gravel and Stones”, AFU’s new documentary about disability in Cambodia, has been selected for the prestigious London International Documentary Festival. It was screened today at the Curzon Soho, alongside Danish film “The Italian Doctor”, which focused on the rehabilitation of landmine victims in Afghanistan. A large audience greeted both films enthusiastically. Among them was legendary film editor Dai Vaughan, who was greatly impressed by the work of the AFU filmmakers.

The Abingdon Film Unit is creating the next generation of filmmakers
By Jeremy Taylor and Michael Grigsby

The Abingdon Film Unit (AFU) is a small organisation that enables secondary school pupils between the ages of 13 and 18 to make their own short documentary or animated films under the guidance of a team of industry professionals led by the renowned documentary maker Michael Grigsby. Read the rest of the article in Vertigo Magazine

• we helped to establish a sister Unit at St Marylebone Girls School in London in September
• we screened at the Dinard Film Festival in France
• we won “Best Documentary” at the New Shoots Festival at Wheatley Park School
• we made the trip to Cambodia to make a 30 minute documentary.
• we were published in “Vertigo” magazine and the leading French Film magazine “Cahiers du Cinema” in January
• we were invited by the Swedish Film Institute to present a seminar on our work
• we set up our own websites (abingdonfilmunit.com and reelspaces.com)
• we established the reelspaces project to connect with young filmmakers in other countries (eg developing links with groups in Bethlehem and Marseilles)
• we made our first 16mm film
• we made our first fiction films
• we made our first situation comedy
• Geoff Dunbar and Paul Mayhew-Archer (“Vicar of Dibley” comedy writer) joined our team
• we went “co-ed” for the first time as two senior pupils from St Helen’s joined the Unit

The film has now been entered for half a dozen festivals in Paris, London, Switzerland, New York, the Netherlands and Denmark with more to come this month and next. An application has been made to the BBC for a “Lifeline Appeal” programme on behalf of LMDS and both “Gravel and Stones” and the short promo film have been sent in support of the application.

The film was screened at NFT2 in London to an audience of about 300. People from both film industry, NGOs and the education sector attended. At the reception afterwards AFU received great feedback and built vital connections for future developments and film work.

Article written by By Edward Hofman, published in Vertigo Magazine.
Read the original article at Vertigo Magazine

The Film Unit (AFU) was invited to screen some of its new work at a special event at the newly christened BFI Southbank (formerly the National Film Theatre) on July 2nd.

The British Film Institute’s Head of Education, Mark Reid, issued the invitation after seeing DVDs of the AFU’s films from previous years and describing them as “stunning”. Also invited were members of our sister Film Unit at the St Marylebone CE School for Girls, a London state school with whom the AFU tutors have been working since the Autumn.

The screening began with two “works in progress” by the Marylebone girls – the first, a portrait of a well-known and much-loved delicatessen shop off the Marylebone High Street called Rothes, and the second, a delightfully surreal piece about a chair that was deliberately placed by the filmmakers in a series of public locations to test the reactions (or lack of them) from passers-by.

Mark Reid invited the students to identify a shot they liked, a transition they liked, and to come up with a “Why did you…?” question for the filmmakers after each film. This provoked lively discussions in which the students displayed a warm appreciation of each other’s work.

The following AFU films were screened: The Underground Village, Dance With Stacey, Re-generation, Clowning Around and Anti-Clockwise.

Once again, Mark Reid declared himself amazed and delighted at the achievements of all the students, and urged them to help create a hundred such Film Units in schools across the country. “If we can do that, we will create a British film revolution”, he declared.

The session closed with a screening of an interesting documentary chosen by Mark Reid called Blight, which chronicled the demolition of Victorian housing to make way for he M11 motorway extension. This was a piece that made effective use of music and sound to create a lyrical piece that revealed its subject gradually.

After the event, the Film Unit members and tutors joined for a celebratory meal before attending a further screening at the BFI Southbank. This time, the films were experimental pieces from the 1960s and 70s. By turns weird and occasionally wonderful, they brought the curtain down on a memorable year for the Film Unit. Plans for the next are already well under way!

2007 was a momentous year! We produced more films spanning more genres then ever before. The Unit produced no less than 16 films, almost twice as many as in previous years. Not only did we produce five short documentaries but we also crossed the barrier into fiction drama with two scripted fiction films. We also produced a 30 min documentary shot in Cambodia, and eight animations displaying a wide range of techniques.

The Film Unit’s 4th annual screening takes place on Wednesday, May 16th at 7.30pm in the Amey Theatre and promises to be a bumper affair. There is the prospect of as many as 16 new films, covering every genre from documentary to fiction, situation comedy and animation