About

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 films under the guidance of a team of industry professionals assembled by a renowned documentary maker, the late Michael Grigsby.

Based at Abingdon School near Oxford, the Unit was formed in 2003 by Grigsby and Abingdon’s Head of Drama, Jeremy Taylor. Together with visiting tutors Jonas Mortensen (cinematography), Mikkel Eriksen, Larry Sider (sound design), Nikolaj Larsen, Colin O’Toole, Duncan Pickstock, Rebekah Tolley (editing), Arvid Eriksson (website) and animators Joanna Harrison and Geoff Dunbar, they have forged a way of working that encourages students to adopt the highest standards, and develop their ideas through a process of careful research and reflection that seeks to clarify at every stage the aims and intentions of their films.

To date, the Unit has produced over a hundred and twenty films, many of which have been screened at festivals throughout the UK and abroad, and won a number of awards. Festivals include Raindance, the London International Documentary Festival and the British Film Festival in Dinard, France. Awards include Best Documentary, Best Fiction and Best Animation at the Future Film Festival in London, and the National Young Filmmaker’s Award at the Leeds Student Film Festival. In addition, an AFU film, Gravel and Stones, has achieved a commercial dvd release in France.