Shelby Maddock, one of the award-winning BFI Film Academy team who made Fall, shares her thoughts about her experience of making the film.
Fall was the work of 15 young filmmakers who took part in the second BFI Film Academy at Cornerhouse in autumn 2013. It approaches a subject that we were all emotionally sensitive about, something that we were all determined to make. The news about Fall being nominated to be in the running for the Best Film (13 and over) in the awards was astonishing, and it came as a massive surprise.
It definitely made an average day of stress at university turn into a day of complete serenity and elation, I couldn’t have been more honoured. I asked the group what their thoughts and feelings were on getting nominated for the award – Joe Morris said that he was “excited, honoured and proud,” and Sarah Carroll said she was “feeling pretty snazzy.”
After applying and getting accepted onto the course, we created Fall over the course of three months. We started in September 2013, spent many Saturdays in pre-production planning sessions, commenced a full week of filming in late-October, and finally premiered the film to close family and friends at the start of December.
Just being nominated for this award has been a complete honour, so to win means the absolute world to all of the group; the words ‘exhilaration’ and ‘blessed’ come to mind. However, the fact that Fall was screened at such a distinguished cinema, with successful and influential directors and educators watching and judging it, is a reward in itself. So to everyone who believed in us young filmmakers, and for the people who picked us as a nomination in the awards, I can’t begin to articulate how honoured we truly are. Thank you!