We’re excited to share with you the name of the winner of our successful Feature Expanded project, No Man is an Island by Gabrielle Brady, who has been presented with the Feature Expanded Distribution Award this week at Italian Lo Schermo dell’Arte Film Festival 2016.
Feature Expanded is the first ever training programme aimed at supporting visual artists who want to make a full-length film. It provides a uniquely tailored set of activities responding to the important trend of visual artists pairing new vision and strong innovation with feature film production.
For the past six months and across two locations, Feature Expanded has included a combination of masterclasses, case studies, workshops, screenings, one-to-one meetings and pitching sessions for directors, with 12 participants acquiring essential new skills and expertise to advance their early-stage feature film projects for theatrical distribution and exhibition.
Yael Bartana, Francesco Bertocco, Yael Bartana, Gabrielle Brady, Alice Evans, Elena Näsänen, Anna Nykyri, Alex Reynolds, Jessica Sarah Rinland Emilija Škarnulytė and Jorunn Myklebust Syversen have been partaking in two residential workshops – one here at HOME this June, the other at Lo Schermo dell’Arte Film Festival in Florence over the past four days – between which participants have worked on project development, responding to set tasks and using online consultancy on specific topics.
All training has been peer-led by industry experts who are currently working in the artist film field and have several feature film credits. The course has covered script development, non-script based production, project pitching, co-commissioning and financing, film distribution and exhibition, and how to work with actors and participants.
Gabrielle’s No Man is an Island is a documentary feature that tells a series of episodic stories about migration, on the wild and remote Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. The islands hold an Australian detention centre for long term refugees, and also the site of an annual protected mass migration of 500 million red crabs. The film’s topic has relevant socio-political urgency, strong artistic merit, and intriguing location, topic and characters.
Gabrielle said “The Feature Expanded programme has played a central role in the creative development of my film. Throughout the six months of the program I worked closely with highly experienced Producers, Directors and creative film professionals who helped me in the process of building my ideas, maintaining my vision and ultimately creating a strong pitch. I was so excited to discover that our film then won, which has secured us a distribution deal in the UK and Italy! I would recommend this unique platform to any artist looking to develop their first film, as an important way to create ongoing creative and practical support.”
Sarah Perks, Feature Expanded Programme Co-Director, said “I want to say a big well done to everyone involved – we are going to support and follow the development of all of the FE films. And big congrats to Gabrielle – No Man is an Island contains a powerful yet simple metaphor for the current – and no doubt ongoing – international issues.”
The Feature Expanded jury consisted of Programme Co-Directors and course leaders Sarah Perks and Leonardo Bigazzi, film producer Lisa Marie Russo and Lukasz Ronduda from the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Feature Expanded participants are expected to have a proven academic or practical background in contemporary visual arts and significant experience of short film production and/or moving image practice. Confirmed 2015 tutors and speakers included film producers Leif Magne Tangen, Jacqui Davies and Samm Haillay; celebrated filmmakers Khalil Joreige & Andrew Kötting, script development expert Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten, pitching expert Sibylle Kurz and many more.
We look forward to sharing No Man is an Island with you here at HOME in the near future – Feature Expanded opens again soon for next year’s programme, so keep your eyes peeled on our website.