Articles

Celebrating the work of recent MA and MSc Film Production alumni

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Showcasing the work of some of our most recent alumni. Alexandrine Benjamin, Angelica Cricchio, Karolina Smolova, and Simran Arora are all graduates of the MA/MSc Film Production programme in 2021.

The university has a proud tradition of alumni in the creative arts from Michael Kelpie and Phil Rorke (both BSc Media & Communication Studies, 1996) through to Karl Ohiri (BA Media, Culture and Communications, 2007) and more recently Emily George (BSc Film and Television Production, 2017).

Read about Alexandrine, Angelica, Karol, and Simran's award-winning projects below and the latest developments for the teaching of the creative arts at Greenwich. You can see more updates @filmuog on Instagram.

Alexandrine Benjamin

Alexandrine is an emerging Haitian filmmaker. She directed Justice for Fara, a segment from animated children’s series, Lakou Kajou, finalist at Prix Jeunesse 2022 and produced by Blue Butterfly. She co-directed En Dehors Jouk Ki Bò, a sponsored short documentary that explores the issue of teenage pregnancy in remote areas in Haiti. She also contributed to the production of other projects including Dans La Cour de Vivianne Gauthier, a documentary directed by Canadian Filmmaker Marie Claude Fournier, that won several awards. Alexandrine has just finished her last project, N Ap Boule, directed as part of her MA final thesis. The film raised $9,073 and was nominated for Best Foreign Student Film at Bare Bones Film Festival. The film was mentioned in three international articles and is currently being submitted to film festivals!

Angelica Cricchio

Angelica is an aspiring screenwriter and director from Sicily, Italy and the writer and director of short film Daffodil. The film is a personal drama, and it aims to show how growing up in a society so affected by beauty standards can heavily affect some people's life and behaviour. It has been officially selected at the Rome Prisma Film Awards, Cult Movies International Film Festival, London Independent Film Festival and London Director Awards, as well as winning Silver at the Milan Gold Awards. The film was screened at the Genesis Cinema on the 2nd of April.

Karolina Smolova

Karolina is the writer and director of The Great Conjunction, a short film about an ageing astronomer, Kenneth, who plans to watch the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, but his plans get turned upside down when his teenage granddaughter shows up on the doorstep of his house. What was meant to be a magical night of watching the conjunction turns into a shocking discovery that changes Kenneth's life forever.

The Great Conjunction has received multiple recognitions including ‘Best Student Director’ at the Prague International Film Festival, ‘Best Short Script Award Winner’ at the Stockholm Film and Television Awards, and Sunday Short Film Festival, andBest UK Film at Dirigo International Student Film Festival. It was screened at Dirigo International Student Film Festival and Dark Nights Film Festival.

Simran Arora

Traded is a short-length ethnographic documentary film that focuses on the exertions and struggles of a minority of Muslim women in Southern India who are having to contend with human trafficking. The film tells the journey of these women and their quest for a more satisfying existence in their community.

On the film, Simran reflects “It has been a terrific journey to have had the opportunity to speak to these women and showcase their sojourn to a greater audience. This film aims to be a training module for those women who wish to deem empowered in society. Sequentially, the film aspires the public to recognize that Human Trafficking continues to this very era and remotely observe what these women have endured in life without yielding.”

Amongst its international acclaim, Traded was a ‘Best Human Rights Film Semi-Finalist’ at the Montreal Independent Film Festival and ‘Best Short Documentary’ at the Viventra Film Festival, Berlin International Art Film Festival, LIIFT India Filmotsav and Awards, and Art Film Awards, where it was screened as well.

Creative arts at Greenwich

A new school at Greenwich

As this academic year comes towards a close, the university is preparing for the launch of a new School of Stage and Screen that will open in time for the 2022/23 academic year. This development of creative arts teaching at Greenwich is only the beginning and we are excited to be teaching a new generation of creatives.

Network with industry experts

We are looking for alumni to join our lunchtime networking sessions to share insights about their industry with current students and recent graduates. Our next event is on Monday 25th and will focus on careers in the creative arts. Creative arts are vast and many of our students’ skills are transferrable, so we are interested in those working or interested in working in drama/theatre, music, film, creative writing, graphic design, photography, and visual arts.

All students, alumni and staff are welcome. If you’re alumni working in the industry, or a student or recent graduate wanting to find out more about careers in the Creative Arts, we encourage you to take part. Register your place here.

Ask Alumni About is a new online networking series of events taking place on the last Monday of every month. All events take place over Zoom but the conversations can carry on via our online community, Ask Alumni +.