The European Independent Film Festival 2012

The media A2 students attended the 7th European Film Festival in March, which took place in Paris, France. Going to watch experienced film makers showcasing their short films was highly interesting as i was able to see how a range of genres were portrayed in different ways throughout the three days. I found that watching back to back films, i learnt a lot about myself as a film director and was able to pin point parts which i felt worked really well to the narrative of each piece. One short film titled 'My friend the thief' which was played at the festival was sent in by a young film student who had filmed a documentary about the life of the infamous Peter Scott, an aged gentleman thief who during his life of crime and high living orchestrated grand heists such as the theft of a Vermeer, and looks at how his days are ending in loneliness and rage.
We were able to speak to the director Roland Kennedy before the viewing and discovered how he had been filming the whole piece over the past year, editing in the main points which would reveal to the audience what he had found most interesting and heart wrenching in the spanse of a year, condensed in a twenty five minute film. His editing to convey to the audience what he had experienced over the past year would have been a long process with sections of his life being shown one after the other with a title between each. Although Peter Scott's life was not displayed in chronological order it was still clear to the audience, the course that this thief's life had taken. I found his placing of sections kept interest to the audience as we firstly were introuduced to the character and then lead through his life understanding his means for his actions, the suffering he has experienced and eventually the lonely old man he has become. I felt the piece was highly inspirational as a documentary as it was quite long yet captivating and offered a clear message that a life of crime has not been all that rewarding for Peter Scott.
Watching a short film by a young student and seeing how it has been marketted at a European film festival has made me want to push on to create my short film in a way which will follow conventions of my chosen genre which will captivate an audience through its sequencing and how the audience is taken on a journey by the positioning of scenes. This will be created in the editing stages.