I graduated from the Film School of Wales in the summer of 2005. In my last year I made my graduation film in Northern Uganda about the ongoing war there. This was a project highly supported by the Film School, both during the shoot and the edit.
In the weeks following my graduation this I met filmmaker Nick Broomfield at the Hay on Wye literary festival and gave him a copy of my graduation film, asking him for a job. I was given the chance to make a making of documentary about his film Ghosts, which I also worked on as a runner, and later assisted in the edit.
My ‘making of’ eventually became a 60 minute documentary which played at festivals worldwide including IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam), one of the biggest documentary festivals. It was well received, and led to me working with Nick again on his next film Battle for Haditha. Nick wanted someone to help him on the script, and as the Film School course had taught us scriptwriting, I was taken on as his co-writer. When we shot the film, I was on set as a second unit cameraman and soundman. I was also an associate producer on the film.
I followed this up by directing and producing a documentary for More 4’s True Stories strand called On That Day, a documentary about the massacre in Haditha, Iraq, by US Marines. I also made a documentary for Amnesty International about destitute asylum seekers. Still Human Still Here was well received and premiered at the Labour Party Conference.
Working with Nick Broomfield again, we adapted the novel The Catastrophist, a feature romance to be shot in the summer 2011 in Tanzania.
Last year I made my most successful documentary to date Albino United, a film about an albino football team in Tanzania, a place where albino’s are killed for witchcraft. The film was for Channel 4 and National Geographic with a budget of £200k, and was well received at IDFA, and is playing at other festivals, whilst being critically well received.
I am now working on researching ideas for my next documentary.
Since leaving the Film School I have been able to work both in feature films and documentaries. I have directed and produced my own documentaries, and have worked as a writer, cameraman, soundman, and even editors assistant and post production supervisor.
I sincerely believe I would never have achieved any of this if it were not for my time at the Film School in Newport. Prior to being at the film school I had no previous experience in film, only enthusiasm. But through my time there I was taught well and given the equipment necessary in my spare time to follow my interest. The theory gave me grounding in which to contextualise my practical experience, which I was given a lot of help with.
The media industry is at a point where one must be well versed in the use of different equipment. Technology has meant that people must now be able to multitask, being able to shoot and direct, write and edit. Of course it is necessary to excel at one of these, but a grounding knowledge of all of these is essential. This is something I feel the Film School gave me. A chance to learn all I needed to succeed.
The film industry is a hard one to keep working in successfully, but without my time at the Newport Film School I truly feel I would not have the tools required to be in this industry.
One of the key areas I feel the school excels in is by giving the students an environment to be creative and to meet like minded people. I cannot stress how valuable this has been for me. I still work closely with the peers I graduated with – using one of them as my editor on all my films, and another as my cameraman. When looking for feedback, they are the ones I go to.
As I mentioned, the film and media industry is such a tough industry to break into. It takes luck, talent, and determination. I truly feel that without the help of the Film School I would not have achieved the things I have. Without institutions such as this, you are taking away a valuable facility that encourages people to work together and get the training and education required to succeed at a professional level.