SoFi (pronounced Sophie), the University of Southampton Student FilmFestival, was founded in 2008 by a team of second year students from the University of Southampton with me as its chairperson. When it transpired that their film making course would not have a public screening to present the films that they had produced, we decided to stage their own event in a lecture theatre at the end of May and invited other university members to come along. In 2009, SoFi opened to national as well as local submissions and attracted 150 students over two days of screenings and talks.
The last SoFi festival took place in 2010 as more and more members of the original team left the university and the tradition and work was not picked up by the following generation of film students. To see what the festival had achieved by the end of its three year reign you can have a look at http://sofi.susu.org/.
Screentest- The National Student Film Festival was founded at the University of Bristol in 2004 and is ‘dedicated to the exhibition and promotion of aspiring British talent’. It includes a series of screenings and workshops and gives out the National Student Film Awards at the end of each festival weekend. It has taken place between mid-February and mid-March in the past. In 2011, the festival included 115 student films from all over the UK and attracted 250 visitors. It is supported by BAFTA and has had hosted talks by important celebrity guest like Ken Loach.
The festival has one chairperson (although in 2010 there are two) and, in 2009, became the official flagship of the National Student Film Association (UK). In 2010, it was decided that Screentest would move to London South Bank University to reach a wider student population, represent the UK student film making community in the capital and because all people who were involved in Bristol in 2009 had moved away from the University. I was involved as the chair of the National Student Film Association and consultant.
Watersprite- The Cambridge Student Film Festival was called Cam*Era when it started in 2010. Cam*Era was founded at the University of Cambridge in 2010. It was initiated by members of CineCam and me, the university film making society, and included a core team of up to 30 students. The first festival took place at Corpus Christi College mid June 2010 and lasted for three days. It included a range of highly prestigious speakers, including the actor Tom Hollander, workshops and screenings of 80 student short films from 24 countries. Its funding had come from the university and two external companies and the team managed to secure BAFTA chairlady Hilary Bevan Jones as their patron.
After the 2010 festival which I was leading as its chairperson, two of the original committee members decided to carry the festival forward with the help of BAFTA and the university and the festival was renamed Watersprite to honour its first winner and create a new, slicker brand.
Other festivals which I have been involved in as a consultant are the Student Film Festival London, the British Student Film Festival and the Leeds Young People's Film Festival.
