London Film Academy recently welcomed filmmaker Franz Böhm to its in-house cinema for a pair of masterclass sessions with our current BA Filmmaking students. Franz has been making films since he was a teenager and has a keen focus on documentary and docudrama filmmaking.
His feature film debut, Dear Future Children, won the Audience Award at the Hot Docs International Film Festival in 2021. For his final project on a Master’s in Directing Fiction, Franz directed Rock, Paper, Scissors, a short film which follows the real-life story of Ukrainian teenager Ivan as he is thrust into an impossible situation following Russia’s invasion in 2022. He and his team were recognised with the BAFTA for Best British Short Film at the 2025 ceremony. Hot off the heels of this honour, Franz visited LFA to discuss his filmmaking journey with our students.
Navigating the industry as a student filmmaker
During his masterclass, Franz shared with students some of the logistics of how to find success in the complicated world of film distribution. A key talking point was the distinct difference between a world sales agent and a distributor, and Franz made clear that feature films and short films exist on entirely different planes when it comes to securing awards recognition and distribution:
Franz also emphasised the importance of considering every aspect of how a film festival is going to show your film, and to strategise accordingly:
The people behind Rock, Paper, Scissors
Rock, Paper, Scissors depicts the true story of Ivan, a Ukrainian teenager who – like so many others – was thrown into a living nightmare when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Ivan’s family was killed by Russian forces during the first few weeks of the invasion and he ultimately fled to the UK in the subsequent months. Ivan decided to take up the martial art form Krav Maga, in order to then enlist in the Ukrainian Army and return to fight for his country. It was through this that Ivan met Franz, who teaches Krav Maga alongside his filmmaking work.
As Franz and Ivan became acquainted, Franz learnt more and more about Ivan’s story and ultimately felt compelled to ask if he could potentially look at making a project out of it – to which Ivan emphatically agreed. Franz shared with LFA students that, especially during the film’s infancy, he wanted to ensure that his creative partnership with Ivan was built on a strong foundation of trust:
Ethical filmmaking
This ethical approach to filmmaking was central to Franz’ discussion with BA students. Franz shared his ethos as a filmmaker, pointing out the importance of giving your collaborators the chance to share any personal conditions they have on working together both on-set and in post-production. He explains his process:
Franz added that he also feels it’s the director’s job to protect the confidentiality of this process, stating that he passes off people’s conditions as his own when sharing them with other cast and crew members.
As for Ivan’s condition? He requested anonymity, with his surname absent from the final film. Franz shared that, aside from wanting to protect his family’s privacy, Ivan felt that his story was ultimately such a universal experience for Ukrainian victims of the Russian invasion that he wanted the final film to reflect this universality.
Following Ivan’s enlistment and return to Ukraine, he stayed in touch with Franz and the crew and saw several cuts of the film, providing feedback on a regular basis. Tragically, on 4 January, 2024, at the tail end of production on Rock, Paper, Scissors, Ivan was killed by Russian forces in Ukraine. The film, and its BAFTA win, are dedicated to Ivan’s memory.
LFA would like to thank Franz once again for taking the time to share his experience and advice with our BA students, and we look forward to following his incredibly promising career for the years to come.