Awards season is upon us once again: a time to celebrate standout performances and visionary filmmakers as we eagerly follow the Oscar race. London Film Academy's Oscars Voting Board is up, and our staff and students have been fiercely debating which film will take home the top prize of Best Picture come 15 March.
But while the spotlight often falls on directors and actors, filmmaking has always been a deeply collaborative craft. Behind every celebrated film is a team of skilled creatives whose work is just as essential, even if it doesn’t always receive the same recognition.
At LFA, this collaborative spirit is already well underway. Our BA (Hons) Filmmaking and MA Filmmaking students are stepping onto their first film sets, rotating through key roles such as sound, production design, focus pulling, clapper loading, and more. By experiencing each position firsthand, they’re gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of how every role, on and off camera, contributes to bringing a story to life.
To mark awards season, we’d like to spotlight the roles that don’t always make the headlines, such as sound, short film, and documentary, yet remain vital to the craft of filmmaking.
Best Sound - Sirāt
Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas, and Yasmina Praderas all became first-time Oscar nominees for their work on the raving mad psychological thriller Sirāt. Recognised in the Best International Film category as well, Sirāt features experimental sound design that goes hand-in-hand with composer David Letellier’s rave-inspired score. Villavieja, Casanovas, and Praderas became the first all-female sound team to be recognised with an Academy Award nomination, making film history. Their nomination is an especially impressive feat considering the film’s staggeringly low production costs of €6.5 million, with category rivals Frankenstein, Sinners, and F1 anywhere from ten to thirty times the budget. It’s a testament to the fact that there is always scope for truly creative filmmaking to stand out in a vast crowd of films.
Best Live Action Short Film – A Friend of Dorothy
Lee Knight’s A Friend of Dorothy has received Academy recognition at the end of a hugely successful festival run which started at the Raindance Film Festival last June. Charting the unlikely friendship between elderly widow Dorothy (Miriam Margolyes) and teen footballer JJ (Alistair Nwachukwu), this heartwarming short by actor-turned-filmmaker Lee Knight has gone from Raindance and Naples all the way to the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. The film promotes the importance of intergenerational friendship, and Knight and the film’s producers have partnered with charity Age UK and vowed to bring awareness to the film in schools across the UK. The film’s success serves as a key reminder of the importance of genuine, universal themes in storytelling, and the appeal these can have to global film festivals and awards bodies.
Best Cinematography - Train Dreams
Adolpho Veloso’s gorgeous work on the quietly devastating Train Dreams earned a well-deserved nod at the Oscars this year. Becoming the first Brazilian cinematographer to ever be nominated in the category, Veloso’s achievement marks another remarkable turn in an incredibly impressive career given his young age. With shooting on film ruled out due to a tight, 29-day production schedule, Train Dreams’ dreamlike visuals and sepia tones make a strong case for the capabilities of digital cinematography and post-production treatment. For Veloso to be recognised over heavyweight titans like F1 and Wicked: For Good highlights the industry’s growing appetite for more subtle and understated cinematography, and a shift away from blockbuster bias.
Best Documentary Short Film - Armed Only with a Camera
The amazing work and tragic passing of photojournalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud is on full display in Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud. The documentary short follows the titular Brent Renaud, who was killed by Russian soldiers while covering the early weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. With a deeply human subject at its core, Craig Renaud discusses his late brother’s impact on journalism and documentary filmmaking as only a brother could. Armed Only with a Camera demonstrates the power of non-fiction filmmaking and proves that the story of a talented and brave filmmaker is never truly done. Renaud honours his brother’s legacy in a manner that should serve as inspiration to budding documentary filmmakers worldwide.
These are just four examples of the singular talent that has been rightly recognised by the Academy this year. As the big night rolls around in March, we encourage LFA students to explore the nominees and derive lessons from their stories and career trajectories. Inspiration lies in every film you watch.