LFA students recently had their film screened at the 7th edition of the OFN LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. The BA (Hons) Filmmaking crew behind queer short film A (Bloody) Good Reflection was nominated for Best UK Student Picture at the festival, which champions the work of young filmmakers across the UK and France.
The short follows a young lesbian couple navigating a new step in their relationship. Although their relationship is not as it first seems, the film offers a beautiful look at the development of trust between people and the mixture of fear and excitement at taking a leap of faith together.
Director Gabriel Oliver, now in his second year of LFA’s BA programme, shared more on the process of getting the film recognised by film festivals in a meaningful way. He and his crew were keen to submit the film to festivals, but they wanted to put thought into their approach rather than aiming for any and every festival they heard about.
Gabriel explained:
Queer life on screen
A (Bloody) Good Reflection’s themes were integral to Gabriel and his team’s strategy after completing the film, specifically aiming for festivals that had a focus on queer filmmakers and storytelling. OFN LGBTQIA Film Festival is one such festival, where their film was accepted and screened for a room full of like-minded filmmakers and students. Gabriel outlined their approach:
OFN was an especially exciting experience for Gabriel and his team, marking one of the first times they’ve ventured into a new community of filmmakers outside of LFA. Gabriel shared that he enjoyed expanding his network in this sense:
Sharing film festivals with your crew
Gabriel spoke about how important it is to enjoy outings at film festivals, and to do so with as many members of your crew as possible. While their Australian actors were unable to attend A (Bloody) Good Reflection’s OFN premiere due to a clash with renewing their visas, Gabriel brought along as many of his fellow crewmembers as was possible.
He emphasised how nights like this are what the festival process is all about:
We’d like to congratulate Gabriel and the team behind A (Bloody) Good Reflection on their impressive nomination, and we wish them continued success on the festival circuit with their film – as well as good luck with their Film Project 3s, which start filming in the summer.
Full cast and crew credits for A (Bloody) Good Reflection:
Director – Gabriel Oliver
Writer – Lucy Solinger
Producer – Jason Niu Jun Hong
First Assistant Director – Harvey Fisher
Director of Photography – Jessica Moreno
Editors – Rachel Adair, Maxim Arandelovic & Taichi Shinokubo
Camera Operator – Jacob Young
First Assistant Camera – Damila Dumi-Leslie
Second Assistant Camera – Maksimillian Damnjanovic & Eugene Voo
Grip & DIT – Ronald Tay Gaffer – Eliott Swan
Sparks – Aiden Nelson & Eugene Voo
Production Designer – Kaitlyn Cole
Production Design Assistant – Charlie Drewett-Allen
Sound Mixer – Emma Lee
Boom Operator – Sam McCreadie
Script Supervisor – Taichi Shinokubo
BTS Photography – Heather Sutton