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The vision thing The Deaf Film and TV Festival | Contacts | Links VEE-TV turned the spotlight on careers in film and television, talking to South African director Louis Neethling and two Pulse film-makers, Sam Dore and Bim Ajadi. Louis, aged 29, is one of the latest students on the National Short Course Training Programme, which operates as a unit within the National Film and Television School. It is the leading training provider of high-quality, cost-effective short courses to professional standards for people who work in the film and television industry. Most courses are aimed at people who have been in the industry for at least two years, although there are foundation courses aimed at those new to film and television. As part of the course, Louis is filming a 10-minute fictional piece about deafness. Most of the crew are hearing members of the NFTS but Louis has also recruited some deaf actors. He communicates with the crew via his friend Johnny, who has volunteered to come over here for the duration of the course to help interpret. Louis uses South African Sign Language, which is very similar to BSL, so communication with the deaf actors isn't too difficult. Louis has five years of television experience behind him and has directed a South African deaf soap opera called Young and Speechless for the last four years. He began his TV career as a presenter. 'I noticed there were only hearing directors on deaf programmes,' he says. 'I told them I wanted to become a director but it was laughed off. I persevered, though, and I was lucky to meet a leading producer who was interested in learning sign language. He realised that I had a passion to be a director, so together we decided to establish a new drama series. Young and Speechless is the first deaf TV drama series in the world.' Sam Dore has a film about clubbing under his belt and has two other projects planned: a five-minute short which he has submitted to a short film competition and a 15-minute short with a bigger budget involving hearing actors. As for Bim, having his film Queen's New English shown on VEE-TV has provided a lot of positive feedback and he is confident that he can do even better next time. THE DEAF FILM AND TV FESTIVALThe sixth Deaf Film and TV Festival is to be held on 16, 17 and 18 November at the Light House in Wolverhampton (see Contacts/links for contact details). Organised by the British Deaf Association, Channel Four and the Light House, the festival offers a host of events, all of them free of charge, including entry to the Light Bar night club. For those needing accommodation the festival has arranged a special deal with the Britannia Hotel just a few minutes' walk from the Light House. The main focus of the festival will be to celebrate all the deaf people working within film, video and television, but hearing people will be welcome to join in the activities. All live events in the main cinema will have on-stage interpretation by BSL interpreters. FilmFour, the BDA, Working Title and the post-production company VET have collaborated to provide a bursary for deaf people to make short films with BSL and subtitles. Successful applicants will gain funding to help them in the production and post-production process, and the films will be shown at the festival. The final date for applications is now past, but if you have already made a film or video it's not too late to get it shown at the festival. Contact Michael Quinlan or Lucy Franklin at the BDA (details below). If you've got an idea for a short film, or a film you've already made, you can also suggest it for VEE-TV's Pulse slot. See Pitch for Pulse. CONTACTSBritish
Deaf Association (BDA) The Light
House LINKSFilm and TV careersThe FilmFour site is a good first stop for aspiring film-makers, with an extensive directory of resources and contacts for training and funding, plus tips on how to make a DV Short Film and the opportunity to submit your short film for possible broadcast on Channel 4's The Shooting Gallery. In addition to the resources included on the FilmFour site, you might like to check out: European
Screenwriter Database Four
All Hear
My Hands learndirect Projector
Films Reel
Mind Film festivalsBrief
Encounters 6th Deaf
Film & TV Festival Lifting
the Lid! The London
Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Sundance
Film Festival CinemaClassic
Hollywood The Guardian History
in Film Hollywood Images Warner
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