Two British Student Films To be Screened at Cannes Film Festival

Two National Film and Television School graduation films are playing in Official Selection at this week’s Cannes Film Festival.

Fiction film ‘Patriot’ will screen in the Shorts Competition and it is one of only nine films selected from over 4500 entries. Animation film ‘MANoMAN’ will screen in the Cinéfondation Selection and is one of only 18 films selected from 1600 entries in a section with only four animations.

‘Patriot’ is written and directed by Eva Riley and produced by Michaelangelo Fano. ‘MANoMAN’ is written and directed by Simon Cartwright and produced by Kamilla Kristiane Hodol.

Nik Powell, NFTS Director said: "We're absolutely thrilled to hear about the Cannes invitation to Patriot and MANoMAN. To have a student Fiction film selected for the Shorts Competition is a phenomenal achievement. As the competition is so intense, it's great for all of the NFTS film-makers to have their work recognised at such a prestigious festival."

In addition, NFTS graduate Joachim Trier’s latest feature film Louder than Bombs is screening in the Main Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne and Isabelle Huppert. Joachim directed and co-wrote the film and other alumni on the crew are DoP Jakob Ihre and Editor Olivier Bugge Coutté.

Other films being shown in the Main Competition are Denis Villenueve’s latest feature Sicario, which was shot by NFTS Cinematography graduate Roger Deakins, and a new version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth which is directed by Justin Kurzel and stars Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and David Thewlis. This version of Macbeth involved many NFTS alumni: Art Director Marco Anton Restivo; Sound Mixer Stuart Wilson; ADR Recordist Peter Warnock; Matchmove Artist Sarah Byers; Digital Compositor Roni Rodrigues.