A film directed by and starring Oxford students has beaten 600 entrants to claim a prize at the Portobello film festival, signifying the recent meteoric rise of Oxford’s film scene over the past year.
The Wishing Horse, directed by Oxford Broadcasting Association president and New College student Alex Darby, received ‘Best London Film’ at the festival, which was dubbed by the Independent as “the largest celebration of independent film in Europe”.
Starring Imogen West-Knights, who graduated from Exeter College in 2013, the ten minute film explores the grief of a young girl, Lily. She is unable to cope with her father’s failing health and a difficult relationship with her mother, until she is reminded of a folk story her father – voiced by Richard E. Grant (of Dracula, Corpse Bride, and Downton Abbey fame) – used to tell.
Delighted with the achievement, Darby told Cherwell, “The award was a massive surprise and is a huge help – it really puts the film out there and boosts our distribution budget. We were pretty humbled and shocked at the awards ceremony – we didn’t expect to get anything so we were very glad we turned up!”
West-Knights, who plays Lily, shared Darby’s delight. She explained, “The award was certainly a surprise. Making the film was a great experience – everyone involved with the process was really committed to making it as good as it could be within our capabilities, which made all the difference to the final film I think. Hopefully there are more pleasant surprises to come as we hear back from other festivals!”
Founded in 1996, the Portobello Film Festival describes itself as a “reaction to the moribund state of the British film industry”, and it aims to “provide a forum for new film-makers and give exposure to movies on different formats.” Many of the filmmakers shown at the festival have since been recognised by the mainstream film industry – Guy Ritchie, for instance, was shortlisted in 1996 for his film The Hard Case.
The Wishing Horse is the first film produced by ABG Productions, founded in May 2013 by Aidan Grounds and Emily Precious, the latter having recently worked on The Man Who Knew Infinity, starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons.
Grounds told Cherwell that they were “delighted to win the award … The Wishing Horse was the first film we made, and we can’t wait to keep making more in the future.”
Darby was keen to credit ABG with spearheading Oxford’s rising film scene, explaining, “Over the last two years loads of people have been making interesting films, the scene has really gone from zero to hero.
“When I was at the end of my first year there wasn’t much of a film scene at Oxford. Aidan and Emily were keen to make sure that the profits made from their student productions at Oxford were reinvested to support the development of a film scene in Oxford. I had the idea to set up the film fund, and Thelma Holt found additional funding make it a reality. That’s now been turned into the Oxford Broadcasting Association, which I run with Ksenia Harwood after Anatole Sloan set it up last year.
“The majority of the team [working on the film] were Oxford grads who had only done theatre before – they pretty much all work in film now.”
The project was funded with support from Oxford’s Vice Chancellor, Andrew Hamilton, to whom Darby is extremely grateful. He explained, “We also had help from various kind friends through a Kickstarter project and Oxford student drama bodies. Later down the line we were generously supported by Exeter and St. Catz JCRs.”
While he describes the project as a “ton of work”, “exhausting”, and “painstaking”, he told Cherwell that “working with the cast was one of the most enjoyable bits of it as I had much more experience in that area, and Imogen (West-Knights) in particular was fantastic to work with – she is a very responsive and subtle actress.”
Darby continued, “We’re planning on using the prize money to submit to more festivals – we’re screening in Southampton in October, and are waiting to hear back from a quite a few others.”
Darby hopes for more of the same success when his next films – titled “Waterbird” and “Catkins” – are released over the next few weeks.
See the film’s website for more information. Details about Darby’s next films, Waterbird and Catkins, can be found here.
