Four female graduates from the Film Studies BA and MA programmes are finalists in the NI Screen Two Minute masterpiece competition. The competition called for two minute film ideas from emerging female directors, writers and producers, with the only stipulation being that the ideas should reflect Northern Irish culture or art. Each of the five commissioned projects receives a budget of £1000 with the finished films to be showcased on BBC platforms with a potential screening on a special edition of BBC2’s The Arts Show. Congratulations all!

The QUB finalists are:

 

Amy Hinds

Amy reveals that ‘my idea was to do a short documentary piece on artists with hidden disabilities that affect their learning such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD and Autism to highlight the rarely mentioned positives that such conditions can bring such as increased creativity and thinking outside the box. My hope is that the piece will inspire young aspiring artists, who may be struggling with confidence because of one of these conditions, by showing them that it is possible for someone like them to thrive and find success in the Arts.’

 

Solène Guichard

Solène explains how she ‘found inspiration in the Street Art in Belfast. I chose Street Art from the arts in Northern Ireland to offer another image of Belfast. Indeed, Belfast is more renowned for its political/religious murals than for its artistic murals, yet living in Belfast for a few years now, I can attest to the increasing number of walls turned into pieces of art thanks to events like the Culture Night.’

 

Rebekah Davis and Niamh McDonagh (joint proposal)

 

Rebekah and Niamh submitted a joint proposal which they suggest ‘is based on a collection of moments from our time studying in Belfast. We see these through a typical day in the life of a young woman, who is a combination of all the inspirational, creative women we met whilst studying at Queen's, and living and working in Belfast. While Belfast is usually portrayed quite negatively across media platforms and in films, we wanted to show what Belfast was to us and how it gave us the best years of our lives. We want to show OUR Belfast.’