“A marvellous festival” – Neil Gaiman
Watersprite Film Festival announces a partnership with Amazon MGM Studios to support emerging filmmakers from around the world. Watersprite 2024 will host thousands of young creatives for a weekend of free events, screenings, and networking opportunities. Out of 1,700 submissions from 90 countries, professional juries have selected 46 nominees from 5 continents. There will be 14 awards including Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Experimental, Social Impact and a variety of craft awards. With the support of Amazon MGM Studios, these filmmakers will be brought to the UK to see their work screened and to access career defining opportunities. Watersprite is the only student film festival in the world to offer travel and accommodation support to all nominated filmmakers and the entire weekend is free for anyone to attend.
Watersprite was founded 15 years ago by several students, including now Head of Creative at Film4, Farhana Bhula. Chaired by the first female chair of BAFTA, Hilary Bevan Jones, Watersprite has grown into the largest student film festival in the world. With industry friends including Bray Film Studios, David Yates’ Wychwood Media, United Agents, and Neil Gaiman – Watersprite forges a bridge between emerging filmmakers and industry professionals, creating a community that embraces talent and innovation from all backgrounds.
“The atmosphere was electric with creative energy, and the connections I formed with fellow filmmakers have been invaluable” – Antonin Niclass, BAFTA-winning director
Watersprite 2024 will see a weekend of free events and screenings – including an access day for aspiring filmmakers. Watersprite Hubs will provide free training with BAFTA-winning facilitators including Christina Moore (production designer of One Life and Game of Thrones), Brian Woods (Sixth-Commandment), Anne Morrison (The Missing Children), and producer Helen Simmons (Hoard), targeting those who fall between the gaps of existing training schemes.
The festival weekend is open to the public, with a packed schedule of free events and community-building sessions. Taking place online and in person in Cambridge, UK, audiences will gather across the weekend to support better accessibility into the industry and awareness of all it has to offer. The weekend will be opened by multi-BAFTA winning writer Abi Morgan OBE. Weekend events include: “Poor Things: Building the Surreal”, a masterclass with BAFTA-winning Dean Koonjul and Tallulah Baker (Poor Things), Series Producer and Director Andy Devonshire (Taskmaster, The Apprentice and The Great British Bake-off), composer Natalie Holt (Obi-Wan-Kenobi, Loki), a panel on “Finding Your First Job in Film” with entry-level filmmakers, and “Reimagining the Film Set: Access as the new norm” with Casarotto Ramsay’s Julie Fernandez and actor Connor Curren (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). Also hear from Aardman’s animator Lucy Izzard, and the leading film marketers and PR specialists behind Bridgerton, All of Us Strangers, Scrapper and Anatomy of a Fall.
At the heart of the weekend will be the large-scale Watersprite Awards Ceremony with Amazon MGM Studios. This event, and all other events and screenings, will be available to attend in person and online. All nominated films will also be available to watch for free from 23rd February until 8th March 2024 live and on-demand. Most events are BSL interpreted, and all audiences are welcomed.
