Rianne Pictures - February Roundup

Hey everyone!

January was a month brimming with exciting activities and inspiring events for us at Rianne Pictures. From hosting two events at the BFI’s Woman with a Movie Camera Summit, to attending the London Soho Independent Film Festival, London Short Film Festival and MINT Chinese Film Festival!

Our time at the London Short Film Festival, hosted by our friends at Festival Formula, sparked discussions all about film festivals from both filmmakers and festival workers. We took some notes on improving our notification strategy for non selected films and highlighted some points about ‘parties’ at festivals, particularly regarding alcohol. Look out for some new podcast episodes on this soon over on the festival pod.

At the London Soho Independent Film Festival we loved a panel they hosted on the importance of development, the amount of shorts we see each year that would be in such a better position if they had gone through a round or two of development is high! On that note, we’re so excited to have kickstarted our fourth cohort of our talent development programme RP: Evolve, welcoming 10 writers looking to expand their knowledge and expertise all while working on their exciting scripts, it’s a fun mix this year with stories in development ranging from folklore to thrillers to personal stories of cultural identity, we’re so excited to see how these next few months go!

We were so excited to be invited back for the second year at the BFI’s Woman With A Movie Camera Summit, this year not only showcasing more of our award winning short films from Women X but also Caris took part in a talk all about short film festivals, and it was so great to have so many interesting questions during the session...and after! We also came 3rd in the quiz, not to brag.

We were also thrilled to announce the winners of our 10th Birthday Script Competition.

• 3rd place: Girlfriends and Girl Friends by Courtney Ceanne Buchner

• 2nd place: Unwell by Michelle Lindsay-Baharie

• 1st place: Ladybugs In Top Hats by Kate Driver.

Finalists - Elizabeth Connick, Jenny Recaldin, Julie Tsang, Kate Willis, Lydia Jenkins, Mollie Semple, Ruby Phelan.

We also had the pleasure of attending the MINT Chinese Film Festival, a new festival in the North making BIG strides with not only an exciting film programme but an array of talks and workshops, and we are looking forward to returning to the Lake District again in March for the Keswick Film Festival where Caris will be a judge for the short film competition!

Women X Film Festival is back this September for it’s 5th edition! Not only are we BIFA accredited this year we’re also expanding to three days of screenings, events and networking. Our award for Best International Film is back, we’ve expanded our family screenings and we are loving all the sports films we’ve already had submitted so far this year, so if you have one….send it our way, You can submit via Filmfreeway here.

And don’t miss out on an exclusive discount code for our pal’s at our Mansfield Film Festival, as they head into their 2nd year in the Midlands. You can use code WOMENSVOICES25 for 25% off all categories, how generous! Sunderland Shorts our North East neighbours are also sharing the love with offering 25% off until 18th March with the code SSFF24LOVE

On the subject of film festivals, we’d like to draw your attention to the incredible work by the organisation Film Workers For Palestine during Sundance Film Festival. You can catch up on the footage of the vigils they held, marches they took part in and the filmmakers making a stand and using their platforms at the festival to call for a ceasefire. Follow their Instagram page to stay updated on their events and learn how you can contribute, they’ve recently issued a call to action to those participating in Berlinale.

We’ll be back next month with another drop in your inbox, with some news on our 2nd annual Women X Script Competition 👀

Love,

Team RP x