Scottish short films by Edinburgh Napier alumni dominate Birmingham awards

Two short films by Edinburgh Napier alumni made the shortlist of four at the recent Music Video and Screen awards (part of the Black International Film (BIF) festival) in Birmingham, with Ladies who Lunch going on to win Best Short Film. 

Ladies who Lunch was written by MA Screenwriting graduate Laura Anderson and produced by MFA Advanced Film Practice graduate Victoria Thomas.
 
The Santa Trap, an animation produced by Victoria Thomas as her final MFA project, also screened at BIF.

Ladies Who Lunch is a short comedy shot on location in Dumfries and Galloway with support from the South West Scotland Screen Commission.  It stars veteran Scottish actress Una McLean MBE and TV veteran actress Mona Hammond MBE as two bored pensioners who attempt to rob a gallery for a cheap thrill and was shot on location in Dumfries and Galloway. 

The film was written by Laura Anne Anderson, a graduate of the MA in Screenwriting at Screen Academy Scotland, and a current finalist on the She Writes scheme, a national initiative by the Birds Eye View festival to address the under representation of women in the UK cinema industry.
 
The Santa Trap was produced as part of the MFA in Advanced Film practice 2009 at Screen Academy Scotland - A Skillset Film & Media Academy.  It is a short animated film about a seven year old girl who decides to kidnap Santa after getting fed up with the gifts received each year. It was recently screened in competition at the animasyros 3.0 International Animation Festival and Forum, which took place in Syros Island in autumn 2010, after its premiere in Cannes this year.

‘It was very flattering for us to be nominated for two films especially as there are only four in the shortlist and both films were made on incredibly tight budgets and very short timescales’, said Victoria Thomas, producer and fellow Screen Academy Scotland graduate, of the Edinburgh based production company The Polka Dot Factory.

Both films also feature Screen Academy Scotland graduate, Ken Matthews.  Ken, who graduated in 2008 with an MA in Screenwriting,  stars as the husband of Mona Hammond's character in Ladies who Lunch.  In The Santa Trap he voiced the part of the Easter Bunny.   Since graduating, Ken has starred in feature films, including Burke and Hare, as well appearing in a number of Screen Academy Scotland student films.