An MA TV Production graduate from Bournemouth University has had his short film nominated for a BAFTA.
Ben Mallaby, who completed the Master’s course at BU in 2006, directed Island Queen, which has been shortlisted in the Short Film category for the 2014 BAFTAs.
The film, written by and starring Nat Luurtsema, follows a young woman on a small island who decides to have a baby using a sperm bank – only to find out it came from her brother.
“It’s such a huge honour to have been nominated for the BAFTA, I still can’t believe it happened,” said Ben, 30, who lives in London.
“The film was shortlisted, I’m sure, down to Nat Luurtsema’s great script and performance.”
He added: “Island Queen came about after I read an article about how some countries have to import donations for their sperm banks because, due to having such a small population, they couldn’t guarantee that you weren’t getting a relative’s donation.
“So our story is about Nat’s character Mim deciding she wants a baby and to her horror discovering it was her brother’s sperm.”
Ben, who is now a lecturer in Digital Film Production at Ravensbourne College as well as a freelance film-maker, said his time at BU helped kickstart his career.
“The MA gave me the time and resources to make films for a year – you don’t get much chance when you’re starting out as a freelancer to work on your own passion projects,” he said.
He and Nat are now working on a new project, called Annie Has Body Issues, which goes into production in May.
“The BAFTA nomination has already helped open doors for us, said Ben. “It’s helped validate the project and I’m really hoping we can take the film further now.”
Ben also plans to attend the 2014 BAFTA awards ceremony, which takes place at London’s Royal Opera House on Sunday 16th February.
He said: “It’s very exciting to have been invited to the awards ceremony next month.
“It’s going to be weird to be surrounded by so many high profile filmmakers and actually have a film in competition.”
Watch the trailer for Island Queen
Find out more about Television Production at Bournemouth University
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