I am delighted to announce my appointment as Senior Lecturer in Film Production at the University of Roehampton, London. The University is ranked as the city's best modern university and its film faculty one of the highest ranked in the country.

Working within the Department of Media, Culture and Language, I will be part of exciting new changes part of the University's ambitious expansion programme going forward.

From October 7 2016 until early 2017 I will be devising and delivering the Historical and Critical Studies in Film module as part of the BA (Hons) Moving Image at the University of Brighton.

The unit traces the history of the moving image from its beginnings in the late 1890s to the present day,  from the allegory of the cave, silent films, Russian formalism and montage, German expressionism, Classical Hollywood, through trash, avant-garde and art cinema practices, to contemporary TV and video-on-demand.

Thank you to all who attended the recent Screenwriting for Artists workshop at Space Studios Hackney. Watch this space for news of future workshops. Space Studios @ScriptsLondon #screenwritingforartists
www.scriptwriter.london

Elan Gamaker, tutor with Scriptwriter London, was invited as story tutor to work with the selected participants of the 2016 Stop Play Record programme, a young filmmaker's initiative at Space Studios London.

The four projects received specialist treatment in anticipation of their upcoming productions.

Itch 17: Special Issue (HUMANE), edited by Elan Gamaker, is published, featuring the best of the Wits Creative Writing Programme 2015, plus previously unpublished creative submissions.

See the published works here.

We are delighted to announce that the feature production Headland, written and directed by Elan Gamaker and produced by David Horler of Proper Film, received the top award at the Durban FilmMart awards ceremony of the Durban International Film Festival 2016.

The award is the selection to attend Produire au Sud, the production and development programme of the Festival de 3 Continents, in Nantes in late November 2016.

The festival will fly out and host Horler and Gamaker as part of the week-long programme of meetings, workshops and tutorials.

Read more at Variety.

Michelle Williams Gamaker, with whom I am writing Violet Culbo, will be in Falmouth, Cornwall this week after the project was selected for the Cross Channel Film Lab.

Violet is one of 17 international VFX and Stereo 3D feature film projects selected to take part in the 2016 core programme, kicking off with a four-day workshop in Falmouth, Cornwall.

The programme is designed "to bring together European writers, directors and producers with visual technologies experts and script consultants to explore how storytelling can be impacted by the use of these technologies, positively influencing the development and production of low to medium budget feature films."

More info here.

I am happy to report that my upcoming project Headland, a sci-fi teen romance set in a future South Africa, has been selected for the 7th edition of Durban FilmMart at the Durban Film Festival, South Africa.

The market runs from 16-20 June 2016, and is the continent's largest, bringing together film industry professionals to stimulate film production on the continent and facilitate project collaborations amongst African filmmakers.

The Durban FilmMart, now in its it 7th edition, has selected 19 projects from across Africa, including Uganda, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Tunisia and South Africa.

Itch, Africa's most widely read peer-reviewed creative journal, has gone live. With the best in written and visual submissions, view the latest issue here.

Elan Gamaker is in South Africa along with South African producer Bridget Pickering (Fireworx Media) and Australian producer Mark Overett (New Holland Pictures Two) for a locations and casting recce. The meeting also marks the opening up of the auditions for the children's roles in the film. 

Saturn is truly up and running!