The FFF Team are back...
Preparing for a spectacular festival in Schull May 2022

The Inaugural An-Sophie Fontaine Human Rights Award in Documentary Film

announced for FFF 2022

‍The students of the MA Documentary Film course at London College of Communication (LCC) University of the Arts London, are in the process of judging a special Award in honour of one of its alumni, An-Sophie Fontaine. The winner will be announced at the award ceremony in Schull on Saturday 28th of May alongside the Tony Barry Best Documentary Prize.

An-Sophie Fontaine graduated in 2015 as a promising and talented student of the MA Documentary Film course at LCC. Tragically she was killed in an accident at only 25 years old, in 2016. Fellow Graduate Gareth Johnson writes:

“An-Sophie and I first met when we studied Documentary Film at London College of Communication. Her passion for using documentary film as a medium through which marginalised individuals, groups and issues could be explored and brought into people’s attention was immediately obvious. Her research interests were all related to this and her graduation film was based around the plight of Rohingya refugees to the UK and the situation they were fleeing – which was receiving almost no media coverage in the UK at that point.

Had An-Sophie lived longer then I have no doubt her passion would have flourished into further films, writing and research. As a friend and colleague of An-Sophie I’m glad to see that the spark she carried is being recognised and celebrated as an important and vital strand of contemporary documentary practice”

The entries to the Best Documentary Award at Fastnet are screened privately and judged by the current cohort of documentary students who have devised their own online quiz to monitor feedback and collect scores. They will select the An-Sophie Fontaine Human Rights Award in Documentary Film winner from a short list arrived at the end of the series of screenings. The inaugural Award will be presented by selected students and staff at the awards ceremony in Schull.

MA Documentary Film Student Jury Committee Leader Yinzi Zeng said; “Our group of students is actively engaged in the process of discussions and judging of films. We hope this experience will improve our critical thinking ability and could apply in future practices.” Student Logan Cherry remarked: “I’ve really truly enjoyed the process of judging the submissions for the Fastnet Festival. The process has encouraged me to look at filmmaking in a different way, thinking critically about each individual aspect from directing, to editing, to concept. It has opened up deep conversation among our class on what makes a film successful.” Fellow student Ziaur Khan commented: “As human rights encompass such a wide spectrum of issues we had to really think about what films could be considered for the award. After the first screening, we recognised issues such as Mental Health, accessibility for disabled individuals and inclusion are basic human rights, and documentaries covering these issues should be considered for the award.”With many thanks to London College of Communication (LCC) University of the Arts London