Coventry University students win festival prize with animated stop-motion short film
A still image from the film showing a paper flower on a book
Wednesday 03 April 2024
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An eye-catching short film about a piece of paper transforming into a flower has seen two Coventry University students win a best film award.
The film, called Flowers, was created by Film Production students Lois Bathgate and Alvaro Cruz Soleto and was named best film at the Expresso 90 Film Festival, hosted by the Mockingbird Cinema in Birmingham.
The festival challenges filmmakers to grab the attention of judges with films of 90 seconds or less and Lois and Alvaro decided to use stop motion animation to make their project stand out.
Flowers sees a piece of paper brought to life and attempt to transform itself into a rose to emulate a nearby bloom.
It’s the overall award for Best Short Film at the festival so it’s a really nice thing to win. Me and Alvaro had such a good time making it, we were in the basement of one of the university buildings for two days straight taking pictures.
This is actually the first time I’ve made a stop-motion film. The Film Production course itself is really great and I’m particularly interested in editing, ultimately I’d like to work in film or TV in post-production.
Lois Bathgate
It was a wonderful process. I think the aspect I enjoyed the most was how intuitive it all felt. Even though we were two people, two brains, Lois and I immediately understood each other and trusted our decisions. Even though we would not necessarily logically understand our narrative choices, we were moved and felt strongly about the story we came up with. The process taught me that emotion is the most important thing when creating a story.
For my Erasmus program I did a semester of Year 2 Film production. Coventry University surprised me in every way possible and surpassed all of my expectations. I was lucky to have wonderful teachers who accepted me immediately and were curious to know what I thought and what I had to offer.
The equipment's quality and quantity was mind-blowing and allowed me to experiment with techniques and technology I have never thought I would ever get my hands on. The modules were practice and real-life-scenarios oriented, which I really appreciated. This experience wouldn't have been the same without my wonderful classmates, who were friendly to me from the very beginning and now I carry in my heart. I owe them a whole lot.
Alvaro Cruz Soleto
Lois and Alvaro have produced a beautiful short animation with their film Flowers. It's amazing to see it winning awards already, especially ones such as Expresso 90 which has been going from strength to strength in recent years. To take away the main prize at the event is a real achievement and a sure sign of things to come.
Daniel Finnemore, Lecturer on BA Film Production at Coventry University
Find out more about studying BA Film Production at Coventry University.
