London Film School (LFS)

Genre : Distribution, Production, Film school
Status : Not-for-profit company
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
The London Film School 24 Shelton Street London, WC2H 9UB
United Kingdom
Tel. : +44(0)20 7836 9642
Fax : +44(0)20 7497 3718
http://www.lfs.org.uk
Contact by email

Chairman: MIKE LEIGH O.B.E
Director: BEN GIBSON
Registered Charity No: 270302

Brief history of LFS
The London Film School is the oldest-established international school of film technique in the world, at 50 in 2006. Rather than try and create a national cinema, as so many government-funded schools have done, LFS from the outset fostered a broad, craft-based culture of excellence with students from more than 80 countries. At present just 25% of the school's students are from the UK.
In 1956 the Principal of the Heatherley School of Fine Art, Gilmore Roberts, set up a short course in film making, but before the applicants could enrol, found that his school had been sold from under him.

A camera tutorial held in the 1960's
He decided to continue the course independently, but could hardly have imagined that forty-five years later a thriving, multinational school, descended from his embryonic idea, would be working in a converted warehouse in Covent Garden, London.
After precarious early days, the School settled in Brixton as the'London School of Film Technique'. It was set up around the belief that the future health of film making in Britain could be promoted by properly designed formal training for people entering the industry, then run on a traditional apprenticeship basis. Since there was little sign of any official action to carry out these plans, a group of enthusiasts decided to take the classic British way and constitute such a school.
The approach to the old school, through a gaunt passage and up winding brick stairs to a handful of rooms over shops in Electric Avenue, Brixton, was likened by an intrepid visitor to a set from "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari". In the early 1960s the school moved to premises in Charlotte Street in the West End. The 18th century warehouse in Covent Garden, in which the school has been since the mid 1960s, maintains a similarly dramatic and individual character.

John Frankenheimer lecturing, 1964
In 1974 the school was re-named as LIFS, the London International Film School. The LIFS constitution, which remains in force, is very unusual. The School is a registered charity, a non-profitmaking company, limited by guarantee. All students become members of the Association, and, together with the other members, elect a Board of Governors on which they have representation. The Board of Governors has the overall responsibility for the management of the School. The current Chairman is the internationally renowned director and LFS graduate Mike Leigh. The school has always been completely independent, and remains so following the validation of its course by London Metropolitan University.
With thanks to Phil Mottram, former Administrator, lecturer and unofficial LIFS historian.

Twelve Reasons
Twelve reasons students give for choosing the London Film School.
GLOBAL: "The world's international graduate film conservatoire. Seventy percent of students are from outside the UK, from more than sixty countries. A diverse range of cultures and film traditions makes for a creative hothouse. This global network, once built, lasts a professional lifetime. "
INCLUSIVE: "On the MA Filmmaking, five film exercises paid for including stock and equipment, plus £3500 cash returned for the graduation film - incorporated into your fees. Most schools quote only tuition costs, with filmmaking budgets a vague extra. Plus no high and low budget film exercises - at LFS you work within the budget you're given."
VALUE: "LFS is a not-for-profit educational trust committed to spending its money only on your education. UK qualifying students can apply for Skillset bursaries. A unique constitution - you become a voting member of the Association."
PRACTICAL: "There are five exercise films and a graduation work in the MA Filmmaking programme, with at least three on 16mm and two on 35mm, plus 24P digital workshops. One film is prepared, shot, delivered and screened in every 12 weeks of your work. There's the opportunity to offer scripts for production and to work on scripts in pre-production for MA Screenwriters."

NO STAR, Graduation Film, dir: Christian Neuman
COMPREHENSIVE: "The MA Filmmaking includes two years of training in Directing, Lighting, Operating, Editing, Sound, Production Design, Screenwriting and Production. Choose your specialisation at the end of the course, and for writer-directors, earn a living by crewing while developing projects."
ATTENTIVE: "140 students, 22 full time faculty, scores of visiting lecturers - more student-lecturer ‘face time' than any other graduate film school."
PROVEN: "Thousands of high profile alumni over 50 years of operation include Michael Mann, Mike Leigh, Tak Fujimoto, Franc Roddam, Don Boyd, Mark Goldblatt, Bill Douglas, Les Blair, Ho Yim, Anne Hui, Joao Cesar Monteiro, Arnold Wesker, Duncan Jones and Danny Huston. "
VISIBLE: "Our library gets your work around the world. In 2009 LFS films played at 125 festivals and took 22 prizes, 5 of them ‘firsts'. Three LFS graduates have been taken on the Cannes Residence programme since 2007. In 2010, 25 known features by recent graduates in global distribution winning festival prizes including Michael Powel Award, Edinburgh and top 3 prizes at Durban. "
CONNECTED: "LFS is two minutes walk from Soho, centre of the European entertainment industry. A rare opportunity to study in central London. Key figures of the UK and European industries pass through very often. The school provides mentors and career development support after graduation."
RECOGNISED: "One of three recognised UK graduate schools in the UK Skillset Film Academy Network. MA degrees recognised throughout the world, and validated by the London Metropolitan University and Birkbeck University of London. Graduates become ALFS, or Associates of the London Film School."
PROFESSIONAL: "Students are taught by working UK filmmakers. Exercise films are made on built sets, shot with 16mm Aaton or 35mm SuperAmerica or Panaflex Gold cameras, recorded on Nagra V, edited on Avid Composer and given a professional dub in Soho."
INNOVATIVE: "A school that works with the film industry, understands the market and employability - and also takes your ambitions and your originality very seriously. We want you to reinvent film form rather than copy what already exists. Programmes include 120 half day Film History/Film Style screening and analysis sessions. A Screenwriting degree in which every student has a mentor in the business. The world's first MA qualification in Film Curating. "
Under Testimonials you'll find comments from recent LFS graduates, and we can put you in touch with one from your country. We've digested here the 12 key points they all bring up about the LFS experience.

Files

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LFS GRADUATE TESTIMONIALS - ISHAYA BAKO

(Video)

Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

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