23/03/2015 - Mentors include Ester Martin Bergsmark, Russell T Davies and Hong Khaou

BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival (19-29 March) has announced the recipients of the inaugural BFI Flare Mentorship programme in partnership with Creative Skillset. This programme offers support to five emerging LGBT filmmakers who will be mentored by a senior figure from the film industry as they develop industry knowledge, professional connections and an overview of LGBT features entering the marketplace, with a nine-month programme of talks and screenings.

The filmmakers are: 

Aleem Khan, writer-director, whose short film Three Brothers was BAFTA nominated in 2015 and who is currently working on a new feature, After Love. Mentor: Ben Roberts, director, BFI Lottery Film Fund;

Claire Kurylowski, whose web-based work In Real Life won a place in Dazed Digital’s Visionaries series and had its cinema premiere at the Institute of Contemporary Arts as part of the London Short Film Festival. Mentor: Ester Martin Bergsmark, award-winning Swedish filmmaker (Something Must Break [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]);

Islay Bell-Webb, writer, an NFTS graduate who co-wrote Slap, which was also BAFTA nominated earlier this year. Mentor: Russell T Davies (Cucumber, Banana and Tofu);

Rachelle Constant, producer, who is currently a development editor at BBC Continuing Drama and recently produced the short film Two Dosas, which screened at the BFI London Film Festival. Mentors: Mike Goodridge, CEO of Protagonist Pictures, and BAFTA-nominated producer Gavin Humphries;

Scout Stuart,whose debut feature, Mud, was selected for initial development with Creative England’s iFeatures. Mentor: Hong Khaou, director of the BAFTA-nominated Lilting [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].