Maggie Ellis has a wealth of experience in the film industry and we are looking forward to having her insight and experience on-board for the Deaffest 2013 Gala Awards!
MAGGIE ELLIS
Maggie Ellis is a champion of independent talent in the film industry and has helped launch the careers of some of UK’s most talented film-makers and artists. Starting her career teaching photography, film and television at Chelsea School of Art, St. Martin’s School of Art, RCA and NFTS, amongst others, Maggie moved into the Film and TV industries in 1989.
Initially as a freelance technician she worked in several departments including R&D, stills photography and sound mixing, gradually moving into producing and directing feature length art documentaries and animation series through her own company Open Air Productions. Maggie also worked for other companies; including BBC, Channel 4, ITV, National Geographic, Discovery, Partners in Production, Cinecontact and Double Exposure.
Maggie has set up and run a number of commercial and publically financed production schemes, in particular the London Production Fund and London Artists’ Film & Video Awards (LAFVA). For seven years, 1997-2004, she was Production Executive for Channel 4 and Arts Council England’s experimental animation scheme, animate! She has also worked as a consultant and advisor to a number of organisations and independent companies including Arts Council England, NESTA, Wellcome Trust, London Screenwriters Festival and WFTV. She is on the boards of Cine Regio and the Sheffield Media Exhibition Centre (SMEC).
Since joining Film London as the first Head of Production, Maggie has commissioned hundreds of films, from shorts to features, from London’s new and emergent talent. This has been through a number of highly successful schemes including PULSE Digital Shorts, the London Borough Film Funds, the Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network (FLAMIN) and Microwave.
Maggie was appointed as Film London’s first Head of Production in 2005, specifically to set up and run Microwave, the newly established micro-budget feature film commissioning scheme, in partnership with BBC Films and with support from Skillset. Since its launch in 2006, the scheme has been successfully run like a mini-studio with hands on support from selection through to the films being presented and sold in the market place. In total there will be a slate of 11 productions by Spring 2014. To date we have 100% success rate with theatric distribution. 7 films have been completed and picked up by distributors. One film goes into production in mid November and three films are in development, with the aim of shooting in March/April 2013.
The first profile for our 2013 Judge Panel is that of John Maidens. John will be a familiar face to Ben Steiner Bursary participants as he has led the Ben Steiner Bursary weekend film-making workshop since its inception.
JOHN MAIDENS
Bold, inventive and creative award-winning Director. An Oceanographer/Zoologist and Scuba-diving Instructor, John began his career at the BBC¹s Natural History Unit. He has since produced/directed all over the world in different genres from factual entertainment and documentaries to drama-documentaries and drama.
John has a strong track record with major broadcasters, was talent spotted by BAFTA and trained at the BBC Drama Directors Academy. He won an RTS Best Fiction award for his first short film, Caterpillar, which he wrote and directed.
Profoundly deaf, John is a visually instinctive story-teller with a cinematic flair. An experienced and versatile multi-camera director with an intuitive ability to generate honest and compelling performances.
John has a feature film in development.
Today the Deaffest team is saying farewell to Mija Gwyn, who coordinated Deaffest during 2012 alongside Jackie Law. Mija is returning to Australia for new adventures, but will be staying in close touch with the Deaffest team.
The Deaffest team also welcomed the new Deaffest coordinator, Simon Herdman, who will be officially commencing his role in early February. Simon has a strong background in film-making and media and will be bringing much knowledge and exciting new ideas with him to his role.
Both Jackie and Simon are excited about the upcoming festival, which is promising to be even bigger and better this year! There will be a variety of workshops in animation, drama, acting and scriptwriting. The workshops will be led by NDCS, Deafinitely Theatre, and Kalen Feeney, a Deaf script writer from America who has worked on an extensive range of projects in TV and film.
The Gala Awards will be back, followed by a Visual Vernacular competition at the Late Deaf Party.
Stay tuned for more about what’ll be happening at Deaffeset 2013!
Deaffest 