We talk a lot on our Submit and About pages about how S/W is a “scouting ground” for talent and a place “where innovative storytelling is born”, but we’re often slow in sharing success stories. The filmmakers we feature often go on to bigger (or should that be longer?) projects and you’ve probably already seen their next film or TV project, but didn’t even realise they started in the world of short film. Aiming to shine a light on our previously featured filmmakers, like proud parents at a graduation ceremony, this regular Filmmaker Update series will share all the latest news on alums and what they did next.

Trailers

Consisting of four feature films and an FX TV series, these trailers highlight work from S/W filmmakers that you really need to keep an eye out for:

• Stray by Elizabeth Lo – a filmmaker that grabbed our attention with two powerful low-key docs, Hotel 22 and Mother’s Day, the trailer for Lo’s debut feature has been online for a few months, but only caught our attention with screenings at Tribeca and the upcoming London Film Festival. 
• Perfect 10 by Eva Riley – When I caught Eva Riley’s short Diagnosis on the festival circuit a few years ago, I was blown away by the confidence of her filmmaking (as was Berry Jenkins), so it was no surprise that just a year after we featured her film on S/W, her debut feature Perfect 10 played the 2019 edition of the BFI London Film Festival. Recently released on limited VOD and earning rave reviews from the English press, this is certainly one to keep an eye out for on online platforms.
• Come Play by Jacob Chase – Based on his S/W premiered short Larry, Jacob Chase’s debut feature Come Play has a US Release Date set for later this month – October 30, 2020.
• A Teacher by Hannah Fiddel – After winning the Emerging Woman Award at SXSW 2013, following the screening of her feature A Teacher, Hannah Fiddel (The Gathering Squall) returns to the storyline with this 10-episode Kate Mara fronted series for FX.
• The Wolf of Snow Hollow by Jim Cummings – It’s fair to say that Jim Cummings’ stock has risen markedly since his short Thunder Road swept the festival circuit back in 2016. In the 4-years that have passed, Cummings developed that short into a feature (which also won a raft of awards) and is now back with new feature The Wolf of Snow Hollow – a horror/black-comedy recently acquired by Orion Classics.

In Development

Our In Development section is all about upcoming projects, sharing the exciting news of what S/W filmmakers are working on next:

• Rob Savage – Savage could have probably had his own section in this updates post. Since the release of his Zoom-set Horror feature Host for Shudder went stratospheric, the updates of ‘what’s next’ for this upcoming UK director came thick and fast. We’d discussed feature adaptations of his shorts Dawn of the Deaf and Salt in the past, but neither of these were mentioned as news of a collaboration with Sam Raimi, a “melding of the prison escape movie and the haunted house movie” for Studiocanal and a three-picture deal with Blumhouse broke.
  

  Still from Rob Savage’s Zoom Horror Host.

• Karen Maine – Another filmmaker whose career we’ve followed closely over the last couple of years, Maine has already turned her 2017 short Yes, God, Yes into a feature and is now attached to direct Miss Conception, a romantic comedy from Screen Gems.
• Jeanette Jeanenne – animator, co-founder and director of GLAS, S/W team-member, you can now add TV director to Jeanenne’s impressive credentials, as she signed-up to helm Crypt TV’s first Animated Horror for Facebook Watch – we’re all super excited here at S/W to see how this turns out.

Miscellaneous

From TV shows to distribution deals and awards, the ‘Miscellaneous’ section of these updates wraps up any other news that includes previously featured filmmakers from S/W.

• Lance Oppenheim – Multi-Alum and Shelter Shorts partner Oppenheim recently saw his Sundance doc Some Kind of Heaven (discussed with Ivan Kander in this Short List interview) picked up for distribution by Magnolia Pictures.
• Lewis Arnold – We’ve been following the career of director Lewis Arnold ever since his NFTS shorts Echo and Charlie Says caught our eye over five-years-ago. Since graduating from the prestigious UK school, Arnold has made a name for himself as a go to director in television and his new show Des, which screened on three consecutive nights in the UK on ITV, has set a new ratings record (the previous record was also held by Arnold with his previous show Cleaning Up) for the channel clocking up an average audience of 5.4 million with its opening episode. Not content with seeing his latest project his the small screens, Arnold had been using his time throughout lockdown to launch online resource Directors Now – which collects the breakout stories of over 100+ directors together for “anyone who’s interested in a career in filmmaking”.
  

  Lewis Arnold (left) on the set of TV show Des

• Roseanne Liang – Winner of the People’s Choice Midnight Madness award at TIFF 2020, Liang’s debut-feature Shadow In The Cloud has been acquired by Vertical Entertainment & Redbox for North American distribution.
• Screen’s Stars of Tomorrow 2020 – We always keep an eye out for the release of Screen’s Stars of Tomorrow list and in particular we’re keen to spot any S/W alums included (there are usually a few). This year sees Director Charlotte Regan (Drug Runner, Fry-Up & Standby) and Producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor (Haircut) listed in their collection of up-and-coming actors, filmmakers, and heads of department in the UK and Ireland.
• Kangmin Kim – A regular feature on S/W, with three films selected for the site (38-39°C, Deer Flower & Jeom), designer of our IRL signal film Kangmin Kim joined a very small group of filmmakers to win both the grand prize for independent short and the public prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival with his latest film KKUM.
  

  Based around his mother’s dreams Kangmin Kim’s KKUM impressed both jury & audience at OIAF

• Just Philippot – As a huge fan of his short Acide, which crams a lot of tension into 18-minutes, I’m truly excited to see what Philippot can create within a longer runtime. Thankfully we won’t have to wait too much longer to find out, as his Cannes selected feature The Swarm has been picked up by Netflix and will be released worldwide (except France, Spain and China) on their platform on December 4th 2020.
• Zach Wechter – A mainstay on S/W over recent years, with projects Straight Down Low, Pocket, This Table and Election Day all featured on our site, Wechter’s latest project Wireless was launched on the much-discussed Quibi platform. With Steven Soderbergh attached as executive producer, the survival thriller takes advantage of the platform’s Turnstyle technology by allowing to see the story from two perspectives, depending on whether you’re watching in portrait (screentime view of the protagonist’s phone) or landscape (regular cinematic viewing) mode.