N.Z. graduate for film school

Press, 24 September 1987, Page 12

N.Z. graduate for film school

By

JANE DUNBAR

The first New Zealander to be accepted into the film school at, the Royal College- of Art in London, will begin the two-year post-graduate course next month. Chris Dudman, aged 25, left New Zealand last week, and was excited at the prospect of attending one of the five most prestigious film schools in the world. “It has resources you just can’t get in New Zealand, he said. “The facilities, the money pouring in from the industry, and the involvement with the school of people such as Ridley Scott (‘Alien,’ ‘Legend,’ ‘Blade Runner’) are invaluable resources.” Attending the school is not going to be easy for Dudman financially. He applied for grants all round the country, but was refused everywhere. He has calculated it will cost him $30,000 to live in London and pay the annual fee of $15,000. He spent this year working in

an art gallery in. Hamilton, and managed to save $10,000;' for the rest, he has taken out a loan; ? “I’ll try; to work while I’m over there, and will continue to apply for grants, both there and in New Zealand. “It will be difficult to pay off loans, but I don’t want to give up the opportunity of going. It will pay off in the end.” Dudman was accepted into the school on the basis of a short film he made, a personal interview, and his academic record. He describes the 15minute, 16mm, colour film, which he shot round Lake Ellesmere and Bird lings Flat, as “a lyricalnarrative film.” It was made with the help of a Queen Elizabeth II grant while he was a student at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury. Dudman spent four years at the school, studying painting as his major and film as his minor. He found it “more difficult to

say things with paintings,” however, and decided : to do post-graduate work in film. , The film school ht the Royal College of Art takes 10 students a year from throughout the world. The first year is an introduction to different aspects of film-making; in particular script-writing and direction, but also production. A management course runs alongside the practical. In the second year students focus on the discipline of their choice, and work as a team to make films. The products are distributed throughout Europe on television, and any money made is fed back into the school. The films are also shown at international film festivals, and as trailers for features. < Dudman says he has “firm intentions” to return to New Zealand after the course. “I like the country, and there’s a lot of potential in terms of making films here.”