Turner Contemporary and the BFI NETWORK are hosting a special screening and networking event for aspiring filmmakers. The event offers attendees the opportunity to expand professional networks, gain insights from industry experts, and connect with fellow creatives for potential collaborations.   

Taking inspiration from themes within Turner Contemporary’s current exhibition, Beyond Form: Lines of Abstraction, 1950 – 1970, the screening will feature five compelling short films created in the South East, telling diverse narratives in unique filmmaking styles. 

Before and after the screening, we invite you to relax and have a drink, courtesy of BFI NETWORK and Film Hub South East. There will be a short break halfway through the screening. 

Films:

Nails & Beauty, Rhona Foster

Weekend Dad, Dorothy Allen-Pickard

Departure Point, Christina Raisea Murphy

(SPIN), Precious Wura Alabi

Essex Girls, Yero Timi-Biu

Schedule:

6:30 – 7:00pm: Arrivals, networking and drinks 

7:00 – 8:15pm: Screening including short break 

8:15 – 8:30pm: Networking and drinks 

Entry is free but space is limited.

Book your place

A teenage girl blossoms after her transformative day with a beautiful bearded builder.

A butcher spends a precious, fleeting afternoon with this favourite companion, his 9-year-old daughter. But the circumstances may place his future as a father in jeopardy.

When her identical twin is eaten alive by a shark, Juliet must navigate her way through grief to find a route back to herself – by mourning an unconventional death via unconventional means.

Picking a laundrette as the location for their first date, Zekiel has a full wash cycle to convince Izzy that they might just be perfect for each other.

Flipping the “Essex Girl” trope, this coming-of-age film explores Black British girlhood and magical female friendships in 2009 Essex.

Rhona Foster is a visual artist and aspiring film director from Edinburgh, based in Margate. They achieved a BA in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2017 and before that a HND in Contemporary Art Practice at Edinburgh College.

Since graduating they have made films through support from talent development programmes such as Film Hub South East BFI NETWORK Short Film Development Programme, Less is More with Screen Scotland Pre-Writing Residential, BFI NETWORK WEEKENDER, BBC Introducing: Now & Next Artists’ Film Commissions and LUX mentoring with Bloomberg New Contemporaries.

Thematically, they are interested in socioeconomic class, identity, gender, status and value. Their short films are characterised by absurdity, dry humour and playful design elements.

They also work in the art department of film and TV productions.

Dorothy Allen-Pickard is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary theatre-maker from South-East London. In 2019, she received the BFI New Talent Award and was named as one of Broadcast’s Hotshots.

She has a particular interest in merging aspects of documentary, fiction and theatre to explore subjects such as mental health, disability and the social and political changes that affect those who are marginalised.

In 2019 Dorothy completed an MA in Directing Fiction at Goldsmiths and is currently assisting Georgi Banks-Davies on the Netflix series Kaos and developing her debut dramatic feature, Weekend Dad.

Dorothy is signed with Peach House for Film + TV and My Accomplice for Commercials

Christina Raisea Murphy is a writer, director and actor from the Republic of Ireland.

They are a graduate of the MA Creative Writing programme at Oxford Brookes University. They also hold an MA in Film and Visual Studies from Queen’s University Belfast.

They made their debut as a screenwriter with Only for a Few Days, which was released as part of the anthology feature film One Night in Dublin. Murphy would later become involved in the Oxford filmmaking community through their studies at Film Oxford.

Their creative writing has been published in journals based in Asia, Europe and North America. Their work has garnered attention as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin, having been selected for their annual Date with An Agent Competition aimed at new novelists.

Murphy started acting at a young age with the Carmel Corish Wallace School of Speech and Drama in their native County Wexford in Ireland. Having starred in a number of short films, Murphy recently trained with London Actor’s Workshop.

Departure Point is their first film as a Writer/Director. Their ultimate goal as a non-binary and queer filmmaker is to broaden the scope of LGBTQIA+ storytelling and expand representations of trans experience.

They currently reside in London.

Precious Wura Alabi is a British-Nigerian Writer-Director and actress based in Essex, UK and represented by 42 M&P. In 2019, her short play Losers, a drama-comedy about two disparate people meeting on the eve of Brexit at a fancy-dress party, was selected to be curated by Broken Silence Theatre and premiered at the Theatre 503 that year. Precious’ film directorial debut, Cuckoo Chick (2020) – a young girl coping with her new-found adulthood after being left alone in the UK after her parent returned to Nigeria, was shot on an iPhone with a cast and crew of all black womxn. It platformed on Girls in Film, a platform for female filmmakers and was selected in a few festivals including Short to the Point Film Festival. She was then awarded a place on the inaugural 2020-21 Origin Lab with B3 Media led by Marc Boothe where she received mentorship, masterclasses and development support. Upon completion of this, she was selected as an Associate Artist.

Busayo Ige is a British actress and writer of Nigerian heritage based in Essex. She graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in English and Drama, and trained at the Identity School of Acting.

Her experience on screen includes two Screen Nation Award nominated series, and she won ‘Favourite Actress’ for the web series SUFFERING in 2020. Busayo has also featured as the lead in multiple short films and her recent stage credits include playing Jasmine in the sold out play ‘Wright Brothers’ at the Albany Theatre in Deptford, and ‘That Face’ at Oxford House.

Based on her real life adolescence, ESSEX GIRLS is Busayo’s screenwriting debut.

Yero Timi-Biu is a British-Nigerian writer-director for TV and film with projects for BBC, Channel 4, BFI, and Audible. Currently, Yero is one of three directors at the helm of Sir Lenny Henry’s new ITV drama, THREE LITTLE BIRDS. Yero has also been a staff writer on original shows for Sky One and Netflix (US). Her award-winning short films SIGNS and BENEATH THE SURFACE have played at international festivals such as Encounters, Aesthetica, and Animation Block Party. Yero’s film 0.5% was commissioned by Screen South/BBC Arts and was released on iPlayer in 2022. Continuing her BBC Arts relationship, Yero directed the first one-hour episode of THE READ released in April 2022, a narrative take on Sam Selvon’s novel ‘The Lonely Londoners’ starring I MAY DESTROY YOU’s Danielle Vitalis.

Yero was commissioned by the Booker Prize to direct two films for the 2021 shortlisted authors. Yero has recently directed the coming-of-age film ESSEX GIRLS for BFI written by Busayo Ige, and she is working on her first feature film debut. Yero was 2nd unit director for the BBC One/Amazon psychological thriller CHLOE (2022). Yero also has original shows in development with various indies, streamers, and broadcasters. Yero was one of Edinburgh TV Festival’s prestigious ‘Ones to Watch’ for 2020/2021.

BFI NETWORK collaborates with film organisations and leading cultural venues across the UK to provide short film and early feature development funding, industry-backed professional development and networking support to producers, writers and directors aged 18 and above.

The Independent Cinema Office (ICO) is the Film Hub Lead Organisation for the BFI Film Audience Network in the South East. Thanks to National Lottery funding, we work with film exhibitors of all types to build new audiences for independent and British films, nurture the professional development of new and emerging filmmaking talent, and build young people’s passion for screen culture and help them to develop careers in the sector.