Festival Bursaries

SSAW encourages students and staff to attend UK and international film festivals and conferences. To date SSAW has been able to offer festival attendance bursaries so that students can travel within the UK and internationally to the main events in their fields of study. SSAW is currently in the process of applying for further funding to be able to offer festival bursaries from June 2009 onwards.

For further information please contact Sara Herritty at sara@screenacademywales.org or on 02920 480344.

Bursaries awarded so far

In the academic year 2008/9 SSAW awarded bursaries for students attending Cannes 2008, FMX Stuttgart 2008, Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008, Annecy 2008, Cheltenham Screenwriters Festival 2008, the Iris Prize Festival 2008, Encounters 2008, SAND 2008, Camerimage 2008, FIPA 2009 and Animated Exeter 2009.

In 2006, SSAW students were selected to attend the Cannes Film Festival as part of the CYFLE co-production scheme. The scheme offers a unique training package to assist and support production personnel in the process of going to the international marketplace to develop co-production skills. The package includes formal consultation and mentoring by an experienced professional before, during, and after the festival, as well as advice on pitching, potential markets, likely partners and post-festival follow up. The scheme also ran in 2007 and bursaries were offered to the selected students to cover all travel and subsistence while at the festival. Also in 2006, SSAW animation students attended the Annecy Film Festival to research international trends in animation production and to network with international filmmakers.

As part of the SSAW project's publicity and outreach plans, we support a number of high-profile UK film festivals, including Encounters (Bristol), The Cardiff Film Festival, Ffresh - the Student Moving Image Festival of Wales - and SAND (Swansea Animation Days). SSAW makes use of these platforms to promote the work of its students and to develop the network of supporters for its many activities. The SSAW also hosts networking events for the industry and course providers at partner institutions and supports showcase end-of-year screenings at the partner institutions.