The 5th anniversary edition of the BAFTA Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival is nearly here! This year, ASFF聽celebrates the festival and its history of supporting聽independent short film from around the world with a dynamic Special Screening programme. The section sees previous winners and Guest Country filmmakers reflect upon their diverse practices, alongside聽a special showing of Richard Heslop and playwright Simon Armitage’s collaborative filmic work, The Raft of the Medusa.
Set in the near future, after months of continuous rain,聽Bella (Catherine Cusack) and Jude (Amaka Okafor) are marooned on their farm, and their supplies are getting low. At the time of his death, film director and writer Derek Jarman had been working on an idea to make a film based on Theodore Gericault鈥檚 painting The Raft of the Medusa.
Produced by Cast Iron Radio and FLAMIN, and supported by Arts Council England and BBC Radio Drama, this new creation marks聽the 21st anniversary of Jarman鈥檚 death, and fuses together聽Armitage鈥檚 play for radio with聽Heslop’s visuals, who worked as cinematographer with Jarman.聽The piece is complimented聽by music from another of Jarman鈥檚 collaborators, Simon Fisher Turner.
Read our interview with Heslop聽.
For tickets and more information, visit聽.
Follow the festival聽on Twitter for the latest news in film in the UK and internationally.
Credits
1. Still聽The Raft of the Medusa.



