Late last night, the Chapman film “Into the Silent Sea” took the Grand Prize at the BAFTA awards in LA.




We’re thrilled to announce that the thesis film from recent grad Andrej Landin (Film Production, ’13) has won the Grand Prize at the prestigious BAFTA Student Awards ceremony in Los Angeles!

In brief, the film focuses on a cosmonaut, adrift in space, who forms a bond with an Italian radio operator, as the two work against the clock to save his life.

Into the Silent Sea filmmakers at the BAFTA LA Awards


The actors and cinematographer of Into the Silent Sea receive the prestigious BAFTA student award Grand Prize.



The
BAFTA
organization is the British equivalent of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which confers the famous golden Oscar awards.  The acronym stands for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Of special note,
Into the Silent Sea
is the first Dodge College film to win the award.

They released
this statement
, in part, about the show:

BAFTA Los Angeles congratulates our Student Film Award winner Andrej Landin for Into the Silent Sea (Chapman University) and the special Jury Prize winner Patrick Dickinson for Usagi-San (AFI).

22 of the most elite film schools from across Southern California to submit 3 of their best films for consideration, and a selection panel of academy members selected 6 outstanding finalists.

This year’s finalists were Into the Silent Sea by Andrej Landin, Chapman University; Jaya by Puja Maewal, UCLA; Shaya by Amir Noorani, USC; Solidarity by Dustin Brown, Santa Monica College; Usagi-San by Patrick Dickinson, AFI; and Will by Eusong Lee, CalArts.

The winner of the BAFTA Los Angeles Student Film Award was selected by the Voting Members of BAFTA in attendance at the event.

In addition to the accolade, both winners will receive one year’s access to BAFTA Los Angeles’ educational and professional development events and classes. All finalists will receive a camera rental package from BAFTA Los Angeles partner The Camera House. A selection of films submitted in consideration for the Awards will also be screened at BAFTA’s London headquarters in July.


You can follow the film’s progress on their
Facebook page
,
Twitter account
, and we’ve reached out to the team to see if we can get a trailer or film reel to share with the community.  Read the whole release from BAFTA
here
.



On a side note, the director linked to a Wolf Parade music video several months ago as one of the key inspirations for the film, so in lieu of actual clips, enjoy some music this Friday to get a sense of the film’s themes: