Blind Mice to screen at Israeli film festival

Blind Mice, a short film by University of Auckland Film Television and Media Studies graduate Walter Lawry, has been chosen to screen at a prestigious film festival in Israel.

CILECT Panorama at the 15th Tel Aviv Student Film Festival (19 to 24 June) is a showcase of the best student films from the world's best film schools.

The University of Auckland's Screen programme is the only film school in New Zealand that is part of CILECT (The International Association of Film and Television Schools) which was founded in Cannes, France in 1955.

Walter's winning film is partly based on a series of events from his late teens.  Blind Mice centres on the Auckland drug scene and how a young woman, Jules, finds her life complicated by an unwanted pregnancy. By oscillating between two drug dealers; a younger buyer, Ollie, and her older lover and supplier, Chase, she looks for a male figure to support her.

"It's a real honour [to be included]. When you submit your work to a festival you try to forget about it and not get your hopes up, so when I heard about the inclusion of my film, it was mind blowing," says Walter.

And it is the second time Walter has had international recognition for his films.  Chapter III an abstract digital feature that explores the Adam and Eve story was accepted into several international festivals, and Blind Mice has also been accepted to the Pineapple Underground Film Festival in Hong Kong.

The Screen programme encourages students to submit their work to festivals. Walter's success, and his invitation to Israel, prompted the Department of Film Television and Media Studies to set up the Screen Student Festival Award which will be presented annually to a student whose film is accepted into an international festival. Walter will be recipient of the inaugural prize which will assist him with his travel.

Brendan Donovan, Senior Lecturer in The University's Film, Television and Media Studies Department says; "Blind Mice is an immediate and gripping piece of social realism. Walter is a strong new director, with a confident vision, who really responded to the hands-on, professional-level support that the Screen Programme offers."

Walter is currently volunteering in Cambodia for two months. Based at Siem Reap, he is using his skills as a filmmaker to shoot a documentary for the volunteer organisation, Build Your Future Today. (BFT).