London College of Fashion students and alumni travel to York this week for the annual Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) to celebrate independent films from around the world, and an outlet for supporting and championing filmmaking. We took this opportunity to look at the six best films being screened by those waving the flag for LCF.
The festival is a BAFTA recognised short film festival. ASFF is a hotbed for talent discovery and a key annual event for emerging and established filmmakers to meet alongside industry professionals. British and international films are in competition in their category for an award, alongside the Best of Festival Award, Audience Award, and Best Screenplay. LCF has had an ongoing presence at the festival since it began in 2011 (see previous years), helping promote and facilitate the rise of Fashion Film as a sub-genre in the industry.
Six films to watch out for at Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Clip from Nadia Lee Cohen.
Nadia Lee Cohen
MA Fashion photography and BA (Hons) Fashion Photography alumna Nadia Lee Cohen is one of the biggest rising stars of photography and filmmaking globally. While still a student, she had her The Shining-inspired portrait, ‘American Nightmare’ shown at the Taylor Wessing prize at the National Portrait Gallery and signed onto Martin Parr’s infamous agency soon after. Her most recent work includes the Dram music video for ‘Gilligan,’ which features A$AP Rocky and Juicy P. She will be showing her film, A Guide to Indulgence at ASFF this weekend. She says her film is about, “Fashion’s veneer of aspirational perfection is exposed as is the pressure that causes women to strive for the unreachable in this grotesque and brilliant parody.”
Kiri Leigh Zullo
BA (Hons) Fashion Styling and Production student Kiri Leigh Zullo is an independent filmmaker known for her use of art and poems through films. Her film, ‘Cybernetic Meadow’ will be shown this weekend in York. She says the film is a “dislocation in a modern age is expressed through cybernetics; the science of communication and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.”
Nirma Madhoo
Based between Iceland, South Africa, and the UK, Nirma is an MA Fashion photography alumna with a reputation to boot. Her work explores how fashion environments are shaped by digital tools, pushing the boundaries of what is possible within the two sectors as they merge ever closer. She is also an LCF Global Outlook Award winner and another promising independent filmmaker tackling some serious issues. Her film ‘Labtayt Sulchi’ explores potential moon-life through fashion and VFX with live action filming.
Egle Andrius
Spending her time in the UK and Spain, Egle is a talented filmmaker fresh out of BA (Hons) Fashion Styling and Production. Her film “9 to 5” is a politically driven piece of art centered around modern work life with a futuristic fashion feel. Egle said the film explores “capitalism’s relentless treadmill of working life with its emphasis on productivity is sharply observed in this low-fi, absurdist critique of the faceless worker shot on Super 8.”
Hannah Brinberg
Hannah is a BA (Hons) Fashion Styling student and independent filmmaker behind “Human ATM” which will be screened at ASFF. The short film is “a manic montage of images illustrates the lengths some students will go to in order to support themselves through education. Based on real conversations,” she says.
Gsus Lopez
High-flying Spanish alumnus Gsus Lopez has been a leading voice in short fashion and gender films since graduating in 2014. His fashion films have been nominated and awarded at International Fashion Film Festivals in Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Istanbul, Santiago de Chile, Mexico, Rome, Milan, London, Sydney, Cape Town, and Calgary. His film ‘LITOST’ will be shown at ASFF this forthcoming weekend. The film is named after the debut collection of JINGÜO by LAURA SEARLE and also the title of this fashion film written and directed by Gsus Lopez and set in the near future; in which a group of girlfriends come out of a rural house after a fun weekend and take a group selfie. However, the only memorable thing about that weekend is their outfit.
- More information on MA Fashion Media Production, MA Fashion Photography, Graduate Diploma Fashion Media Styling, and Graduate Diploma Fashion Media Styling
- LCF is Global
- Find out more about other undergraduate courses at LCF
- Find out more about postgraduate courses at LCF
- LCF Open Days and Events
- Find out more about Funding and Mentoring
- More LCF News stories
- More information on LCF Careers
Alumni can connect with LCF in the following ways: