Rave Reviews for Associate Lecturer Mark Jenkin’s New Feature Film BAIT

Following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival last week reviews have flooded in praising the highly experimental 16mm, black and white feature.

Film festival critic Redmond Bacon described it as "one of the best British films to have been released in recent years."

Stephen Dalton in The Hollywood Reporter wrote "a stylish experimental drama from England's rugged Wild West...Bait was one of the most original and stylistically bold films to world premiere in Berlin last week."

Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian agreed giving the film four stars and calling it "one of the most arrestingly strange movies in Berlin this year...The weirdness of Bait can't be overestimated, like FW Murnau directing an episode of EastEnders."

From Little White Lies magazine; "BAIT may look like a knackered print unearthed from the silent era, but it's content couldn't be more current – it's our first Brexit movie... it is both a gorgeous celebration of traditional filmmaking techniques and an angry howl at the destruction of Cornwall's ancient communities."

Find out more about BAIT

BAIT was produced by Bristol-based producers Early Day Films who worked closely with Mark and our School of Film & Television to help get the project made. Falmouth provided film stock and location equipment for the shoot with students working on the crew. The final version of the film was then post produced in 4k at the School's state-of-the-art grading and dubbing facility.

Over the last decade the School of Film & Television has established a unique reputation for micro-budget film production, which is helping to fuel the future of the British film and television industry.

Chris Morris, Director of the School of Film & Television explains: "By making micro-budget feature films, investing in low budget UK shorts and features, and by providing production resources for other independent filmmakers, the School offers unbeatable industry experience to our students and graduates who work on these real-life productions.

"We have invested in a wide range of productions - some entirely funded by our School and crewed entirely by our students. We've invested in short films directed and produced by our graduates, and we've attracted independent professional productions to Cornwall giving our students invaluable on-set experiences.

"We're about to embark on our next full-scale, in-house, micro-budget feature film. Students will be working for two weeks on location, shooting the feature written and directed by filmmaker-in-residence Brett Harvey. All the post-production will then be brought into the School and the film will be edited, graded and dubbed hand in hand with our students."

Find out more about
School of Film & Television

Features currently in production include:

• Cuckoo – working title (2019), fully funded in-house feature film, currently in pre-production, shooting in Spring 2019.
• Hard Crack'd The wind (2018/19), short film, part funded/joint collaboration with Early Day Films (Bristol) and partly crewed by students.
• Mr Whippy (2018/19), part funded/joint collaboration with elation Pictures (London), independent short film produced by Falmouth graduate Kamilla Kristiane Hodol.
• Make Up (2018/19), BFI i-features feature film production shot on location in Cornwall, graduates were placed on this independent UK feature for the five week shoot.

Previous productions:

• BAIT (2019), part funded/joint collaboration with Early Day films (Bristol), partly crewed by students, written and directed by Associate Lecturer Mark Jenkin. Premiere Berlin Film Festival February 2019.
• Backwoods (2018), fully funded Gothic horror short film, crewed by students, written and directed by graduates.
• Songbird (2018), part funded collaboration with Unstoppable Entertainment (London), shot on-campus and crewed by students working alongside professional heads of Department. Staring Cobie Smulders and directed by Jamie Adams. Released in the US as 'Alright Now'.
• Wilderness (2017), the School's first fully funded feature film, crewed entirely by students and post produced at the School. Winner of 12 international film festival awards.
• Brown Willy (2016), part funded feature film, crewed by students and post-produced at the School.