A FILM created by former students from a group of colleges in Warwickshire has been selected to be shown at a string of international film festivals.
Lola is a short film from independent film collective Insert Title Here Productions, and has recently been shown at Beyond The Curve International Film Festival, the Cineverse International Film Festival and 4theatre.
Writer and producer Louisa Coller and director Elliot Killick-Ward both met while studying Digital Film Production at Leamington College, part of WCG (Warwickshire College Group), in 2016.
They formed Insert Title Here in 2018, with work starting on ‘Lola’ a year later.
The film features actors who at the time were studying on degree-level performing arts courses at Rugby College, also part of WCG, and tutor Liam Clarke worked with Insert Title Here to host auditions. Liam also supervised on set during filming.
Mairead O’Kelly, who graduated from the college in 2022, secured the lead role in the film and plays the title character – joined in the cast by fellow graduates Layler Timms, Zoe Thacker, Connie Roath and Matthew Grist.
Elliot, who has recently graduated at Aardman Academy, said: “This all started for us during our studies at college in Leamington, so when we were looking at casting we decided to get in touch with Liam at Rugby College for support.
“All of the filming took place in Warwickshire and we finished an early edit in 2019, but with other projects and pandemic delays we have only been able to release Lola this year.
“The cast were brilliant to work with and Liam Clarke was instrumental in helping us during the filming process. We were incredibly impressed by the graduates from Rugby College and would certainly consider casting them again for future projects.”
‘Lola’ is the story of a troubled daughter named Lola who decides to go to a party and leave her younger sister alone.
Louisa added: “I actually studied Games Art initially at college before switching to film. The college was really important for my development and was where we first started our independent film collective.
“The actors from the college did perfectly, they were flexible at finding time to film and it was great to be able to work with the group of colleges which helped us with our own development.”
Lola was released earlier this year and is now capturing the attention of international film festivals, including the MoviePlay International Film festival where it won for Best Short.
Insert Title Here Productions have continued to work with the college group and hosted auditions for its upcoming release The Writer at Rugby College.
Warwickshire College and University Centre (WCUC) is the higher education arm of WCG.
Claire Lapworth, Subject Leader for Digital Film and Media at WCUC, said: “When working on short films as students it is always difficult to produce a final film that you will be satisfied with due to certain limitations, such as honed skills, experience and knowledge of the industry – and as such many students always have a plan to revisit their final film, however many do not.
“We are so proud of Elliot, Louisa and Sarah for doing this very successfully – well done!”
Visit www.youtube.com/@i.t.hproductions2555 to watch Lola on Insert Title Here Productions’ Youtube channel.
