Sands International Film Festival in its 4th year

The 4th edition of Sands International Film Festival comes to St Andrews, 25-27th April. The Department is a key partner for the festival, which is run by the Byre Theatre, under the leadership of festival director, Ania Trzebiatowska.

The film programme is selected by Trzebiatowska (who is also a feature film programmer for the Sundance Film Festival), in collaboration with a hand picked group of Student Curators. Students from all years of our programme, from first year undergraduate to PhD, have been part of the curatorial team who select films for the festival. Student curators also introduce films at the festival and host Q&As with filmmakers. Our Mlitt students are also given the opportunity to run an event for young audiences at the festival. The Department's employability officer, Dr Jessica Mulvogue, has organised a careers session for students on 26th April in collaboration with the festival which will feature film critic for The Telegraph, Robbie Collin.

As well as working in an advisory capacity since its founding, staff from the Department contribute to a number of events, as participants and moderators. This year, the festival gets underway with a short symposium on curation, including a panel discussion on 'aspects of care: role, responsibilities of a curator', featuring Dr Isabel Seguí. Dr Lucy Fife Donaldson will moderate a conversation with music supervisor, Kathleen Wallfisch, and Dr Leshu Torchin will moderate a conversation with casting director Kharmel Cochrane and host a Q&A with the lead actor following the screening of Out of My Mind.