International film student wins Best Young Filmmaker

Film student Alsie Hua won the Best Young Filmmaker for the short film The Moon Lamp in the 2021 Making Waves Film Competition.

'The Moon Lamp' is a 10-minute poignant story of a young boy who must face up to the truth when he steals money from his dad. The film was praised by Portsmouth's Making Waves International Film Festival as "truly a great effort" and "an affectionate parable… effective cinematography and a good application of colour grading".

The film was made last year as part of the second-year 'Fiction Filmmaking' module of our BA (Hons) Film Production course. It was shot just before lockdown, on location around Southsea. Scenes include a seafront bench in Old Portsmouth and shops in Castle Road.

Alsie, who came to study at Portsmouth as part of an exchange with The Beijing Film Academy, added: "I got the idea of the film from an experience from my childhood."

The Making Waves Short Film Awards is an annual competition that attracts entries from across the world. The films were judged by a panel of filmmaking judges, including University of Portsmouth alumni Ali Rasoul (film creator for top brands Pretty Little Things, Adidas, and Nike), Kirsten Ria (content creator and presenter on Whatculture), University of Portsmouth’s Senior Teaching Fellow Neil Hunt (specialising in short film), and Rebecca Brady (Lecturer in film production).

For more information, visit the Making Waves Festival website.