Student film looks towards the future.

Published on 28.04.16

Student Jonathan Zaurin has recently made a short film in response to a module on portraits. Jonathan’s film “Little Acorns” centres on a friend who recently planted a field of oak trees in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be around to appreciate them coming to fruition. Jonathan chose to respond to his friends act of

Student Jonathan Zaurin has recently made a short film in response to a module on portraits.

Jonathan’s film “Little Acorns” centres on a friend who recently planted a field of oak trees in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be around to appreciate them coming to fruition. Jonathan chose to respond to his friends act of selflessness “I wanted to depict the close relationship between our actions in the present and how we foresee our future; for me the image of a man planting a wood behind his house could only be a powerful one if the act was shown alongside its potential effects.” The film powerfully draws our attention to looking after the environment for future generations bringing into the story a small child and her dog running and playing in a mature woodland.

The film was made on loacation at Madley in Herefordshire, home of his friend and owner of the woodland Mark.

Jonathan is influenced by film maker John Carpenter whose work includes Halloween, The Fog and Starman. ”Little Acorns on the surface has nothing to do with his films and yet….everything I do becomes infected by them. I think all films are portraits, maybe not in the way we traditionally think of a portrait, but cinema’s purpose is to give us a portrait of humanity.”

Little Acorns has received some great feedback. After sharing the film on Facebook Bizy Productions picked up on it and got the film into the Herefordshire Short Films Event at the Courtyard Hereford. The film has been subsequently screened at the arts centre throughout April prior to scheduled screenings. “The feedback has been amazing. I saw the film with an audience about a week ago and people came to find me to let me know how touched they were.” The film was also accepted in the first round of the Green Film Festival in South Korea.

The beautifully haunting music accompanying the film was composed by Jonathan’s friend Thomas Cappeau. Cappeau works on major musical projects in France and offered to create the soundtrack free of charge.

Jonathan balances work and home life with his studies “I’m having an amazing time studying at HCA and have met some awesome people. I’ve had such incredible opportunities that I wouldn’t dream of studying anywhere else.”