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Ken Russell Critiqued My Short Film
The legendary British director taught me during my final year of university.
Whilst at university during the mid-1990s, one of our lecturers was the legendary Ken Russell, the late British director of classics such as The Devils (1971) and Tommy (1975). Ken was brought in to comment on the rough cut of our dissertation short films, and he also provided a series of screenings and lectures on highlights from his directing career. My first viewings of both the above masterpieces were with the great director present. An eccentric figure always accompanied by a little sausage dog, Ken was consistently engaging, good-humoured, and full of fascinating anecdotes. I enjoyed getting to know him a little during my time as a student.
I first met Ken at the aforementioned rough cut critique. My dissertation film, entitled Dead of Night (a nod to the 1945 Ealing horror anthology classic of the same name) was a horror-thriller about a burglar (played by author and fellow film enthusiast Marcus Bines) breaking into an office building after dark, attempting to raid a safe. What he doesn’t realise is a corporate AGM is taking place on a different floor, and the corporate bigwigs are all vampires.
Although most of the dissertation films on my course were group projects, with three or four people…