Young Brit tipped for the top
Mdhamiri Nkemi named Star of Tomorrow
I’m really excited about the future – things are happening so fast MDHAMIRI NKEMI The National Lottery-funded British Film Institute course graduate
did you know that you’ve played a leading role in the biggest UK films?
Because every time you play a National Lottery game, you’re helping to raise money that funds UK independent films.
Not only that, you’ve helped young talent from different backgrounds get into this exciting industry.
Budding young film editor Mdhamiri Nkemi is tipped for the top – but he got his break in the business after doing a National Lottery-funded BFI Film Academy course.
He hasn’t looked back since. Attending his local Film Academy was followed by a two-week stint at the prestigious National Film and Television School (NFTS) in 2013 for the BFI Film Academy Craft Skill Residential for the top students selected from over 50 courses across the UK. “Doing that film course changed my life,” says Mdhamiri, one of three children who grew up in a singleparent household in Medway, Kent.
“I’ve always been passionate about film but I didn’t have the necessary skills or the network around me to progress in the industry. That all changed after doing the course, getting some experience under my
belt and making the right connections.” After editing a string of short films, a full-length drama Mdhamiri edited, The Last Tree – a BFI National Lotteryfunded £1.2m film about a Nigerian boy who has to adjust to life in London after moving there from Lincolnshire – will be getting a cinema release on 27 September. It premiered at America’s Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. “Everyone involved has high hopes for the film,” he says. A second movie he has edited, Blue Story, is a hard-hitting crime drama about two friends who become rivals in a London gangland war. It is also set for a future bigscreen release. Mdhamiri, who has been named by British film biz trade bible Screen International as one of its annual Stars of Tomorrow, will be making his directorial debut in the forthcoming BBC Films-backed short Skin,a coming-of-age drama set in an alternate 21st century.
“I’m really excited about the future – things are happening so fast,” says Mdhamiri, who graduated with an NFTS Editing MA last year. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without a place on The National Lottery-funded BFI course. It’s opened so many doors for me.”