Arcadia England

This past Tuesday we hosted our final Talk of the Town! of the semester and were thrilled to have another great turn out. It was a truly wonderful evening and there were many great questions from both students and staff about Andrew Steggall's film, Departure.

Andrew was gracious enough to open up and describe the challenges of creating a film, along with the various stages it must go through before its completion, including script development, fundraising, casting, and assembling a production team.

The film, which he both wrote and directed, depicts the end of innocence for 15 year-old Elliot who is struggling with his dawning sexuality and increasing alienation from his mother.  She in turn is faced with the end of her marriage and the realisation that the life she's always known is coming quickly to an end. When an enigmatic teenager, Clément, quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other.

Departure premiered at the 2015 London Film Festival and has enjoyed festival screenings all over the world. The film has also won a First Feature Award from the British Film Institute.

Here's what our students thought...

Andrew spoke so casually and openly that it didn't feel like we were being lectured. As a Psychology major, my interest in his talk wasn't so much focused on the actual process of making a film (though that was incredibly interesting) but instead on how making it affected him as a person.

I loved the opportunity we had to sit and talk with Andrew afterwards. He answered more of our questions and made the time to listen to us talk about our travels and experiences. I was also lucky enough to be one of the four people to win tickets to the screening of Departure, so I'm quite excited for that opportunity."- Morgana Wallace, Arcadia University student, FYSAE

There's something really inspiring and refreshing about listening to someone in the film industry talk openly about the struggles they've faced and their achievements. Hearing Andrew talk about his six-year journey with the film was really informative and motivating, especially for a student like me who is working in the film industry. I think gaining this different view of the field will help me in the advancement of my career."- Shelby English, Belmont University student, London Intern

It was really interesting to see how he went from an actor to a director.  I also loved all of his analogies about what it's like to create a screenplay, go through the editing process, and then go on to shoot the film.  It was really cool how he was inspired by his youth and then followed his passions through adulthood to create such a beautiful film."- Elise Nye, Belmont University student, London Intern

We'd like to thank Andrew once more for sharing his incredible journey in film-making as well as everyone who attended and made the event such a success!