The Bond University Film & Television Awards, often known simply as BUFTA, is Bond’s answer to the Oscars. Since 1996, Year 11 and 12 students from across Australia — and more recently, internationally — have flexed their writing, directing, editing, and production skills in the filmmaking competition. The 2024 grand prize was awarded to Abigail Knight who will begin a Bachelor of Film and Television at Bond on a full scholarship in 2025.
It took a year in the making, two days to film, and three months to edit. But for 17-year-old Abigail Knight the rewards were massive as she scooped the major prize in the annual Bond University Film and Television Awards (BUFTA). Her winning BUFTA entry, More Than Milk, is now being used across 26 countries as a promotional fundraising vehicle for one of India’s biggest social business programs – the Institute for Indian Mother and Child (IIMC).
Abigail’s film, shot in Dhaki, India, near Calcutta where the IIMC is based, was one of nearly 200 entries by high school students in the University’s prestigious short film competition which offers the winner the lucrative full scholarship to study Bond’s Bachelor of Film and Television.
Hailing from Emmanuel College on the Gold Coast, Abigail said she had been experimenting with stills and movies for a few years, getting the most out of her Canon 200D.
She says she knew she wanted to enter the competition with a long-term view to securing a career in the industry, but inspiration for the award-winning film only came during a month-long visit to India with her mother.
“Mum had volunteered with the Institute for Indian Mother and Child since she was 18 and took me to Calcutta to see the work they do," she says.
“There are so many projects the IIMC has done since it started in 1989, including schools and clinics, that it took me a while to decide on the social business program they call the cow project.”
Battling a “very different culture”, Abigail says the IIMC’s director Dr Sujit Brahmochary helped organise eight women to tell their stories on camera.
Her film follows their stories, outlining how buying a cow, thanks to small business loan from IIMC, had changed their lives and that of their communities.
The importance of a cow in Indian society was one of the driving forces behind the business start-ups. Women who now own a cow can produce and sell milk, cheese and yoghurt, cow dung (used as fire fuel), as well as planting crops with the money they earn - more than just milk.
With an interpreter by her side to capture the heart-warming stories of women who have worked their way out of poverty, Abigail directed and filmed over two long days, then spent three months editing at home.
The film captures the emotion and hope of the women who now control their own farms and finances. “The women were so nice and friendly when we interviewed them, and invited us into their homes for tea," she says.
She turned her lifelong love of watching movies into something very valuable when More Than Milk won Best Documentary, Best Directing and Best Overall Filmmaker at the BUFTA Ceremony held on campus in November 2024.
“I was so surprised. I totally did not expect to win. I was told it is rare for a documentary to win.”
Abigail says she will use her scholarship at Bond to develop a career in scriptwriting and directing.
“Sometimes we look at a film and it’s just that good,” Head of Film, Screen and Creative Media at Bond University Dr Darren Paul Fisher says. “And I think, wow, at that age, they’ve done that. That’s pretty stunning.”
He says young film pioneers would have access to the Hollywood talent pipeline through their networking at Bond. “Over the last 10 years, the Gold Coast has developed into a truly global production hub for the screen industry, and it will only gain momentum in the next decade," he says.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time to be in the screen industry, full of opportunities that I’m sure the next generation is going to take full advantage of.”
Queensland and Gold Coast entries dominated the Top 27 films in 2024 with 10 hailing from Gold Coast schools — the most nominees the city had in a decade.
For the first time, Bond University also hosted a dedicated film festival the night before the awards ceremony to showcase all of the films from the BUFTA nominees. Families, friends, teachers, and schools came together to celebrate the outstanding creative talent of these young filmmakers.
Published on 28 November, 2024
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