Freelance film-maker Lara Smallman has been shortlisted in the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's global film competition.
Open to under-25s, the contest, called Faith Shorts, aims to increase understanding between those of different religions and to open up access to filmmaking. Miss Smallman, 23, was selected for her film The Laugh Judgment, which she made along with a Muslim and Christian under the auspices of the Three Faiths Forum. The three-minute short explores how comedy can bring people of different faiths together and features interviews with comedians David Baddiel, David Mitchell, Frank Skinner, Omid Djalili and Ivor Dembina.
Miss Smallman, who has been teaching herself film-making, tells People: "To be shortlisted is very exciting, especially as people don't usually associate religion and comedy. So I am really glad that people are responding to it.
"My hope is that the film will be screened by JSocs, ISocs and Christian socs and at interfaith events around the country, and bring people of different faiths together."
The film has now been sent to the global judging panel which includes Tony Blair, Jonathan Caplan, Hugh Jackman, Anil Kapoor, Amr Khaled, Jet Li, Wendi Murdoch, Natalie Portman, Nik Powell, Queen Rania of Jordan, Rabbi David Rosen and Deepak Verma. The three winning entrants will introduce the films in London later this month when they are premiered at BAFTA in front of representatives from the film, TV and faith worlds.
A former JFS student, Miss Smallman, who lives in Hendon, north London, is currently working on another short film documentary about human rights and has a strand called 'Five Minutes With' for the Big Green Jewish website. She has also spent the past three months competing in the European Journalism Centre's blogging competition Developing World (www.development.thinkabout.it.eu), and has won a week's reporting trip to Kuala Lumpur later in the year.
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