Industry Panel: Screenwriting (U)

As The Garden Cinema members community is not just made up of cinema enthusiasts, but also covers a large range of film creatives, we like to help connect our members working across all departments of the industry.

For our regular industry panels, we invite knowledgeable speakers to discuss their specific branch of the industry, leaving plenty of time for asking questions. After the discussion, we all head into the Garden Bar, to network with fellow members.

On Thursday 12 December we will be joined by screenwriter - directors Daniel Kokotajlo (Starve Acre, Apostasy) and Luna Carmoon (Hoard). They will discuss their respective careers and approaches to screenwriting, and how they subsequently directed their features.

Tickets are restricted to 1 per member, and available for just £5, which includes a token for a complimentary house wine, beer or soft/hot drink.

About the speakers:

Daniel Kokotajlo

Daniel’s latest film Starve Acre — a psychological horror starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark for BBC Films and House Productions — had its world premiere in competition at London Film Festival 2023 and was released theatrically this year. Daniel’s first feature Apostasy — about a young mother’s struggle to leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses — was nominated for a string of awards (6 BIFAS, and a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut Film 2019), and won the London Film Festival IWC Bursary for Outstanding First Feature in 2019. Apostasy was made on the micro-budget scheme for IFeatures, and was subsequently released by Artificial Eye — where it went on to gross $500,000 at the UK box office — and was bought by Amazon for the US. Daniel is developing a few original feature projects in the UK. He has been selected as both a Screen Star of Tomorrow and by BAFTA as a Breakthrough Brit.

Luna Carmoon

Luna Carmoon is a self-taught writer/director born and bred in South East London. An original, provocative voice, her writing is subversive, distinctly dissecting the absurd with the mundane rooted in womenhood, working-class culture, and the mythology of memory. Conjuring oddness out of the familiar, her work is peppered from her own experiences and inspired greatly by 60’s and 70’s British cinema. Her feature debut Hoard was released this year and screened here at the Garden Cinema.

Check out our Youtube channel for videos of our previous industry panels, which have included:

Casting, with Rebecca Wright (Chuck Chuck Baby) and Lucy Jordan (Kinds of Kindness, Poor Things)

Animation, with Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle) and Alexandra Sasha Balan (The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse)

Cinematography, with Evelin van Rei (Passenger), Bebe Dierken (Midas Man) and Nanu Segal (Hoard)

Costume, with Joanna Johnston (Lincoln) and Charlotte Finlay (Barbie)

Documentary, with Edward Lovelace (Name Me Lawand) and Tom Howson (Dogwoof)

Film festivals, with Christina Papasotiriou (Raindance Film Festival) and Philip Ilson (London Short Film Festival)

Film journalism, with Jacob Stolworthy (The Independent) and Jack Shepherd (Total Film)

Production, with Georgia Goggin (Pretty Red Dress) and Susan Simnett (Fadia's Tree)