Ben OsborneLili Jenkins, a former York St John University student will have more reason than most to be watching the Oscar’s on Sunday night, as she is celebrating her role on an Oscar nominated short film.
Lili, who studied BA Film & Television Production at York St John’s, worked as a casting assistant on low budget film, Pentecost. Written and directed by Peter McDonald,
The film is set in Ireland in the 1970s and tells the story of a young altar boy who is forced to serve at an important mass and has to make a tough choice: conform to the status quo or serve an extended ban from his passion in life…. football. The film was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival and won the Best Irish Short Film at the Corona Cork Film Festival last year.
Lili, 24, originally from London, graduated from York St John University in 2009 and now works for Independent Talent Group, Europe’s largest talent agency. Lili managed to get into the film business for long enough to work on a now Oscar nominated film following an internship with Candid Casting and then work experience at Hubbard Casting, where she was offered a job as assistant to Amy Hubbard, one of the UK’s leading casting directors. During this time Lili worked as casting assistant on a number of films, including Pentecost.
Talking about how her degree at York St John helped her get where she is Lili said: “During my degree we were encouraged to try our hand at various different roles. This enabled us to hone our skills and also work towards an area we wanted to specialise in. Whilst writing and directing my short film in the final year of my degree at York St John, I experienced intense pressure. However, this not only taught me the importance of good organisational skills, but also to thrive on stress rather than succumb to it!”
She went on to say,“We had three weeks to find the entire cast of Pentecost. As a large number of them were school boys I organised mass auditions in Dublin from our office in London which was difficult but very worthwhile, as the selection of talent we found was fantastic. I am ecstatic that our low budget Irish film has been picked out from thousands for an Oscar.”
Fiona Thompson, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts at York St John University, said, “We are delighted with Lili’s career success and it reinforces the important role that the university sector has in supporting entry into this highly competitive industry. Lili is a great ambassador for our own course and we will be watching the Oscars with fingers crossed wishing Lili and the production team and crew every success on the night.”
Pentecost is nominated alongside four other short films. Lili and the film crew will find out whether the film is selected as winner when the 84th Academy Awards are announced on Sunday 26 February.
