Blackwood

a film by Natasha Johns-Messenger

16 min - 2012 - Australia/USA

When Lena’s estranged mother dies she is forced to take care of Pippa, the daughter she has never known. As they travel to Blackwood together in the sweltering Australian summer Lena attempts to rid Pippa from her life, but is confronted with motherly instincts she never knew existed.

Natasha Johns-Messenger
In 2006 Natasha moved to New York from Melbourne, Australia. Natasha is a practicing installation artist. Columbia University’s MFA program in Film marked Natasha’s shift into narrative film with an ultimate aim of combining her love of abstraction and experiential installation within narrative film. During her time at Columbia Natasha has continued her art career including winning the Den Haag Sculpture prize in The Netherlands 2007, participating in a studio resident program at the ISCP in New York 2007 and been commissioned by the New York Public Art Fund. Her first graduate film Off-Ramp won Best Student Film and Best Actress at LA International Underground Film Festival and has shown at many festivals. Blackwood is her final graduate film- at this year’s Columbia University Film Showings it won 3 awards, Alumni Award- Best Film, National Board of Review Prize and Adrienne Shelly Foundation Best Director.
More info at http://www.natashajohnsmessenger.com/

Columbia University School of the Arts
The Film Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts in New York City offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees with concentrations in Screenwriting/Directing and Creative Producing. The program also offers in MA in Film Studies. It is considered one of the top film schools in the world, and also one of the most selective. Notable alumni include Kathryn Bigelow (Two Academy Awards for "The Hurt Locker" in 2009), James Mangold, James Franco, Nicole Holofcener, and many more.