Guiding Lights is run by Lighthouse and majority funded by the Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund as part of A Bigger Future 2, the UK film skills strategy.

Lighthouse and Creative Skillset have announced the twelve candidates selected for the 2013 edition of their training scheme Guiding Lights.

The 12 participants from across the UK and Ireland have worked over a range of creative disciplines including TV, theatre, animation, documentary, music videos and commercials. For the first time, Lighthouse invited UK film journalists and critics to help in the final stages of the assessment process.

“We had a phenomenal response to our call for applications with over 310 submissions received from emerging writers, producers and directors. The standard of applicants was exceptionally high and it was a tough process to whittle them down to the final dozen. This year’s mentees promise to be one of the strongest groups yet,” commented Lighthouse artistic director Honor Harger.

Harger continued: “Among their achievements so far are an Emmy award, a Grierson award, a Microwave greenlit feature and two BAFTA nominations to name just a few. We’re certain that this year’s cohort will go on to shape an exciting and assured British film landscape of the future.”

The participants for the 2013 Guiding Lights scheme are as follows:

Directors: Henry Darke, Afarin Eghbal, Andrew Lang, Laura Smith, and Carmel Winters (Ireland).

Writers: Thomas Martin (Ireland), Lucy Moore, Martin Wallace, and Andy Yerlett.

Producers: Jessica Levick, Alexa Seligman, and Rob Watson.

Run by Lighthouse and majority funded by the Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund as part of A Bigger Future 2, Guiding Lights is part funded for the second year by the Irish Film Board through Screen Training Ireland.

The industry professionals who will act as mentors on the scheme will be announced in the coming weeks. Previous mentors include the likes of Sam Mendes, Barbara Broccoli and Danny Boyle.

Previous participants of the Guiding Lights scheme include 2013 BAFTA best debut nominee Tina Gharavi, Hunger producer Laura Hastings-Smith and Sundance 2013 selected filmmaker Andy Heathcote.

For more information, visit Guiding Lights’ website.

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