My experience at the Art of Action Stunt Saturday at the British Film Institute

Stunt Saturday was held last weekend at the BFI (British Film Institute) on the Southbank in London. This celebration of the stunt world included panel chats, film extracts and demonstrations and I am glad that I made the effort to go. It was cool to see an aspect of the film industry that often goes ignored being appreciated. 

For the film goer, it is important to see stunts (or “Gags” as those in the trade call it) in movies getting recognition. What made this festival special however, was you got the chance to hear from and meet the people who risk their lives to tell beautiful stories.

These took the shape of panels of stunt experts being asked questions by a BFI presenter, who then opened the floor for the audience to ask their questions too. This was informative and great fun.

The first panel was called Children in Film. I heard from adult expert panellists (Rachelle Biernet, Ian Kay, Paul Lowe and Chelsea Mather) who have created iconic scenes while portraying children in cinema. Some of these films are Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and Wonder Women.

Their backgrounds varied from gymnastics, dance and even traditional acting! They explained that due to insurance premiums, the child stars could not perform stunts so needed an adult double to fill in. I learnt a lot about each of the panellist experiences, their personal stories and if you want to learn more check out my in-depth interview with Chelsea Mather on this site. With lots of events on that day, each programme was roughly 45 minutes which was nicely timed to keep things fresh.   

The second talk that I went to was David Holmes who spoke about his life before, during and after working as a stunt double for Harry Potter and other characters from the movie world. I had the pleasure of interviewing David last year (again, check out the full chat on, OverTheShoulder). Now he is doing a tour promoting his debut book, “The Boy Who Lived”.

David was his usual entertaining self, talking amusingly and passionately about what was important to him. It was amazing to see, and I learnt a lot more about him. I thought Ti Singh was a brilliant interviewer, he was thoughtful and although he asked some generic questions, he came up with some interesting ones too.

What made the audience special was that along with fans, there was Davids’s mum, dad and best friend attending along with many of his stunt contemporaries. This made for a touching and heartfelt interview. The audience questions section was especially illuminating, as many were asked by other stunt people who had their own insights. Great fun!

One serious theme that run through much of the day was the lamentable lack of recognition the stunt profession gets come award season. Indeed, there is not even a stunt category at the Oscars or BAFTA’s and there was a strong desire for solidarity amongst everyone there to get the discipline the attention it thoroughly deserves. 

I wish I could have stayed longer as they had other talks such as Second chance: Buster Keaton Shorts, Hollywood: Hazard of the Game and Creating a Career in Stunts just to name a few. They even had stuntman Andy Pilgrim set on fire!

The whole day was brilliantly run, everyone was friendly, and everything was easy to find. There was lots of food, snacks and drinks to enjoy and a register to sign if you were interested in learning more about stunt work.

A perfect day out for any lover of films.

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *