BAFTA win for former ECA student

A film by an Edinburgh College of Art graduate, John Maclean, has won an award at this year's BAFTAs.

Best Short Film

For a film that concerns itself with the dark, Pitch Black Heist is suddenly in the spotlight.

Lasting only 13 minutes, starring one of Hollywood's most in-demand actors, and directed by an Edinburgh College of Art graduate, the movie won the Best Short Film award at this year's BAFTAs.

Directed by John Maclean, who studied painting at ECA before graduating in 1994, and starring Michael Fassbender, the film tells of a bank raid in a vault with light-sensitive alarms.

Fassbender, who was also nominated for the Leading Actor BAFTA for his performance in Steve McQueen's Shame, is the burglar tasked with infiltrating the gloomy safe.

Former work

Before moving into film Maclean formed The Beta Band with another ECA painting graduate Robin Jones. After they broke up in 2004 they formed The Aliens with Gordon Anderson, a former ECA student from the 1990s.

This is Maclean's second film with Fassbender. Their previous collaboration, Man on a Motorcycle, was shot entirely on a mobile phone.