OM Grace Dunn shares her experience of being a multidisciplinary filmmaker and producing her own solo and award-winning film project

Grace Dunn (2012-2017; The Lakes) is a multidisciplinary filmmaker and actress, who engages in all areas of the filmmaking process. Last year, she produced her very own film, ‘A Delirious Eye’, in which she created every aspect. We asked Grace about her time at Millfield and her filmmaking career so far.

Grace joined Millfield in 2012 and said that, from the very first time she visited the school, she felt instantly excited by the possibilities it held for her: “Millfield really encouraged me in every aspect of learning and I was always treated as myself, despite how large the school is.” Grace spent much of her time at Millfield developing her artistic skills in the art department, where she was able to pursue her passions. We asked Grace for her favourite memory of Millfield and she answered that it was all the hours she spent in the art studios, adding that Millfield is “very much an environment that promotes individual creativity.”

We were interested in hearing about what Grace has gone on to achieve since leaving Millfield in 2017. She initially took a gap year and then started her degree at Central Saint Martins in London, where she studies Performance: Design and Practice. This BA involves all aspects of performance, whether that’s within live art, theatre and, most crucially for Grace, filmmaking. She particularly enjoys this freedom of creativity, being allowed to be as broad or specific as she pleases, something she also made the most of whilst she was at Millfield.

Whilst Grace was in her second year of university, in 2020, she completed her solo short film, ‘A Delirious Eye’, which she made entirely in her bedroom. Grace served as director, writer, editor, composer, actor and more. The film is a live action and stop motion animation mix, with the fully articulated stop motion puppet being the one she had created during her A-Levels at Millfield! It was lovely to hear Grace say that, “hand-making that puppet was a prime example of the freedom I was given at Millfield. It was an extremely complicated process, yet my teachers had faith in me that I could do it and I felt fully supported throughout. I feel so lucky that my daringness was always encouraged.”

Grace has entered ‘A Delirious Eye’ into film festivals around the globe and it has been a huge success, having won 12 awards and 20 further nominations to date. Grace is currently working on a new fully animated short film, inspired by classic fairy tales.  

We finished by asking Grace what advice she would give to current students at Millfield, and she answered that, “Millfield has so much opportunity and anyone who is there should feel extremely privileged. Explore as much as possible because, ultimately, you will gain a greater understanding of who you are, who you want to be and where you want to go from here.”