Talented young film makers from across the country were invited to Middlesbrough College last week to celebrate UKCineFest 2017.
Now in its fourth year, the one-day event was founded with the aim of discovering and celebrating new talent. Students from schools, colleges and universities submitted their short films across a range of genres.
The categories being considered this year included: Cinematography, Editing, Drama, Factual, Animation, Experimental, UKCineFest Young Filmmaker, Best Screenplay and the ‘1 Actor, 1 Minute, 1 Location’ challenge.
This year saw an eclectic range of entries from across the country and successful students were invited to watch each other’s movies on the big screen.
Following this, the aspiring film makers were given the opportunity to get expert advice during the event’s live Q&A discussion.
This year’s panel was made up of local film-makers from a variety of different backgrounds.
Michael Weadock from 3 Point Media gave an interesting insight into corporate video production having worked with a diverse range of clients such as ITV, BBC, NHS and Sky.
Samm Hailley also spoke of his experience in teaching Film and Media at Teesside University, as well as his production company, Third Filmswhich works with some of the best young talent in the UK.
The day was wrapped up with an Awards Ceremony where an expert panel of judges selected the best submissions of the festival. Previous years have been judged by some of the region’s top companies including Fantomline, Daft As Rags, 3 Point Media, Mizaru Media and Scriptmag!
Successful entries included local youngster Jared Boyle, who studies Level 3 Creative Media Production at Middlesbrough College. He won the ‘1 Actor, 1 Minute, 1 Location’ challenge for his submission of ‘Fright’.
Access to Media student Joe Walker won best Cinematography, after impressing the judges with his subtle use of colour and motivated camera moves during his short film ‘Solitude’.
The Pauline Quirke Academy also won best entry under the category of ‘Editing’ after company director Laura Lonsdale submitted their short film entitled ‘Red Prym’.
Other winners from across the day included: Rebecca McClean (Teesside University)- Drama, Dory Valentine (Brighton Film School)- Documentary/Factual, Sammy Gray (Teesside University)- Experimental, Matty Dickens (Stockton Riverside College)- Best Screenplay and Samara Sajid (Middlesbrough College)- Animation.
The prestigious UK CineFest Young Filmmaker Award went to final year Northumbria University student Elizabeth Oliver, following her submission of two standout films that showed a unique eye for cinematic storytelling. The Film and TV Production student produced a short drama entitled ‘Driftwood’ as well as an experimental piece called ‘Keep it rollin’ which was made up entirely of skateboard audio and took seven months to complete.
Andy Harrison, tutor at Middlesbrough College, was thrilled with the Festival’s success commenting: “We were blown away by the quality of every film screened this year! It is an absolute honour to see the hard work put in by every one of our young filmmakers and they are all poised to have a very successful career in film making.
“The Experimental category was particularly special this year, seeing the students so thoroughly experimenting with the medium was a joy!”