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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Ministry of Tourism Updates
National search for future filmmaking talent ends at awards ceremony in London
London, England - The search for the UK’s most talented
film director in Britain came to an end last night as 32 year old Robin
Schmidt was announced as the most talented filmmaker in the country,
winning £14,000 to launch his career.
Held at The Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA
in London,
The 14 Islands Film Challenge
Awards presented four awards to the hottest filmmakers in the UK.
Oscar-nominated producer Finola Dwyer and chair judge and BBC director
Bharat Nalluri awarded prizes on the night, including the Armchair
Critics
award, voted by the public to Kevin Curtis.
As well as taking the first prize of
£14,000 Robin Schmidt also becomes the Canon Ambassador for 2010, he
will be trained to be a professional video representative and brand
envoy for the leading camera manufacturer. Second place went to 28 year
old Nimer Rashed. He was presented with Canon camera equipment worth
over £2,500 to help him create future feature films and documentaries
which could be seen by millions of people in years to come.
Third prize, a guest place on the renowned short film course at the leading centre of excellence, the National Film and Television School was awarded to 27 year old Mark Drake. The Armchair Critics award, voted by over 2,000 online followers of the challenge, named Kevin Curtis as their winning filmmaker. He will win a high specification Canon camera.
Last October,
The 14 Islands Film
Challenge set out to find the country’s most gifted filmmakers
in a nationwide campaign to support the home-grown talent of Britain’s
film industry. Of the 150 filmmakers from across the UK who were
accepted
into the challenge just 14 filmmakers were given a once in a lifetime
opportunity to spend two weeks filming on an idyllic
island in The Bahamas drawing on scenery which
has been the backdrop of many iconic films including;
Pirates of
the Caribbean,
Casino Royale and The
Silence of the Lambs.
In the first round of the national film
challenge, a shortlist of 42 filmmakers were asked to film their local
heroes. From those entries the panel of judges chose the final 14
filmmakers
to fly out on an all expenses paid trip to The Islands of The Bahamas.
Each filmmaker created a five-minute short film, capturing the true
spirit of Bahamian life and communicating the universal messages that
unite film audiences everywhere; love, beautiful landscapes, history
and mythical legends. One filmmaker uncovered the tale behind the
mythical
creature that can bring you eternal luck on Andros Island, the
Chickcharnie.
Winner and man of the moment, Robin Schmidt said: “I am so excited to be crowned the winner of The 14 Islands Film Challenge, it is an amazing feeling to really succeed and be recognised for my work as a film director. The film industry is such a tough place to break in to, but tonight I feel like I have taken a giant leap in my career and hope to keep taking these big steps from now. It’s challenges like this that give the next generation of filmmakers a shot to make the big time. This has given me the determination to keep making films and sharing my view of the world with everyone.”
Supported by the National Film and
Television
School (NFTS) and The Bahamas Tourist Office, the challenge sought to
engage with up and coming or professional filmmakers to give them a
platform to launch their career. Tommy Thompson, Deputy Director
General,
Bahamas Tourist Office and Challenge Judge explains: “Seeing what
these promising filmmakers have created, given only two weeks and doing
all the work themselves is fantastic. They have captured the beauty
of our Islands, from the smallest conch shell to uncovering the hidden
treasures of The Exumas. Whether you’ve been a hundred times or never
before, the Islands give everyone something different each time and
that magic has been captured in these films.”
Bharat Nalluri whose rise to fame has included directing BBC-smash hits such as Spooks, Hustle and Life on Mars chaired the panel of esteemed Judges who reviewed and selected the finalists. Here he talks about the importance of giving new filmmakers a chance to prove their talent: “These 14 professional filmmakers have travelled to beautiful locations, mixed with industry experts, created touching stories and have had the best equipment given to them to do what they love. The British film industry needs to provide opportunities like this to keep our directors talent thriving, fresh and alive.”
The remaining judges are David Parry,
Product Specialist from Canon Consumer Imaging Canon and Nik Powell,
Director of NFTS.
To see the films created by winners Robin
Schmidt, Nimer Rashed and Mark Drake and all 14 of the UK’s hottest
filmmakers, visit
www.bahamas.co.uk
The 14 Islands Film Challenge
www.14islandsfilmchallenge.co.
Winning filmmakers: Winner: Robin Schmidt, 31, London. Awarded £14,000, named The 14 Island Film Challenge Winner and Canon Ambassador for 2010. 2 nd Prize: Nimer Rashed, 28, London. Awarded a high definition Canon XH A1S Professional camcorder worth over £2,500 3 rd Prize: Mark Drake, 27, Liverpool. Wins guest place on a short film course with the National Film & Television School
Armchair Critics Prize – voted
by over 2,000 Armchair Critics who have followed
The 14 Islands Film
Challenge online. Kevin Curtis, 35, Battersea. Awarded a Canon EOS
550D SLR camera. Chair Judge Bharat Nalluri, Director
Bharat is an Indian-born British-based
director who made his first film on his father’s super-8 camera at
the age of ten. Heavily influenced by the movies of his youth -
Star
Wars, Jaws, Alien - Bharat set out on a directing career.
From early beginnings in his home town
of Newcastle, Bharat has worked on projects for Columbia, Miramax,
Twentieth
Century Fox, FilmFour, BBC, HBO, Disney and Focus Features to name but
a few. His work has spanned a range of genres and skills from 2nd unit
direction on
Resident Evil and
Alien vs. Predator,
directing
period comedy such as
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, to being
the original director behind three of the BBCs biggest ongoing hits
of recent years –
Spooks,
Hustle and
Life On Mars
- and directing the award-winning
Tsunami: The Aftermath.
On the way his projects have garnered
International EMMYs, BAFTAs and Golden Globe nominations amongst many
others. He currently lives in London with his wife and baby boy.
Judging Panel: Finola Dwyer, Producer
Finola is the Chair of
the BAFTA Film Committee and a BATFA board member. Since re-locating
to the UK from New Zealand in the early 90’s, Finola Dwyer’s producer
credits include Iain Softley's award-winning debut
Backbeat;
Stephan Elliott's cult favourite
Welcome to Woop Woop; Chris
Menges'
The Lost Son, starring Daniel Auteuil and Nastassja
Kinski;
Sandra Goldbacher's BAFTA-nominated
Me Without You, starring
Anna Friel and Michelle Williams; Antonia Bird's EMMY-nominated
The
Hamburg Cell; and Stephen Woolley's feature debut
Stoned.
Finola produced the
Golden
Globe, EMMY-nominated and BAFTA-winning
Tsunami: The Aftermath
by Abi Morgan, for HBO/BBC, directed by Bharat Nalluri, starring
Chiwetel
Ejiofor, Tim Roth, Sophie Okonedo and Toni Collette. She also executive
produced
Dean Spanley directed by Toa Fraser, starring Peter
O’Toole, Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam and Bryan Brown.
Finola’s most recent production is
An Education, written by Lynn Barber with the screenplay written
by Nick Hornby by best-selling author and screenwriter Nick Hornby and
directed by Lone Scherfig (
Italian For Beginners: Wilbur Wants To
Kill Himself). The cast includes Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina,
Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson and rising
star Carey Mulligan.
An Education had its world premiere at
Sundance
this year to wide critical acclaim, winning the Audience and
Cinematography
awards.
An Education will be released in the US and UK in
October. Nik Powell, Director NFTS and Producer
Nik was appointed
Director
of the National Film and Television School in 2005, although he remains
as non-executive chairman of Scala Productions. Nik was one of the
co-founders
of the Virgin Group and established Virgin Records in 1972 with Richard
Branson.
In 1983, Powell and
Stephen
Woolley founded Palace Productions, which produced
The Company of
Wolves and the
Oscar-nominated and award-winning
Mona
Lisa, which introduced Neil Jordan and Bob Hoskins to the
international
market. In 1992, Powell was the sole executive producer of Neil Jordan’s
The Crying Game starring Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, and Forest
Whitaker. This was one of the biggest British independent films at the
box office taking over $65 million at the US box-office alone.
The
Crying Game was nominated for six Oscars, including ‘Best Picture.’
At Scala Productions,
Nik has produced
Fever Pitch starring Colin Firth,
TwentyFourSeven,
Last Orders and
Ladies in Lavender, Charles Dance’s
directorial
debut, starring Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith and Miriam Margolis.
Nik has also executive produced
Calendar Girls, featuring Helen
Mirren, Julie Walters, John Alderton and Annette Crosbie and
Stoned
(based on the Rolling Stone Brian Jones’ life and death written by
Neal Purvis and Rob Wade of “
The World Is Not Enough” fame)
with Stephen Woolley directing. Tommy Thompson, Deputy Director General, Bahamas Tourist Office
Tommy Thompson is the Deputy Director
General of Tourism for The Islands of The Bahamas. Tommy has worked
in tourism for over twenty years and while based in Nassau for the last
four years has seen not only a growth in worldwide awareness of the
Islands but also a rising stream of television programme, filmmakers
and photographers who find the varied locations of the islands as well
the atmosphere and support from the Bahamians such a pleasure to work
with. Thompson has returned to London to oversee the development of
tourism to The Bahamas from the UK and Europe. David Parry, Product Specialist from Canon Consumer Imaging David joined Canon UK in 2008 as the Product Intelligence Professional for photo video products. David has spent his whole working career in the photography industry, specialising in photo processing and equipment at both a professional level plus working in high street stores in technical labs and selling products to members of the public. In 1997 he set up his own photographic business offering photographic services including wedding, studio photography and specialist printing services. Photography has always been a passion for David and he has dabbled in video-making himself from when he was a teenager.
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