NFTS students and graduates’ films have been winning major film awards and nominations bumper to bumper over the past fortnight, at the Griersons, BIFAs, and Bafta Scotland awards.
2014 Directing Documentary graduate Peter Akar has scooped the Best Student Documentary Award at the prestigious Grierson Trust Awards for his graduation film Sing Your Heart Out.
The judges said, “…the great accomplishment of the winning film is that it is warm, uplifting and redemptive despite its difficult subject matter and was packed with a strong cast of interesting individual characters.”
Speaking to the NFTS, Peter Akar said: "I am really chuffed to win the Grierson award. It was a real team effort with editor Pawel Slawek, sound mixer Márton Kristof and online editor Fabio Campos. Hopefully this award will help the film reach a bigger audience, and spark conversations about mental health issues, depression and maybe give a little bit of hope... Lots of thanks to Riete, Dick and all the tutors and students at the NFTS who worked on this film."
2014 Directing Fiction graduate Ewan Stewart has won the BAFTA Scotland Short Film Award for his film Getting On– just nine months after graduating!
An NFTS 1st year film Slap directed by Nick Rowland has been nominated for a British Independent Film Award (BIFA). It is one of five NFTS student films to have qualified for consideration in the 2015 Academy Awards.
And congratulations also to NFTS alumnus Kim Longinotto (an NFTS visiting tutor) who has been honoured with the Camerimage award for outstanding achievement in documentary filmmaking.
Read more about the Camerimage awards here in VARIETYhttp://bit.ly/11uCfWd
Our Directing Animation films have bagged a crop of gold awards including this impresive haul in the last month:
Port Nasty directed by Robert Zywietz has won the award for Best Short at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
The Last Resort directed by Stephanie Blakey has won the Audience Award for Best Animated Short at the Oscar-qualifying Austin Film Festival USA.
Mend and Make Do directed by Bexie Bush has won the Agricultural Bucheon Directors Award at Puchon International Student Animation Festival Korea.
The Bigger Picture directed by Daisy Jacobs has added to its collection of awards, the Silver Dove for Best Animated Film at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Filmand Best European Short Film Award at the 3D Wire Festival! This film also qualifies for consideration in the Academy Awards.
This year, NFTS films have already won over 50 awards including two BAFTAs, two Royal Television Society Postgraduate Awards and four Edinburgh Film Festival Awards.
It is brilliant to see our alumni’s achievements recognised by the industry and audiences alike. Their talent generates both income and inward investment into the UK economy.
Photo credit: Grierson Trust.
Pictured are: Peter Akar receiving his Grierson Award
