Sunday, February 05, 2012

Goole film-makers get Hollywood nominations

Two young directors from Goole, who took part in a film-making project at Junction last Spring, have had their films nominated in the Youth Fest category of the prestigious Hollywood International Family Film Festival. 
  
Harvey Griffin (aged 15) directed a short film entitled Going Up, which also featured young crew members and young actors from Goole. Harvey is pleased to have been nominated and, as there appears to be only one nomination in the Comedy category, looks set to scoop the award.
Hannah Turner (aged 13) made her first film aged 7. Her film “Man from the Moon” is nominated for Best Drama. and combines animation with live action. It again used a young cast and crew from Goole supported by a terrific performance by Alec Cark (aged 77) who travelled from Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire to play the title role. He said, “Great news about Hollywood. I knew I'd get there one day!” Hannah is ecstatic to have been selected for the Hollywood screening, saying “I found the process very interesting and I have learnt a lot from the entire film course.”

Charlie Studdy, Arts & Leisure Manager at Junction said ‘We are immensely proud of what these young people have achieved; they really put so much hard work into the planning and creativity in these films. I’m delighted that they have been nominated in Hollywood, a great opportunity for two teenagers from Goole to showcase the fantastic talents the youth of Goole has to offer.’

Goole Straight8 was a 6 month film project for young people held at Junction, led by professional film-maker David Bunting. David, who started making films as a child on Super 8 before working on films like “Shaun the Sheep”, Disney’s “The Tigger Movie” and Channel 4’s “The Astronomers Sun” says ‘“While any film festival success is a real accomplishment, the truth is a Hollywood nomination is a massive deal for any filmmaker and our young filmmakers should be very proud of what they have accomplished. Their films will be screened on a Hollywood lot along with the best films made by young people from around the world. What’s really remarkable is our films were short on film and unedited, under strict competition rules set by Straight 8. Making films is hard enough, but the added challenges of editing in camera, meant our young filmmakers really had to plan every element of their film – with no chance of a second take. And maybe that’s the ultimate reason for their success. All of the professionals who worked with the young people put a huge amount of trust in them and our young people rose to the challenge! The whole thing was like a mini film school.”
Both films were made for Straight8 - a film competition like no other, in which entrants are provided with 8mm film and only get one shot at capturing their short movie. There is no opportunity to edit what has been filmed, and the first time the filmmakers got to see their work was at the premiere last summer at the ICA in London. Each applicant sent their unprocessed reel of film to the festival, who developed and viewed it to make their selections. Due to the tough challenge of making the film, it is usually experienced film-makers and degree-level film students that enter their work – it is very rare that young people get such an opportunity to have their work shown at this level. Straight8 Festival organiser Will Cummock said ‘Straight 8 is a tough challenge for any filmmaker, so it's fantastic to see young people taking it on so successfully’.

The film making project was made possible by a grant from Screen Yorkshire and UK film Council through the Regional Investment Fund for England. Sally Joynson, Chief Executive at Screen Yorkshire, said: “This is an amazing achievement for these young filmmakers – to be recognised internationally and have your film screened in Hollywood is something they won’t forget. It just goes to show how Yorkshire and Humber is a hotbed of filmmaking talent across all ages. I’d like to congratulate both teams on this brilliant achievement.”

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