Saturday, March 31, 2012

2 Hollywood awards for Goole Straight 8!

Two young directors from Goole, who took part in a film-making project at Junction last Spring, are celebrating after their films won awards in the Youth Fest category of the prestigious Hollywood International Family Film Festival.    

"Going Up" won the Best Foriegn Comedy award. Directed by Harvey Griffin (aged 15) and co-written by Sam Pratt it featurs young crew members and actors from Goole.  Harvey gave an acceptance speech live to the Hollywood audience from his home via a live video link. He said he was honoured and “proper chuffed” to win the award!

Pitch perfect performances from Mathew Oldreive Francesca Jackson. PS a little bit of trivia - watch out for my cameo!

going up - a straight 8 film by harvey griffin from straight eight on Vimeo.

Hannah Turner (aged 13) made her first film aged 7. Her film “Man from the Moon” was awarded finalist for Best Foreign 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!”  For experience for Hannah has been life changing. She said, “I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire process and it has encouraged me to continue making films and pursue a career in film making. I would also like to thank everyone who helped me to make this possible. I am really 'over the moon'"


man from the moon - a straight 8 film by hannah turner from straight eight on Vimeo.

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 won awards in Hollywood, a great opportunity for two teenagers from Goole to showcase the fantastic talents the youth of Goole has to offer.’ 
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 win International Film Awards in Hollywood shows how Yorkshire and Humber is a hotbed of filmmaking talent across all ages. I’d like to congratulate both teams on this brilliant success, next stop the OSCARs!”

Congratulations everyone!

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Driving Inspiration - call UK aniamtors

Sorry for the lack of posts - been totally busy on losts of exciting projects - and none more exciting than this - an international co-production education programme for the Paralypics. 10 countries are partnering with UK schools to produce a spcial aniamted film for the cultural Olympiad for London 2012 and I've been asked to direct it.



Driving Inspiration is about telling the stories of the Paralympic Games and Paralympians through dance, theatre, visual arts, creative writing, music and film, and the personal journeys of the disabled artists. It is about inspiring young disabled and non-disabled people to identify and fulfil their own dreams, and to celebrate diversity.



We have truly inspirationsal artist working on this - but none more inspirational than Acadamy nominated animator Gary Schwartz, who's going to be kick of the project and work video link with all the international schools for some very specail masterclasses!



Gary calls it 'great big Animated International Exquisite Corpse Anijam'!



I’m urgently looking for good animators with some experience facilitating workshops with young people – who also have a disability, a hidden disabiltiy (such as dyslexia like me) or a learning difficulty to get in touch and help  lead UK workshops.







I’m looking for animators with a disability who are comfortable working with a group of children and young people to facilitate the creation of a piece of animation working to a brief, and comfortable talking about their disability to groups of young people.


I’m ideally looking for people with experience of working with young people in community or schools settings, but professional experience is equally – if not more important.

iving Inspiration partners disabled artists with paralympians, to share their inspiring success. Driving Inspiration is a project led by Creative Bucks a partnership between the District and County councils of Buckinghamshire. This project has been funded by Art Council England, and the South East's Legacy Trust project, Accentuate, to encourage young people to explore the inspiration behind the achievements of Paralympics Athletes.