A film made by a Bournemouth University academic and students has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award. Academic and filmmaker Sue Sudbury together with animation, journalism, radio production and sound design students created a film called ‘Hunger by the Sea’ and have been shortlisted for the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s prestigious 2017 Research in Film.
Launched in 2015, the Research in Film Awards celebrate short films, up to 30 minutes long, that have been made about the arts and humanities and their influence on our lives. The film, which is based on people who use food banks, has made the shortlist for the Innovation Award. Hundreds of films were submitted for the Awards this year.
Filmmaker Sue Sudbury said: ‘An increasing number of people in Britain today are using food banks so I wanted to give ‘a voice’ to some of the people who do. Through the Student Research Assistant scheme introduced by Bournemouth University, two students were paid to co-research and together we produced this film. We are all thrilled that it has been shortlisted for this prestigious AHRC award.’
Mike Collins, Head of Communications at the Arts and Humanities Research Council, said: "The standard of filmmaking in this year's Research in Film Awards has been exceptionally high and the range of themes covered span the whole breadth of arts and humanities subjects.
"While watching the films I was impressed by the careful attention to detail and rich storytelling that the filmmakers had used to engage their audiences. The quality of the shortlisted films further demonstrates the endless potential of using film as a way to communicate and engage people with academic research. Above all, the shortlist showcases the art of filmmaking as a way of helping us to understand the world that we live in today."
There are five categories in total, with four of them aimed at the research community and one open to the public. A team of judges watched the longlisted films in each of the categories to select the shortlist and ultimately the winner.
Judges for the 2017 Research in Film Awards include Richard Davidson-Houston of Channel 4 Television, Lindsay Mackie Co-founder of Film Club and Matthew Reisz from Times Higher Education.
The overall winner for each category will be announced at a special ceremony in London on 9 November and will receive £2,000 towards their filmmaking. For more information, visit www.ahrc.ac.uk
