NLFF 2008 Awards
Posted on Fri, 9 Jan 2009
We're delighted to announce the winners of the Northern Lights Film Festival 08 Awards!
NLFF 08 reached its climax last week with the announcement of the winners of the festival awards that audiences have voted for throughout the festival.
The NLFF 2008 Awards winners are:
Debut Feature Film Award
All of the debut feature films screened at NLFF 2008 were in competition for the Audience Award. This award for the best breakthrough film was judged by the festival audiences who were encouraged to 'rate' each film as they watched it.
We're delighted to announce that winning filmmaker was Director Amin Matalqa for Captain Abu Raed - the first feature film to come out of Jordan for fifty years! Star of the film Nadim Sawalha was at the event to accept the £5,000 cash prize on behalf of Matalqa.
New Script Development Award sponsored by Northern Film & Media All summer hopeful writers submitting script treatments to the first NLFF script prize. 85 entries were received from across the UK, with drama proving to be the most popular choice of genre (43). Both horror and thriller made it to double figures, comedy came up with six and there was a single western. The most popular story concerns were terror threats, identity theft, and atoning for past sins.
The winner of the NLFF Script Development Award was Deola Folarin with her drama THE CONCRETE CAT. Deola will now work with script editor Kate Leys for twelve months to develop her treatment into a feature screenplay. Throughout this period Deola will be keeping a blog about her experiences on the NLFF website so you can read all about her blood, sweat and tears at www.nlff.co.uk
The winning project was chosen by a panel that included screenwriters Peter Straughan (How To Lose Friends and Alienate People) and Michael Chaplin (Foyles War), BBC producer Ruth Caleb (Bullet Boy), author Richard T Kelly (Crusaders), and producer/director Patrick Collerton (The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off). The shortlisted projects were:
INCURSION by Louise Pennington
MY NAME IS FERDINAND by Simon Fellowes
RAZAK FACTOR by Conor Ibrahiem
THE NEW GIRL by Rachel Mathews
THE CONCRETE CAT by Deola Falorin
Deola said today:
"I am completely bowled over about winning the award and very excited at the prospect of working with Kate. THE CONCRETE CAT is a project that I am passionate about and that I have been researching for a while. I am really thrilled to be working on this, of all my projects, with someone of Kate's calibre.
All writers need first class editors and, as most are penniless, they cannot afford to hire one! This is just the type of award that should be given to more writers. I must also say that the glass statuette is so beautiful, I doubt I will ever receive one as lovely in appearance again - even should I ever win an Oscar!!"
Short Film Award
All of the short films in the NLFF International competition were eligible for this audience award. The winning short film was City of Cranes by Director Eva Weber... Eva received a cash prize of £1,000, plus 10 rolls of 16mm film, courtesy of Kodak.
Eva says:
"It was absolutely amazing to win the Short Film Award on Saturday - it's a wonderful prize and I still can't believe it and am so happy
I really enjoyed myself at NLFF 08, managed to see some amazing and met some great people - thank you so much for showing my film."
Graduation Award NLFF
One local graduation short had the opportunity to screen at the Closing Gala at BALTIC. The film unveiled on the night of the Awards was Gannin' Yem, by writer-director Ema Lea and producer Steve Martin who were present to accept the award.
Brian Gordon, NLFF Director said today:
"We would like to thank everyone who came and made this year's NLFF the best yet; for your support, for voting, and for all the feedback we've received, it's all welcome. We are extremely pleased by the positive response the 2008 NLFF garnered and look forward to taking next year's edition to even greater heights. We also salute our partners Culture10, Ipso Facto Films, the BALTIC, Side Cinema, and Star and Shadow Cinema; our funders and sponsors; and our wonderful, hard working volunteers - we couldn't have done it without them."
The NLFF Awards are supported by Gateshead Council.
