Filmmakers from Staffordshire University have scooped two industry awards for their work
Darcy Wooton-Davis, Anya Szelewska and Oscar Bell with their awards (image RTS Midlands)
I was completely overwhelmed to have won. It felt so surreal, and I’m just so thankful to everyone who was involved in every stage of the film.
The Royal Television Society’s Midlands Student Awards champions the best new talent from universities across the region with this year’s ceremony hosted at the Midlands Arts Centre.
Recent BA (Hons) Film Production graduate Anya Szelewska won the coveted ‘Best Drama’ category for The Birds Nest. The short film offers of a new perspective on the trials and tribulations of family life through a bird’s eye view of their dinner table.
This year’s panel of industry judges included Sir Lenny Henry who described Anya’s film as “very stylish” and “very moving”.
Anya said: “I was completely overwhelmed to have won. It felt so surreal, and I’m just so thankful to everyone who was involved in every stage of the film.
“I wanted it to evoke positive feelings, something that could relate to a vast audience and make people smile. A dining room table holds so much significance to a family and I loved creating a film that highlighted that.”
Staffordshire University had further cause for celebration when a trio of final year students, Oscar Bell, Darcy Wooton-Davis and Cameron Tura, won the ‘Craft Skills – Best Sound’ award. Their film Big Boys Don’t Cry explores body image and mental health.
Oscar, who wrote and directed the film, explained: “We really wanted to push ourselves and focus on a personal topic. We each had shared experiences of mental health and knew this was something we wanted to communicate. Through making the film we came across numerous men with various experiences of struggle that we witnessed, it proved to us that this topic and this film is really important for people to see.”
He added: “It was really surprising to win, we hope that the award encourages people to see the film and gives more exposure to the subject. It was a great day and encouraging to see how inclusive and supportive the industry can be, it makes leaving university less daunting.”
Members of the public have chance to see more films made by Film Production students at this year’s Degree Show. The free exhibition runs from Friday 2 June to Saturday 10 June and showcases the final year work of hundreds of students across Art, Design, Media and Performance courses.
Discover more about Staffordshire University’s range of degrees in Media, Performance and Communication.