28/11/2013 - £30,000 grant awarded in association with the British Film Institute and Film4

Director Clio Barnard (© European Union 2013 - European Parliament)

The Wellcome Trust has conferred their inaugural screenwriting fellowship upon acclaimed British director Clio Barnard. She has expressed a keen interest in exploring the implications of key developments at the frontline of science and medicine, in particular the impact of trauma on children, and the £30,000 award will go towards developing a screenplay on these themes. The award is in association with the British Film Institute and Film4.

Barnard’s The Selfish Giant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Clio Barnard
interview: Clio Barnard
film profile] is currently nominated for six British Independent Film Awards, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it won the prestigious Europa Cinemas Label Prize for Best European Film.

Barnard said, “This is an incredibly generous and unique opportunity to mainline inspiration; a unique opportunity to access cutting-edge research as well as the Wellcome archives; a unique opportunity to immerse myself in past, present and future...the freedom to explore and experiment, to see what emerges, to alter my view of the world and beyond; a unique opportunity to switch between the minute details and rigours of research and to stand back to try and see the big picture. I can’t wait!”

Lizzie Francke, Senior Executive at the BFI Film Fund, said, “The fellowship is a great opportunity for a screenwriter to immerse themselves in the wonders of Wellcome, to provide some thinking and dreaming space, so as to create stories infused by the biomedical world.”