24/02/2005

The First Light Film Awards ceremony celebrating the best short films made by young British people between the ages of 5 and 18 was held yesterday in London’s Leicester Square. The awards were presented by film stars such as actors Sir Ian McKellen, Rupert Grint (from the Harry Potter series), Joe Prospero (Finding Neverland), Natalie Press (My Summer of Love) and the director of film classic Chariots of Fire Hugh Hudson.

A panel of celebrity judges including Jude Law, Stephen Fry, My Summer of Love director Pawel Pawlikowski and author Nick Hornby have chosen nine winning films made by aspiring filmmakers from 21 cities around the UK thanks to National Lottery grants worth an average of £5,000 per project under the First Light scheme. And many youth agencies, schools, colleges, production companies and film clubs across the UK have all worked in association with the UK Film Council supported program First Light, to deliver those films.

Yesterday’s winners have been selected from nine competing categories: Best animation, Best horror/thriller, best documentary, Best comedy, Best screenplay, best Drama, Best film made by under 12s and Best film by over 12s. The winning film for example in the Best Drama was Taking Pictures made for over £6,000 by a group of ten filmmakers from Dorset aged between 15 and 17; the Best film made by under 12s was When Mum Was Young produced for just under £6,000 by a group of 42 filmmakers aged between 7 and 11 from Reading.

Steward Till, the UK Film Council Chairman commented: 'It’s wonderful to see that thanks to First Light, potential Oscar-winners of the future are getting their chance to turn their ideas and imagination into stories on the screen. These often challenging and imaginative films are a wonderful example of the positive pay-off from National Lottery investment in the film industry and film culture in the UK'. To date, some 8,500 apprentice filmmakers have been given a chance to write, act, shoot and produce more than 550 films under the guidance of film professionals thanks to the First Light scheme launched in May 2001.