20th July 2011
Posted by Bonnie at
12.00am
Kurt Egyiawan, a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, has won the 2011 Spotlight Prize. Kirsty Oswald, a graduate of Rose Bruford College was awarded the Highly Commended prize.
The prizes were presented as part of the fifth Spotlight Showcase 2011, held at the Bloomsbury Ballroom last night (19 July 2011).
The annual showcase sees 22 of the most promising graduating students from drama schools across the country performing in front of a star-studded judging panel of actors and casting directors and an audience of agents, producers and industry professionals.
Each of the 22 nominees was awarded a year of free membership of Spotlight with Egyiawan winning a cash prize of £2,000. Oswald walks away with £1,500 cash as her Highly Commended prize.
This year's judging panel was made up of actors Sylvia Syms, Julian Glover, Stephen Tompkinson, Joanna Page, Janet Suzman and Rachael Stirling alongside Neil Rutherford, head of casting for ATG, Amy Ball, head of casting at the Royal Court, Julia Crampsie, casting executive for BBC Drama, and Nigel Seale, head of Spotlight.
Previous winners of the annual Showcase have included Albert Finney, Judi Dench, Robert Lindsay, Jim Broadbent and Zoe Wanamaker.
Speaking about the prize, managing partner of Spotlight Ben Seale, said: "I had the honour of sitting on the judges table, and they agreed that the future is very bright for all of the talented students who performed. Kurt and Kirsty were truly fantastic — spine tingling stuff — and they have huge careers ahead of them. We look forward to following the careers of all the nominees very closely.
"One highlight of the evening for me was that a performer was asked to attend a casting at the Royal Court Theatre the next morning, simply on the back of her performance on the night! This is exactly what it is all about."
No Comments
19th July 2011
Posted by Bonnie at
12.00am
The Spotlight Showcase 2011 will be held at the Bloomsbury Ballroom tonight (19 July 2011) with 22 of the most promising graduating students from drama schools across the country performing in front of a star-studded judging panel of actors and casting directors and an audience of agents, producers and industry professionals.
This year's judging panel is made up of actors Sylvia Syms (Case Histories, Ice Cold In Alex, The Queen), Julian Glover (Game of Thrones, Silent Witness, Oliver!), Stephen Tompkinson (Wild at Heart, Prime Suspect, Brassed Off), Joanna Page (Women in Love, An Ideal Husband, The Priory), Janet Suzman (A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Nicholas and Alexandra, Voyage of the Damned) and Rachael Stirling (Women in Love, An Ideal Husband, The Priory).
The panel also includes industry professionals Neil Rutherford, head of casting for ATG; Amy Ball, head of casting at the Royal Court; Julia Crampsie, casting executive for BBC Drama; and Nigel Seale, head of Spotlight.
This year's graduates will compete for the titles of Best Actor and Highly Commended Actor and prize money of £2000 and £1500 respectively.
Previous winners of the annual Showcase have included Albert Finney, Judi Dench, Robert Lindsay, Jim Broadbent and Zoe Wanamaker with last year’s winner, Andrew Gower, having already appeared as a series regular in ITV’s Monroe. He also appeared in the BBC’s production of Frankenstein’s Wedding earlier this year.
Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out who of the 22 "faces to watch" are the winners and for photos from tonight's event.
No Comments
17th July 2011
Posted by Bonnie at
10.43pm
I have just finished screencapping the first episode of Women in Love, and have uploaded 127 screencaps to the gallery.
View the full gallery
I'm hoping to screencap the second episode shortly. 
No Comments
8th July 2011
Posted by Bonnie at
12.00am
A Coventry pupil has won a national award for a video she produced about the dangers of smoking.
The short film, called Cut it Out, depicts a paper family and one member eventually becomes covered in an ash-like substance and is taken away.
Charlotte Wilkinson, 14, of Ash Green School in Coventry, won the judge's choice award in the competition.
It was produced by The Deborah Hutton Campaign charity and invited young people to make films about smoking.
Charlotte, who picked up her award from actress Rachael Stirling at a ceremony in London, said: "It's very exciting to have won the national awards and to take part in making the film.
"I'm really proud that my idea caught the judges' attention and hopefully lots of people will listen to its message that smoking will cut you out of your life and your family will miss you."
The aim of the films is to get young people to spread anti-smoking messages through social media and the internet and to their friends.
No Comments
7th July 2011
Posted by Bonnie at
12.00am
Young people from 3 schools across the UK were awarded prizes last night by Cut Films and TV & Film actress Rachael Stirling. Beating off the competition from 75 other films, Charlotte Wilkinson, Ash Green School, Coventry, Evan Costello, Commonweal School, Swindon and Sebastian Gee, Chris Evans, Lloyd Hunt and Elliot Bassett from Howardian PRU picked up the top prizes for 2011.
Their stop smoking films entered into the charity's competition, Cut Films, helped generate over 30,000 views on YouTube in the competition's first national year and were picked from nearly 80 films.
Chosen for communicating the most provocative and engaging stop smoking messages for young people, the three winning films, written, created and produced by young people, were selected by a glittering judging panel of young people, advertising and health experts.
Young people from three schools across the UK will be awarded by TV and film actress, Rachael Stirling, who is best known for her roles in Tipping the Velvet (2002) and the TV series of DH Lawrence, Women in Love (2011).
Rachael Stirling, actress, says, "Cut Films encourages kids to create imaginative, thought-provoking shorts. An anti-smoking message from kids to kids is bound to be a more successful tool than any stale warning from parents or teachers.
It is an honour to present the winners with their awards tonight and I hope the charity continues to encourage these bright young minds in the field of film."
Winner, Charlotte Wilkinson from Ash Green School, Coventry, part of NHS Warwickshire's Smokefree Awards, who made Cut it Out said, "It's very exciting to have won the national awards and to take part in making the film! I'm really proud that my idea caught the judges' attention and hopefully lots of people will listen to its message that smoking will cut you out of your life and your family will miss you."
In 2nd place, Evan Costello, representing his group from Commonweal School, Swindon, for Stamp it Out, said 'We wanted to take a different angle from the usual 'smoking is bad for your health' message that everyone knows. Our film compares smoking to wasting money – no-one would smash their new mobile phones or ipods like they do in our film – so why waste money on cigarettes?'
Winners of 3rd place, students from the Howardian Pupil Referral Unit took a comic but equally shocking approach with Up in Smoke, by highlighting all the disgusting ingredients to a cigarette, which made the event guests recoil and then laugh as the film showed the boys drinking radioactive liquid and explode on screen.
Sebastian Gee, 16 said, 'We never thought we'd get this far in the competition – none of us have made films before and we were surprised at what you can do with a plain backdrop and special effects. We all did different parts and it does make you think more about how bad smoking is for you.'
Charlie Stebbings, founder of The Deborah Hutton Campaign adds; "It's shocking that every day about 450 children and young people start smoking and I'm passionate about encouraging young people never to smoke in a way that isn't just a bunch of adults telling them not to smoke. That's why Cut Films is all about young people finding out the truth about smoking for themselves — and then telling their friends and families."
Recent independent evaluations of Cut Films show that their peer-peer evidence-based approach is starting to pay off as it concluded that 'a clear positive shift of attitude can be seen among the young people engaged in the project.'
No Comments
Twitter
Facebook
Tumblr
MySpace
del.icio.us
Google Bookmarks
Google Buzz
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
RSS
Loading ...
