The second annual BFI and Chanel Filmmaker Awards celebrated inventive audacity on the tony Claridges Resort in London on Thursday afternoon.
Rising filmmakers author/director Ella Glendining, author/director Savanah Leaf and producer Nadira Murray had been the recipients of this 12 months’s award, chosen by a jury panel comprised of BFI CEO Ben Roberts, actor Tilda Swinton, British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful and Marie-Louise Khondji, the producer and founding father of Le Cinéma Membership.
Glendining is the expertise behind function doc “Is There Anyone Out There?” about her world seek for somebody with a physique that appears like hers. Leaf wrote and directed “Earth Mama,” which focuses on a pregnant lady combating to get custody of her two kids whereas Murray produced “Winners,” a few nine-year-old Iranian boy searching for to reunite a misplaced statue with its proprietor.
“I really, really had this longing to satisfy different individuals with a physique like mine so [the film] got here to me in a ‘this must occur’ kind of method,” mentioned Glendining of the genesis of her mission.
Leaf, a former Group GB Olympic volleyball participant, mentioned her athletic expertise had factored into her filmmaking. “One of many largest issues is being a part of a crew and searching round you and seeing all these individuals with totally different talent units and issues that they wrestle with and attempting to get essentially the most out of one another as individuals.”
Murray mentioned she focuses her work on giving a voice to individuals from under-represented backgrounds. “Being a producer is about bringing creativity to the function and figuring out and nurturing expertise,” she mentioned. “Bringing filmmakers’ imaginative and prescient and voices onto the display screen and creating an art-driven, industrial mission with inside resonance.”
Every of the winners will obtain £20,000 ($24,500) to place in the direction of their apply, enabling them to discover new concepts and widen illustration within the business.
“We had been introduced with an extremely robust and various shortlist, indicative of the distinctive high quality of labor being produced by early profession U.Ok. filmmakers in the mean time,” the jury mentioned. “It was a really tough resolution, however in the end we had been unanimous in deciding on these three proficient filmmakers whose early work exhibits huge potential. We had been additionally thrilled to have chosen three ladies, every bringing a unique perspective to their work.”
Different visitors to attend the occasion included “Speechless” star Minnie Driver, “To Leslie” actor Andrea Riseborough and director Ol Parker.
Pictured above: The winners and jury of the BFI x Chanel Filmmaker Awards (L-R: Marie-Louise Khondji, Tilda Swinton, Savanah Leaf, Ella Glendining, Nadira Murray, Ben Roberts, Edward Enninful)