Recognition

Evripidis' Karidis's 98 scooped Best Documentary at the European Film Festival Mainstream and Underground, while James Davoll's Adlais was named Best Experimental Film at the Wales International Film Festival this week. Simona Palladino was presented with the Pietro Corsi Award from the Italian municipality of Casacalenda for documentary Age is just a Bingo Number during the summer.

Simona based Age is just a Bingo Number around her PhD research into the North East's Italian community.  The Pietro Corsi Award is made in honour of the writer Pietro Corsi who wrote about travel and migration and emigrated to the United States. 

Over the summer Age is Just a Bingo Number was screened in Rome and the Molise region. The film was also selected as a semi-finalist in the International Film Festival Fest-Pro, Russia. It has recently been selected for two more festivals: Pinewood Studio’s Lift Off festival and First Time Film Maker Sessions.

"I am extremely honoured to receive the award," said Simona. "During the prize ceremony I meet so many people, mostly Pietro Corsi's friends from Molise and family from the U.S., who believed in my skills. I'm grateful, as this recognition has boosted my motivation in pursuing research, doing more and better."

Film making practice

Evripidis Karidis's short film 98 tells the story of Eleni, an elderly woman living alone who reminisces about her early days living in a village. Evris, who is the University's first Film practice PhD student, has had some of his other films shown recently in Glasgow and Eastbourne and has taken part in film festivals across the world.

"I am so excited for this award," said Evris. "I always thought that 98 was worthy of winning an award and it finally happened. I want to thank Ian McDonald for his guidance and Matt Robinson for his excellent work."

Technician James Davoll won best Experimental Film at the Wales International Film Festival, held in Neath. The film Adlais, produced independently from the University, explores the visual and sonic potential of the Dyffryn Nantlle slate quarries in Wales. It was featured in Gwynedd Council's recent Dorothea World Heritage Site application, was shortlisted for the John Hefin Award at the BAFTA qualifying Carmarthen Bay Film Festival and also featured in a British Film Institute article.

In July, James and colleague Dr Clifton Evers won best Experimental Film at the ReelHeart International Film and Screenplay Awards in Toronto, for their film A Toxic Love Affair.

"Being nominated for and receiving these recent awards really endorses the quality of these projects and the conscious decisions to push the practice of film making,” says James. "The recent Wales International Film Festival award was particularly pleasing with the project exploring Wales' unique post-industrial landscape."

New Creatives

Two English graduates were chosen to make short films as part of the New Creatives scheme which offers commissioning opportunities for emerging artists to create new work, designed for BBC platforms. Georgia Mulrain made Elephant in the Room, a video self-portrait which explores what it means to be mixed race. Isobel Clark’s Paper Skin explores the experiences one young woman shares with a number of 'sugar daddies'. The films were shown on BBC Four last month in the programme Rhyme and Reason: BBC Introducing Arts presented by author Lemn Sissay.

Meanwhile, Dr Ian McDonald's film Who is Europe? has been shortlisted for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research in Film award. Each of the six parts of the experimental split screen documentary is based on research carried out as part of the three-year CoHere project looking at European identity which was led by Newcastle University. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on 12 November.