A group of Film BA Honours students were presented the award for Best Undergraduate Production for their film ‘Cutting’, and two other graduation films were nominated for the same award at the Learning on Screen Awards for 2021 hosted on Thursday 18 March.
The Learning on Screen awards celebrate the best talent in Educational television. As well as awards for broadcast programmes, there are also categories for student films to showcase emerging talent at University level. At the online awards ceremony on 18 March, the award for Best Undergraduate production went to ‘Cutting’, a 16-minute psychological drama made by students as their graduation film on the Film BA Honours course. The film was directed by Micah Hinchliffe, designed by Alex Nijhoff, and was written and produced by Olivia Parkinson.
The judges described the film as: “An emotionally intense piece, with great production design, visceral and unflinching, dingy and squalid, focussing on the lack of understanding surrounding mental health.”
Talking about receiving the award, writer and producer Olivia Parkinson said: “I’d like to mention the contributions of everyone to this film, including the crew of fourteen third years, the cast, and the University of Westminster for all the support throughout the production process.”
Two other Westminster graduation films were nominated for the Best Undergraduate Production category. The film entitled ‘Audrey and the Rocket’, which was praised by the judges for its high-quality script and performances, tells the tale of an older couple coming to terms with mortality. The film was written and produced by Michael Upson and directed by Molly Bradbrook.
The second nomination was for ‘Cuckoo’, a psychological thriller about a troubled mother, was written by Ben Douglass, directed by Clare Conway and produced by Armanpreet Kapoor. It was applauded by the judges for its “lovely script, which doesn’t overburden the mise-en-scene with dialogue, and yet leads us slickly to the fantastic plot twist at the end.”
Peter Hort, Principal Lecturer and tutor of the students on the films, commented: “The jury said that they were overwhelmed by the outstanding quality of the finalists in this category, and I’m very proud that three of the five nominees were from Westminster. Our students’ films were polished and professional, but more importantly, they all had a really strong emotional and human core.”
Watch the full Learning on Screen Awards ceremony on YouTube.
Find out more about Film and Television courses at the University of Westminster.
