Scotland’s got talent: Bafta awards new film makers

The Bafta awards for best new talent in Scottish film supplied further evidence that young people are flocking here to forge a career in the business, finds Andrea Mullaney

AN ex-pop singer, the star of an Irn Bru advert, a man who reported from the Egyptian revolution and the director of an unusual music video were among those named as the best new talents in Scottish film-making at Bafta in Scotland’s annual awards ceremony.

Broadcaster Muriel Gray hosted the grand affair at Glasgow’s Oran Mor last night, where 11 newcomers were honoured for short films and documentaries, music and games. While most are unknowns, the awards are regarded as indications of those who could go on to be major players in film and TV.

But the winner of the Best Animation category, Ainslie Henderson, may be familiar to talent show fans with long memories – a decade ago the singer-songwriter was a finalist in BBC1’s series Fame Academy. He came fourth and released a single afterwards, Keep Me A Secret, which made No 5 in the charts. Like many subsequent talent show graduates, he was then dropped by his record company, but went on to write a song for American rocker Jason Mraz and released an album on his own independent record label in 2006. Having turned to animation, he made a short film based on his earliest childhood memory called It’s About Spending Time Together, which won him the Bafta award.

Henderson said: “This is the first time I’ve ever won anything. It feels amazing, especially as I made the film for my family and never intended it to be shown publicly. To be awarded by Bafta in Scotland and to be amongst such amazing talent, some of them friends, is just brilliant. What an incredible night.”

The award for Best Actor went to Lynn Murray for her role in a short comedy film, Falling For Fitzgerald, about a Jane Austen fan who agrees to pose as the fiancée of a rich gay man but is determined to make him into her Darcy. The film, directed and written by Amy Hawes, was made after a ‘crowd-sourcing’ appeal for donations raised £1,500 towards its production. Murray, 23, was previously best known for appearing in a commercial for Irn Bru and has also acted at the Arches Theatre.

Inverness-born Ruaridh Arrow, a former producer on Channel 4’s investigative journalism series Dispatches, won the Best Factual (over 30 minutes) category for his documentary How To Start A Revolution. The film examines the influence of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp’s theories about non-violent political protest and during production last year Arrow was caught up in the Egyptian revolution. He ended up staying among the protesters in Tahrir Square, reporting for the BBC after their own correspondents had left, and his film has now been screened by television channels in more than 15 countries.

Anna Ginsburg’s four-minute stop-frame animation film How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep? was commissioned to promote a song by the band Bombay Bicycle Club and has been watched more than 500,000 times on YouTube. It won Best New Work and, according to Ian McKenzie from Channel 4 who co-sponsor the awards along with Creative Scotland, the film “was an excellent example of understanding and execution within the constraints of a music video, as well as being a beautiful piece of animation that delighted all of the jurors.” Ginsburg is one of several winners emerging from Edinburgh College of Art’s film department, along with the producers of Best Fiction (under 30 minutes) short film Rabbit Punch, about teenage boxers in Leith, and Best Original Music winner Gareth Griffiths. Lecturer David Cairns says that despite the difficulty in funding short films, they are increasingly popular with those trying to make it in the industry.

“There’s no profit margin, it’s very hard to raise money and we’re not able to provide them with budgets, so they just have to be very resourceful and be a bit of a hustler. We basically just tell them to do everything possible and legal to get the films made. It would be really nice if TV companies would show some support, because they don’t commission them very often or show them, but there are huge amounts of really good short films out there. Once people have done the film festivals, they often upload them to YouTube and it’s a great way to get attention for their work.

“We are continually challenging the students to be ambitious but also be sensible and focused and know why they’re doing what they’re doing. It’s encouraging for them to see that they can get somewhere with their work.”

Jude McLaverty, director of Bafta in Scotland, said that the nominees for this year’s awards came from all over the world, including Poland, Iceland, Yemen and Germany. She added: “It’s great to see such a vibrant international community within Scotland’s moving images industries.

“There is a real feeling that Scotland is the place to be at the moment, which is why so many students and young people are flocking here to study and forge a career.”

THE WINNERS

ACTOR / ACTRESS

Lynn Murray

Falling for Fitzgerald

ANIMATION

IT’S ABOUT SPENDING TIME TOGETHER

Director: Ainslie Henderson

Writer: Ainslie Henderson

Producer: Donald Holwill

Edinburgh College of Art (ECA)

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Hakon Palsson

NO MORE SHALL WE PART

Screen Academy Scotland, ECA

EDITOR

Johanna Erholtz

THE TAXIDERMIST

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

FACTUAL: OVER 30 MINUTES

HOW TO START A REVOLUTION

Director: Ruaridh Arrow

Producer: Ruaridh Arrow

TVF International

FACTUAL: UNDER 30 MINUTES

KIRKCALDY MAN

Director: Julian Schwanitz

Producer: Julian Schwanitz

Screen Academy Scotland, ECA

FICTION: UNDER 30 MINUTES

RABBIT PUNCH

Director: Neil Hartop

Writer: Neil Hartop

Producer: Sara Forbes and Stuart Condy

GAME

Sculpty

Team Tickle

ORIGINAL MUSIC

Gareth Griffiths

AN INTERRUPTED STORY

ECA

WRITER

Agata Jagodzinska

SECRET OF CONFESSION

Queen Margaret University

BEST NEW WORK

HOW CAN YOU SWALLOW SO MUCH SLEEP?

Director: Anna Ginsburg

Writer: Anna Ginsburg

Producer: Jared Taylor

ECA