Hat Trick For Newport's Film School

For the third year in a row, the prestigious Royal Television Society National Award for Best UK Student Documentary has been won by Welsh students.
The winners are from the multi-award winning Documentary Film and Television degree course at the University of Wales, Newport.
The award, presented at a glittering ceremony in London, went to Lauren Muchan and Joe Sharp for their campaigning graduation film Letters to Angola: An Unlikely Friendship, the story of the relationship between a young British woman and an American Black Panther who has been incarcerated in solitary confinement for the past 37 years in Angola Prison in Louisiana.
The Royal Television Society (RTS) jury described the film as "Fantastically inventive, curious, poetic and unique," saying, "It was a film that kept the viewer thinking long after it had finished. It was slick, beautifully filmed and edited with subtle and compelling music. It didn't stray into drama and was effortlessly thought-provoking."
"It was brilliant to win this award," said 26 year old Lauren from Totnes in Devon, who is currently working for a London based film company on a documentary feature about the Angola prisoners for cinema release. "I’ve always wanted to make films that can make a difference, and we owe much of our success to the tutors at the International Film School Wales (IFSW). They are dedicated film-makers who really inspire their students. They are always there for you, and genuinely want students to succeed and do everything they can to make that happen."
Fellow IFSW graduate Joe was also full of praise for the University's Film School. "It's excellent to win this award, and I'd like to thank the lecturers who motivated us so much. They are always pushing you to be as creative as possible and push the boundaries of film-making," added Joe who is now a full-time director and cameraman for IT3 in Cardiff.
Commenting on his students' success, Christopher Morris, Head of Newport Film School said: "This proves yet again that we have one of the best undergraduate documentary film courses in the UK. The competition for these awards is always fierce - this year the Royal Television Society received over 300 entries from 60 film courses.
"Newport documentary students have an impressive record at this event. We have made the UK finals of the RTS student awards with our strong documentary films every year since 2005 and with this win it's an unprecedented RTS hat trick for Newport. Recently, another graduate, Emma Pratt, who was on the Film and Video degree course, had her short film Brennan’s Sacrament voted Best Student Film at the British Independent Film Awards.
"These prestigious awards have helped launch the careers of many of our graduates, and we’re pleased to say that our award-winning students are now carving out careers in the film industry."
(BMcN/BMcC)