Students and graduates from Film and Animation courses at the University of South Wales (USW) won eight awards at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Cymru awards, celebrating creativity, innovation and storytelling at the heart of Welsh television.
A total of 13 USW films were nominated for the awards, which were held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
The Undergraduate award for Animation went to First Flight: The Sky’s the Limit, made by Molly Hill, while the Undergraduate awards for Drama and for Entertainment & Comedy Drama were both won by Talu Studios, for their films Pinch of Fantasy and You’re Toast. The Undergraduate award for Craft Skills in Sound went to Alix Reynolds’ work on The Y2K Bug.
The Undergraduate award for Factual (long form) went to Mute, made by Sol Lane. The film is based on Sol’s remarkable story of being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) during his studies.
Sol’s MS caused complete speech loss and paralysed the right side of his body, leading to brain damage and a three-month stint in hospital where he needed to re-learn how to walk and talk. Despite all he had been through, Sol returned to USW for his final year and graduated with a first-class honours degree, having created the film to show his recovery during the first year of his diagnosis.
What it Takes, a documentary film made by BA Media Production students, was also nominated in the Undergraduate Factual (long form) category.
The Postgraduate award for Drama was won by Make a Wish, made by Dead Dog Walking Productions, while Resonance, made by Mai-Anne Dao, picked up the Postgraduate awards for Factual (long form) with the film’s cinematographer, Dhanesh Parameswaran picking up the award for Craft Skills in Camera.
Joe Sudlow, course leader for BA Film at USW, said:
“We were thrilled to see our students’ work recognised by the Royal Television Society this year, through both nominations and wins, in what proved to be a wonderful evening of celebrating the creative successes of Wales during the past year.
“A huge congratulations goes out to all involved, including the many courses across the university who found opportunities to collaborate on these films. We can't wait to see what they do next in their filmmaking journeys, and hope that this provided a valuable experience to engage with industry.”
