First place prize for aspiring young film makers

Two aspiring young film makers have got one step closer to achieving their dreams after winning a Welsh film award.

Alycia Pritchard, 20, and Scarlett Clarke, 18, both in their final year studying Creative Media Production at Coleg y Cymoedd’s Nantgarw campus, wowed the judges at the Zoom Cymru Young Film Makers Awards with their commemorative short film about World War One. The budding film makers were given the accolade of Best Experimental Film, beating two other shortlisted films to the post.

Initially part of a course assignment set in November 2014 to commemorate the centenary year of WW1, learners Alycia and Scarlett impressed staff members throughout the college with their high quality film making. The film, called ‘Goodbye Mam’ is an emotional tale of a mother and her son sending letters to each other during the war, and eventually saying goodbye. The film was directed and produced by Alycia and Scarlett respectively.

Recognising their talents, Coleg y Cymoedd tutor Amanda Stafford was quick to encourage the two learners to enter their film into the Zoom Cymru Awards. The awards are held as part of the wider Zoom International Youth Film Festival which took place during the last week of March across seven venues in the South Wales Valleys. The festival included a mix of workshops and masterclasses by expert tutors and filmmakers passing on advice and knowledge to the aspiring young film makers. The awards ceremony took place on the final night in Bridgend.

On winning the award, director Alycia from Caerphilly, said: “It was completely surreal to win! It felt like a great achievement especially as the other films in our category were really good.

“It was amazing to see the creativity of all the film makers there, some even as young as 10. I’m really glad my tutor encouraged us to enter the awards.”

Scarlett, from Llantwit Fardre, dedicated the award to her late Uncle who was a great fan of her film making: “I know my Uncle would be really proud of us for winning. This was my favourite project to date so it was great to have won an award for it at the same time!”

Both Alycia and Scarlett have dreams of working in the television industry eventually, with conditional offers to study film at the University of South Wales this coming September.

Tutor, Amanda Stafford, spoke of their achievements: “We are extremely proud of Alycia and Scarlett’s achievement. Their film really captured the tragedy of WW1 in Wales and it is great to see them get the recognition they deserve.”

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