LS12 Film Scoop Top Award

A trip of 23 young people from Armley traveled to attend a glitzy awards ceremony at the Odeon in London's Leicester Square yesterday. One Man’s Walk scooped the prize for Best Film by Over 13’s at the Awards, which celebrate the next generation of British filmmaking talent.

One Man’s Walk is a tale by Nicholas Mitchell about his brother Kenneth, and is a window into his world; his likes, dislikes and what is most important to him. Kenneth has Downs Syndrome and making the film engaged him in a creative process and allowed him and his brother to create a view of his world. A panel of judges including comedian Ben Miller (from the Armstrong and Miller show), T4 presenter Rick Edwards, actor Joseph Fiennes and Robert Sheehan (from Misfits and Red Riding) chose the film as the winner. They said;

“The film had a beautiful sentiment to it, and it had the greatest reason for being made. The lovely light hearted narration and clever analogy ie his ‘walk’ were great ways to tell the story, and the result was very intuitive film making”

Interplay raised funds to pay for a coach trip to take the young people to the prestigious ceremony in London with support and donations from local Councilors, Amber Taxis and Asda Killingbeck.

A panel of judges watched over 70 films from around the country to choose winners from 12 categories. The awards were presented by a host of stars including James Corden, Sir Ian McKellan, Gemma Arteton and Ralph Little to name a few.

Nicholas Mitchell accepted the award onstage with the other young people, which included his brother Kenneth. He said of the award, “Me and Kenneth were gobsmacked we won, we didn’t expect to! It came as a surprise but it was really good”

Hayley Butler, who starred in Show and Tell which was also nominated for an award said;“It was a really good day and I’m so proud of Kenneth. I can’t wait for next year!”

Steve Byrne, Artistic Director at Interplay said of the day

“We had a fantastic day in London and to win an award is a validation of how talented our young people are. We think they thoroughly deserve this and just being at the ceremony enjoying the other films from talented young filmmakers around the country was a great experience for them!”