With nearly 100 treatments to sift through, the massive judging panel - Riz Ahmed (Shifty, Road To Guantanamo, Brits), Adam Deacon (Adulthood, Dubplate Drama), Andy Noble (Warp Films), Amplify, Ctrl.Alt.Shift, Little White Lies, Clash and LIVE - had to fight it out.
But after some serious work, it's time to name and frame the four winners, who will each be given £4,000 to make their films, and get mentored by the likes of Noel Clarke, Shynola, Saam Farahmand, Kinga Burza, Jim Therapleton and Paul Andrew Williams. While that alone is a middle finger up to your average competition, they'll also get a soundtrack courtesy of Metronomy, Shy Child, Chipmunk, The Thirst, Young Knives or Jesca Hoop.
So to the winners...
Ben Newman - War School
Opting for a short based around war + peace, Ben Newman, has come up with one of the most popular entries, gaining praise across the board. Looking to re-create a military training camp for child soldiers in a British school, lines such as "open your page to page 6. Repeat after me I'm a killing machine, the lord of war, I must think of only one thing... spilling the blood of my enemy..." it was described by Riz Ahmed as "a great idea, simple, communicating a direct message."
Fern Berresford - Man Made
This two-minute short, based around gender + power is set in a disused garage using a mannequin and two dirty salesmen to represent a woman who's been trafficked. "It shows the treatment of women as property and the lack of self worth and identify women feel due to poverty, lack of education and gender equalities in many societies," said Berresford.
Joe Patrick - The Treatment
The main aim of Patrick's film is to expose the ridiculous attitudes towards HIV and Aids. A series of video blogs posted by a young playwright, James McKenzie, whose artistic integrity is being challenged by ignorance, set the scene. McKenzie's play about a humanitarian worker with HIV is hijacked by the production team who want to appeal to the gays with HIV: The Musical.
Tim Travers Hawkins - Untitled animation
An animated documentary in which three detainees at Western Heights Immigration Removal Centre, Dover, express their feelings on war + peace. Tasking them to each compose a three minute poem, the works will then be recorded with an "inspiring vision to bring striking visual punch to the poems." Hawkins hopes it will break boundaries.
Judge Andy Noble said: "The overall standard of entries was extremely high, with lots of fresh, hard-hitting proposals filling the Ctrl.Alt.Shift post bag. This made for some very tough judging choices, however all four eventual winners stood out with their combination of striking original ideas and focused engagement with the development issues. These four film-makers also found intelligent and exciting ways to make a virtue of the low-budget short format they'll be operating in and have the potential to make some outstanding pieces of work."
Our fifth and final entry was chosen by the good British public via our People's Choice voting system, the winners now revealed as Alexandra Monro + Sheila Menon, with their entry, No Way Through.
Actor Adam Deacon was particularly keen on this entry saying. "All the politicians are talking about this subject, but it would be great to see it from a young person’s perspective..." Adam Deacon.? ?"No Way Through highlights mobility restrictions imposed by the Israeli government that are limiting Palestinians access to health care, thus violating their right to health. The film will portray a fictitious scenario of one young individual, living in a British city... On his way to work he's involved in a collision but on his route to hospital, his journey's littered with blockages, checkpoints and soldiers. The film stops suddenly and we reveal that it's not fiction - 2.7 million Palestinians live in these conditions in the West Bank today."
The first production meeting was held last Thursday and gave everyone a chance to meet and discuss plans for the next 10 weeks, when the films will be made. The winners were also paired with their directors and we’re pleased to announce the following partnerships:
• Tim Travers Hawkins / Shynola
• Joe & Tim / Paul Andrew Williams
• Ben Newman / Jim Therapleton
• Alexandra & Sheila / Noel Clarke & Saam Farahmand
• Fern Berresford / Kinga Burza
Watch this space for regular updates on how the films are coming along.