Some fifteen months after production began on 'Autumn Heart' members of the production team, cast, family and friends gathered to celebrate the film winning the Best Film award for 2003 at the annual JVC Professional Europe/Staffordshire University Awards.

When he received the letter through the post Director Andrew Davidson admits to being surprised but happy, 'Of course it's always a surprise to get an award and for someone to react positively to your work. I hadn't expected it, you hope that it will happen but you can't get those hopes too high. Unless you're Darren that is. He was relentless in his believe that we'd win this year, so I let him be the positive one.'

Director Andrew Davidson and Executive Producer Tom Reynolds were in attendance to receive the award on behalf of the production team and were joined by star Darren McAree, actor Mark Allen and Last ATAK Pictures documentarian Ross Lucas to celebrate the win.

As with the the 2002 awards presented in February 2003 the evening started at 5pm with a brief introduction about the student films and film-makers and the partnership between the University and JVC Professional. This was followed by a screening of the four winning films for 2nd and 3rd years. The runner up for 2nd Year was 'Hindsight', with the winner being '27p'. The runner up in the 3rd year was 'To The Edge'.

After the films were shown, the awards were presented by John Carpenter, the General Manager of Marketing Services for JVC Professional Europe and Paul Richards the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Staffordshire University. The reaction by the audience was very positive and the representatives for JVC, lecturers of the university and members of the public spoke to those involved to offer congratulations and praise for the film. As Mark Allen says, 'After working on the film you learn just how much effort these people put into it.' The hard work looks like it really paid off, and the encouragement is vital for the young film-makers.

'I wasn't so worried this time,' said Davidson at the after-show buffet, 'for LiMBO I was out of my head with worry about it being screened in public as you just don't know how people are going to react, but I think Autumn Heart's message is so important that I was more desperate for people to see it than anything else.'

Mark Allen was equally excited about the screening, 'It felt special to see Autumn Heart on the big screen again, and to hear the round of applause at the end. The only disappointment was that the production team was not there in full,' says Allen in retrospect, 'as it was a group project and they should all have received the applause.' The evening was enjoyed by all and a nice summation to the University ride for Autumn Heart, for now the film is out and belongs to the public. 'I think that's all,' says Davidson from his edit suite, 'I think that is the last link closed between the University, Autumn Heart and Last ATAK Pictures, though I hope that's wrong and that we are asked back occasionally as you never want to close off doors like that. It's been a wonderful experience for all, but for now we must look ever forward to our work outside of the 'student' buffer, except Darren who was never a student anyway.'

Andrew Davidson is currently in post-production on a the new short film 'Quondam', starring Darren McAree, which is being co-produced by Last ATAK Pictures with Tom Reynolds and Angela Slade Executive Producing and Nameless Productions with Kevin Brett Producing.

 

Cast/Crew Comments:

21/12/2003 - Tom Reynolds:
Thoughts eh? Hmmm....the award ceremony was a nice reminder for all the hard work that was put into the film, and it was brilliant to see it on the 'not totally big but bigger than most' screen. It was also interesting to see the caliber of the work that was being done by the other groups at the university, though I'll never understand most groups fascination with 'evil woods' and 'moider'.
The £50 was a nice bonus, and the nicely coloured certificate was just as nice but apparently the bank doesn't cash them. The food was also nice, as my dad will attest after eating 5 mince pies. Was great to see people from the crew and was also nice to be greeted by Richard and Kev [from the University's Media Lab] in the customary fashion.

21/12/2003 - Andrew Davidson:
I agree. Though it seems like an age away now, both university and the making of the film but the two awards I now have hung side-by-side on my wall will always remind me of that time. Unless they fall on my head during the night, in which case I'll rue the day I made the films (albeit in a dead poltergeist-y way).

Site links: