Harriet Edwards, a second-year student of filmmaking at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, has won a dream opportunity to work with a Hollywood production company.
According to a news release, Harriet was selected out of students from across the North of England who entered films into a pilot competition mounted by the Insight Film Festival. She has been awarded an expenses-paid trip to Hollywood including a six-week internship with Loyola Productions Inc., an award-winning company based in the heart of the movie industry in Culver City, Los Angeles.
She traveled out just before July 4th, the 2014 American Independence Day celebrations, and had a few days to enjoy the festivities before starting her internship.
Harriet Edwards on set of her short film; Photo Courtesy of Star Now.
Students were invited to make a film on the subject of “faith.” They were encouraged to interpret the subject in any way they wished, irrespective of their own background or beliefs. Harriet chose to film a personalized interpretation of a Biblical psalm.
Harriet explained, “I took the opportunity to express how I see the world. It’s to do with self-discovery and finding yourself – and trying to find a voice.”
Entries for Insight Awards are judged by experienced and high profile media figures. The panel for the Student Film Award included Usman Mullan of the BBC Writer’s Room North and Fr. Tim Byron of Manchester University’s Catholic Chaplaincy, one of the competition’s sponsors.
The famous Hollywood sign in California; Photo Courtesy of the KCRW.
During the process, entrants were given an opportunity to pick up tips from a workshop conducted by award-winning screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce. Having submitted films or scripts, three finalists were interviewed in a live link-up with Hollywood.
Festival Director, John Forrest – a veteran TV producer-director – told the ASSIST News Service, “We’re delighted that Harriet has won this award amongst such tough competition. I expect her internship could be an amazing boost to a filmmaking career.”
He added, “Insight hopes to roll out the competition nationally in future.”
Since 2007 the Insight Film Festival has been encouraging the making of films around the unusual and sometimes controversial subject of “faith.” It is supported by people from across the world from all faiths and none and is increasingly establishing a global reputation. Its next competition is run in conjunction with the United Nations Association of Civilizations.
Want to see more? Watch Harriet’s short film “Psalm 46”
Check out another article by Dan Wooding: Christian Actor Shares His Incredible Story of Redemption Via Film
Dan Wooding, 73, is an award-winning journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 50 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States and around the world. He is the author of some 45 books.
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