We are delighted to announce a new award to accompany the 2020 EVCOM London Live and Film Awards. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, EVCOM want to renew our commitment to diversity and inclusion within our industry. We work in an industry where we currently see an unacceptable lack of diversity and we are looking at ways to address this, within EVCOM and within the wider community. As part of our work with the BVEP, we are working with Diversity Ally to tackle inequality in the events sector. We are also signatories of the Race at Work Charter, through which we are committing to working towards the representation of ethnic minorities in the workplace at all levels.
And today we are delighted to announce the FOCUS Award, a first step towards addressing the lack of racial diversity and the race-related recruitment barriers in the corporate film sector. The award is open to Black, Indigenous and People of Colour filmmakers between the ages of 18-25 who are not already working within the TV and film industry. To enter, applicants must tell us a bit about themselves and why they love film, and send us over a short film they have created. We are looking for creative energy and storytelling ability over quality, so whether it’s shot on a DSLR or on a camera phone, we want to see it!
The award is free to enter and the winning entrants will receive mentoring sessions with three of the top corporate film companies, Gorilla Gorilla!, Plastic Pictures and The Edge Picture Company. We will also screen the winning film at the EVCOM London Film Awards to an audience of corporate film making professionals.
We hope this award will be a chance for us to grow the corporate film community in a way that is representative of the diversity of creative talent the UK is full of.
You can find out more about the award here. Please do share this opportunity with your networks and beyond. This award is about reaching people who are not currently part of the corporate film community, so any support you can give us in sharing would be much appreciated!