The FOCUS Award is currently open for its second year, following the success of last year’s award. This is an opportunity for 18-25 year old Black filmmakers and filmmakers of colour, to see their work showcased at our annual awards, and to make the most of mentorship opportunities from top corporate film companies. This year, we are delighted to welcome back Gorilla Gorilla! and The Edge Picture Company and who will mentoring for the second year running, whilst Media Zoo will be joining them to mentor the FOCUS Award winner for the first time!
Gorilla Gorilla!, who are also kindly sponsoring the award, says, “We’re delighted to be a mentor company for the FOCUS Award for the second year running. We very much enjoyed judging the entries to the competition and providing advice and guidance to the winner and the runners up. It’s also been a pleasure to see their careers take positive steps forward since. We look forward to meeting this year’s new talent and unlike last year being able to meet up in person too!”
The Edge Picture Company continues, “Addressing racism and race-related barriers to access and inclusion within our industry is top priority for us at The Edge. Last year we met some incredible, talented creatives, two of which we’re delighted to say now have full-time jobs at The Edge. We were impressed by the talent who entered last year and really look forward to mentoring some of the young people involved again this year.”
Media Zoo adds, “We are so proud to be supporting the EVCOM Focus awards and are honoured to be one of the mentors for this year’s winner.
We know how important it is for young people to have the right mentoring and opportunities to gain the experience they need. This will really shape their careers and help them make their mark in our industry. We are absolutely delighted to be supporting these fantastic awards and can’t wait to see all of the entries and meet this year’s winner.”
Claire Fennelow, EVCOM’s Executive Director, says, “We are so incredibly grateful for your support of this award, and the support that you give to these young filmmakers! This is both an opportunity for the winner and shortlisted entrants to build relationships in our sector and gain experience, and an opportunity for us as a sector to discover exciting new talent. We can’t wait to see the submitted films of 2021!”
Find out more and enter The FOCUS Award here. If you know of anyone who you think would be interested in being mentored, please do encourage them to submit!