Sixteen, a film created by staff and students from Bath Spa University, has won Best Debut Feature at the prestigious Luxor Egyptian and European Film Festival.
It also won the Audience and Jury prizes at the recent Regards sur le Cinéma du Monde (Glances on the Cinema of the World) festival in France.
The film is an urban thriller about Jumah, an African former child soldier now living in London.
Jumah’s life looks to be taking a turn for the better when a tentative romance blossoms with a girl called Chloe.
Nearing his sixteenth birthday, he witnesses a stabbing which forces him to confront his violent past.
2015 marks the third Luxor Egyptian and European Film Festival, with more than sixty films from seventeen countries being screened over the four-day event.
The jury panel was headed up by French film director Yves Boisset and included directors, producers and actors from across Europe.
Sixteen was directed by Creative Media Practice Lecturer at Bath Spa Rob Brown who was in Luxor to collect the award.
Rob commented: “It was a great honour to screen in competition at Luxor and the award was a welcome surprise. This will help build momentum ahead of our UK theatrical release in late March as we prepare, supported by Bath Spa University, to ensure the film reaches its audience in cinemas and on video-on-demand.”
The Regards sur le Cinéma du Monde has been held annually in Rouen in Northern France since 1993. There are four awards given at the end of the eight day festival.
Sixteen won the public vote and the jury award which was shared jointly with Kertu from Estonia.
These awards follow on from Sixteen’s success at the BFI International Film Festival 2013 where it was nominated for the prestigious Sutherland Award for Best Debut Feature, and Rob Brown was nominated for Best British Newcomer.
Since its world premiere in London it has played at festivals in Czech Republic and Poland.
In March it will receive its North American premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival in Ohio and will be shown at the Brooklyn Academy in New York.
The film was produced by Jake Hume and Senior Lecturer in Creative Media Practice at Bath Spa, Nic Jeune, and was supported by a crew of film professionals and students from the university.
The film highlights the quality of the students and staff on the MA Feature Filmmaking, which is now in its second year.
It helps those students understand feature film production before they create their own films as part of their degree.
