FOCAL announces shortlist for 2015 Footage Awards

FOCAL press release.

FOCAL International has announced the shortlist of nominations for the twelfth annual FOCAL International Awards in association with AP Archive. The Awards honour producers, filmmakers and other creative professionals who have used library footage in a documentary, feature film or any other form of production as well as those who preserve and restore our cultural heritage.

The FOCAL International Awards will be presented in association with AP Archive on the evening of May 21, 2015 at a glittering award ceremony hosted by television and radio presenter and former BBC Chief News Reporter, Kate Adie OBE at the Lancaster London Hotel. Tickets are available now.

FOCAL International received a record-setting 265 submissions from 24 countries for its 12th FOCAL International Awards.

“With so many amazingly good submissions, our 50 strong panel of international jurors have had the unenviable job of viewing then agonising over which titles to shortlist. Take the Best use of Footage in a History Production category, that jury had to whittle 43 submissions down to 3 finalists – it meant being downright brutal,” said organiser Julie Lewis. “We owe them all – our jurors, submitters and sponsors – a great debt of gratitude for their time and support for the footage industry.”

Now in its 12th year, the FOCAL International Awards is firmly established as one of the leading events on the international media awards circuit, as well a much-anticipated social occasion within the stock and archival footage community.

With Night Will Fall and Soul Boys of the Western World prominent amongst the titles, the Shortlisted Nominations represent the very best use of footage across multiple platforms and the highest skills and expertise in production, research and restoration in the world. They are as follows:

Best Use of Footage in a History Production
Sponsored by Getty Images

• American Experience: Freedom Summer – Firelight Films / WGBH Educational Foundation (USA)
• Night Will Fall – Angel TV Ltd, Spring Films Ltd, Cinephil (UK)
• To Die for Warsaw – Point du Jour (France)

Best Use of Footage in a Current Affairs Production
Sponsor sought

• Paisley: A Life – BBC Northern Ireland (UK)
• Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait – Les Films d’Ici (France)
• This World: Terror at the Mall – Amos Pictures / BBC (UK)

Best Use of Footage in a Factual Production
Sponsored by ITN Source

• Alfred and Jakobine – Start in Morocco Films Ltd (UK)
• American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam – Moxie Firecracker Films (USA)
• Night Will Fall – Angel TV Ltd, Spring Films Ltd, Cinephil (UK)

Best Use of Footage in an Entertainment Production
Sponsored by FremantleMedia Archive

• All About Two – BBC Entertainment Production (UK)
• Brushing Up On… British Woodlands – BBC Entertainment Production (UK)
• Perspectives: Bruce Forsyth on Sammy Davis Jr – Rain Media Entertainment (UK)

Best Use of Footage in an Arts Production
Sponsored by Bridgeman Footage

• Darcey’s Ballerina Heroines – Leopard Films (UK)
• Natan – Screenworks (Ireland)
• Regarding Susan Sontag – Question Why Films (USA)

Best Use of Footage in a Music Production
Sponsor sought

• American Masters: Bing Crosby Rediscovered – Thirteen Productions LLC (USA)
• Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown – Jigsaw Productions, Jagged Films and Inaudible Films (USA)
• Soul Boys Of The Western World – Wellingmax Films (UK)

Best Use of Sports Footage
Sponsored by ITV Sport Archive

• An Ordinary Hero – BT Sport (UK)
• Road – DoubleBand Films Ltd. (UK)
• Slaying the Badger – Passion Pictures (UK)

Best Use of Footage in an Advert or Short Production
Sponsor sought

• Guinness: Irrepressible Spirit (advert) – Rogue (UK)
• Samsung: Changes Everything (advert) – STALKR (USA)
• Worldpay: Buy, Play, Interact (advert) – Gorilla Gorilla! (UK)

Best Use of Wildlife and Natural History Footage
Sponsored by Shutterstock

• Animal Fight Club Series 2 – Arrow Media (UK)
• ORBI: The Magic of Yellowstone – BBC Earth Productions (UK)
• The Pristine Coast – Juggernaut Pictures Inc. (Canada)

Best Use of Footage on non-Television Platforms
Sponsored by Cambridge Imaging

• RetroReport: Go or No Go – The Challenger Legacy (website) – Mirror Mirror Productions / Retro Report (USA)
• Soul Boys Of The Western World (DVD/Bluray)- Wellingmax Films (UK)
• The First World War: Life on the Home Front in North West England (DVD/Bluray) – Artnoire Creative Services for North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK)

Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release
Sponsored by British Pathe

• Night Will Fall – Angel TV Ltd, Spring Films Ltd, Cinephil (UK)
• Teenage – Cinereach (USA)
• The Decent One – Realworks (Israel)

Best Archive Restoration / Preservation Title
Sponsor sought

• Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1919) – Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung (Germany)
• M – by Fritz Lang (1931) – TLEFilms Film Restoration & Preservation Services (Germany)
• The Color of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova) (1946) – The Film Foundation / L’Immagine Ritrovata (USA/Italy)

Best Archive Restoration / Preservation Project
Sponsor sought

• Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection – Arrow Films (France)
• Project Shirley: Restoring the films of Shirley Clarke – Milestone Film & Video (USA)
• The Noeggerath Collection – EYE Filmmuseum (Netherlands)

The Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award
Sponsored by AP Archive

• Gerard Wilkinson (UK) – Still The Enemy Within
• Kate Griffiths (UK) – Soul Boys of the Western World
• Sarah Strebelow (Israel) – The Decent One

Footage Employee of the Year
Sponsored by Creative Skillset

• Sophia Gorton (ITN Source)
• Robin James (BBC Motion Gallery/Getty Images)
• Paul Mc Allister (Screenocean)
• Lucy Smee (AP Archive)

Footage Library of the Year
Sponsored by Bonded Services

• Footage Farm
• Framepool
• Getty Images

Other titles which stood out in their respective categories were: German Concentration Camps Factual Survey (Restoration); All This Mayhem (Sport) ORBI: The Magic of Yellowstone Exhibition (Non TV Platforms) and the following all in the Best use of Footage in a History Production category: Apocalypse, World War I; Britain’s Whale Hunters – The Untold Story; Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race; From Scotland with Love; How We Used to Live; Kate Adie’s Women of World War I; Mysteries in the Archives: 1940 Eva Braun films Hitler; The Nazi Exiles; Will and Testament.

A full list of all 265 submissions, synopses, and credits can be viewed on the FOCAL International website now.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, as already announced, will be presented to Raye Farr.

The gala Awards evening on 21 May, at the London Lancaster Hotel, hosted by Kate Adie OBE, includes a drinks reception, three course meal and after party. Ticket prices start at £95.00 for INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS only or £115 for FOCAL International COMPANY MEMBERS and NON MEMBERS with tables of 10 available from £1100.00 (all prices are quoted ex-VAT). Full details of prices and booking information can be found at www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards.

Those interested in sponsorship opportunities at the Awards ceremony contact Anne Johnson at FOCAL International, info@focalint.org or +44 (0)20 3178 3535.