Lights, camera, action – capturing the importance of arts and humanities on film

Film-makers are being encouraged to enter their work into the Research in Film Awards, organised by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Now in its second year the Awards celebrate short films that have been made about the arts and humanities and their influence on our lives.   The Awards have a category open to the general public and the winning film maker will receive £2,000 towards their film-making and the chance to attend a ceremony this November at the prestigious 195 Piccadilly in London, the home of BAFTA.

Jan Dalley, Arts Editor of the Financial Times and Chair of the Judging Panel, said: “Films are a really fresh and vivid way of thinking about research and telling people about research. Of all cultural forms, film is the one that most reflects the way we live and helps us understand the way we live now.”

There are five categories in total with four of them aimed at the research community – this includes a focus on Utopia, as 2016 is the 500^th anniversary of Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’ being published.

With the huge popularity of You Tube and the ability to make short films on smartphones and tablet computers, the Research in Film Awards is all about films produced in the UK which have been inspired by arts and humanities research. Film-makers might have been inspired by a local museum exhibition, a music or literature festival that they’ve attended or a local archaeological dig; and the films can range from 60 seconds long up to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Individuals, community groups or teams of film-makers that have been inspired by arts and humanities research can enter the Awards.  The team of judges that pick the shortlisted films and ultimately the winner will be looking for creative ways, either factual or fictional, of storytelling on camera that capture the importance of arts and humanities research to all of our lives.

Film submissions need to be made by the 1 July 2016 and more information can be found at www.ahrc.ac.uk/RIFA2016. Film-makers that make it on to the shortlist will be invited the Awards ceremony on the 10 November 2016, where the winners for each of the five categories will be announced. The winning films will also be shared on the Arts and Humanities Research Council website and You Tube channel.