A film company set-up by postgraduate students at Royal Holloway, University of London has won an award from the British Federation of Film Societies (BFFS) for “Best Film Education Programme.” It was also previously named as Time Out’s choice for “Other Cinema."
The company, Passengerfilms, is a not-for-profit enterprise that brings topics from cultural geography to London’s film goers. Launched in 2011 by postgraduate student Amy Cutler, the company is currently run by Amy and fellow PhD students Liz Haines, Mia Hunt, Rupert Griffiths and Miranda Ward, all from the Department of Geography|.
The team has hosted a number of evening film screenings based around different topics from cultural geography, including virtual space, surveillance, urban planning, eco-horror, navigation and mobile cinema. These include features and short films, talks by visiting researchers and Q&A sessions.
Commenting on their win, Amy Cutler said: “Winning the BFFS national award is an incredible achievement. It is testament to the excellent reception we have had from audiences and the film exhibition communities. It shows that discussions around cultural geography have a deserved place, and a potentially huge audience, in the public sphere.
“I am very excited that an academic project like this can garner such respect from film industry professionals.”
The team are now focusing on the year ahead, working with high-profile researchers from the Department of Geography and externally to develop the programme. This will include a night dedicated to borders, screening ‘Frozen River,’ a recent Canadian film set on a Mohawk reservation, as well as evenings dedicated to zoos, herding, transport and shipping.
More information about these and upcoming events are posted on the Passengerfilms blog|.
Posted on Monday 1st October 2012