Seven time Oscar winner, Gary Rydstrom, helped to launch the new Nottingham Screen Partnership at The University of Nottingham this week.
A series of events under the banner of ‘Disruptive Creativity Across Borders' took place at venues across Nottingham, designed to help young filmmakers develop skills and foster international collaborations in film and television.
The University of Nottingham is one of the founding partners of the partnership, along with Nottingham Trent University, The Creative Quarter, Nottingham City Council, Confetti Media Group, Spool Films, Invest in Nottingham, Skeleton Productions and Creative England.
Hub for ideas, research and talent
The ambition of the partnership is to develop and support a strong, robust screen industry sector within Nottingham which is connected locally, nationally and globally and becomes an international hub for the development of ideas, research and talent.
The partnership also aims to develop Nottingham as a hub and focal point for the screen industries internationally, with a particular focus on research and disruptive technologies. In addition, it will help filmmakers identify collaborative opportunities, in particular with the USA and the emerging market of China.
One of the main features of the launch event was the awards for the 2014 Nottingham Student Microfilm competition, where students were asked to submit a short film on the subject of 'Overcoming Challenges' in either fiction, animation, documentary or extreme short format.
Judging the competition was special guest, Gary Rydstrom, multiple Oscar winner for sound on Hollywood blockbusters such as Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, Titanic and Terminator II. He commented: "The Microfilm Competition at The University of Nottingham is a thrilling, motivating, and entertaining event for the students. There is no better way to learn than to do.
Unique voices
"I enjoyed hearing the unique voices of the filmmakers." added Gary, "They will appreciate seeing each other's work, and watching the winning films gain a wider audience in the world. This will make future work even better, and future competitions even more impressive."
In addition to Gary Rydstrom, some of the other notable contributors to the events programme included the highly-acclaimed Curtis Clark (Academy Award recipient and Chair of the American Society of Cinematographers' Technology Committee), the prestigious Dolby Laboratories, and international partners Nanjing Jinling College (China), Zinhuanet, Oliver Parsons, (Creative Director at Red Bee Media) and Mike Blair (Executive Producer at Shiver).
Dr Gianluca Sergi, Head of the Institute for Screen Industries Research at The University of Nottingham, has been one of the driving forces behind the Nottingham Screen Partnership. He commented: "I'm extremely happy to see the partnership come to fruition. Everybody has worked really hard to get this stage and I'd like to say a big thank you to all the partners who have contributed to organising the events and the wider Nottingham Screen Partnership project in general.
Global collaborations
"We want the partnership to encourage collaborations between organisations in the screen industry sector, both locally and globally, to work together on addressing the most pressing issues that are currently facing the global screen industry, as well as taking advantage of the opportunities that it presents. These events have helped to kickstart this ambitious and exciting project."
Councillor Nick McDonald, Portfolio Holder for Jobs and Growth and Creative Quarter Board Member, is fully behind the partnership, commenting: "It is great to see these major Nottingham organisations from both the public and private sectors coming together and working in partnership to build up the screen industries sector in Nottingham and raise our profile in the sector internationally."
The ‘Disruptive Creativity Across Borders' events programme was sponsored by Birmingham Airport, the Confucius Institute and Invest in Nottingham
For more details about Nottingham Screen Partnership email hello@nottinghamscreenpartnership.com, or visit www.nottinghamscreenpartnership.com
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in Chinaand Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also the most popular university in the UK among graduate employers, in the top 10 for student experience according to the Times Higher Education and one of the world’s greenest universities. It is ranked in the world’s top 1% of universities by the QS World University Rankings.
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