KCL Dental Institute student wins New York film award with Inspiring message
In early December Shehroze Khan and Awais Ali, two young filmmakers from London will be flown to New York to receive an award for the first short film they made together. The clip appropriately titled ‘Inspire’ graphically portrays and promotes the value of cross cultural and inter faith cohesion. The short film, produced in under 4 weeks with no budget, was released on June 15th.
“Our video was about positivity and inspiring change through one's actions. We wish to be the change we wish to see, and do something productive with our time," explains Awais.
The PLURAL+INSIGHT award is offered by the Insight Film Festival to young filmmakers who successfully explore issues concerning ‘faith’. It is presented in collaboration with PLURAL+ an initiative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations. Over 240 entries by young filmmakers from 59 countries across the world were considered for this year’s award. They have also recently won another award with The Tribeca Film institute.
Shehroze and Awais are respectively a charity campaigner on social justice and a student at King’s College London’s Dental Institute. They hope to make more films in the future and are currently considering projects that delve into current issues such as the refugee crisis.
Their visit to New York,will take them to the 2015 edition of PLURAL+ Festival and Award Ceremony at the respected Paley Center for Media in New York City. They will join a number of young filmmakers also receiving awards and traveling from as far as Pakistan, Germany, Canada, Afghanistan, and Mexico.
Judges for the PLURAL+INSIGHT award included British filmmakers and film academics. They praised ‘Inspire’ for depicting issues of bigotry and prejudice and portraying a multi-cultural UK where many people face similar issues. They described it as a strong, moving and poetic revelation concerned with the mechanics of faith and alienation in a hostile world.
John Forrest, Associate Director of the Insight Festival says: “This is our third year in cooperation with the New York event. We’re delighted; Shehroze and Awais are very worthy winners. They have had help from both Muslim and Christian sources to facilitate this journey. I hope the visit to this prestigious ceremony will help boost their film making careers.”
Watch ‘Inspire’ online here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXw32csrIAo