Congratulations to Dorothy Allen-Pickard and Nicki Williams, who have won first prize in the Documentary category of the IF Film Competition (in association with the Guardian and the National Union of Students). They supplied these brief descriptions about how they got there, and their motivations.
See their award-winning film, “In the Name of Greatness”, here.
Dorothy Allen-Pickard is studying French and Film and Nicki Williams an MA in English at the University of Warwick. They recently began collaborating to develop their respective video and spoken-word projects and saw the IF film competition as an ideal platform.
They feel the current working environment in Britain makes living independently as graduates very challenging, and believe there is an inherent injustice in excluding many young people from university education through extortionate fee rises, when there’s simultaneously an expectation to endure years of unpaid labour. The capital city is affordable only for graduates with family support.
Dorothy has been involved with arts centres such as the Cinémathèque de Tanger, ICA, BFI and Warwick Arts Centre. She moved towards documentary filmmaking through her interest in cinema and politics. She considers this medium democratic in its potential to provide a space for artistic expression, dialogue and reflection upon current concerns, and with open access, free for all – as information and education should be.
Nicki has performed in productions at the Warwick Arts Centre, the English Theatre of Rome and with Shoot From The Lip, a poetry collective. She believes that spoken-word poetry is an excellent way to engage people with social and political issues, and loves how the performance element allows her to play with language.