Theatre and Performance student secures prestigious University Arts award
A third year BA Theatre and Performance student, Sammi Willets, has been awarded the £2000 Berkofsky Arts Award for a short film, ‘Visions of Us’.
The award, available to final year undergraduate students studying within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures is just one of the awards funded by the generous legacy from the late Hugh Berkofsky. They are intended for the creation or dissemination of artwork that will benefit the development of a student’s career in painting, sculpture, drama (including photography or film that has a narrative content) or music.
‘Visions of Us’ will follow a group of friends reuniting after months apart in lockdown. The short film will explore the joys of them being in the company of the people they love while also exploring the impacts isolation has had on them.
Sammi explained, “I want the project to be very collaborative and intend to start with a theme and then develop this to craft a film with my collaborators, creating a finished project which is inspired by those who create it. Making devised work collaboratively is something which is very common in theatre practice and I want to bring that to life through the medium of film.”
In her third year Sammi completed a year abroad and studied film in Toronto, Canada. The project will allow Sammi to put her skill and experience from her year abroad into practice.
I have a passion for digital cinema which is an area of theatre that specialises in filming on stage, and I believe this hands-on experience will aid in my training for this field which I want to work in.
Find out more about the undergraduate courses in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries.
