Fantastic news that The Gurney, has received the Special Honourable Mention in the Best Student Film category at the KinoFilm Festival in Manchester last weekend. This is the latest recognition for the 2017 MA Film (Edinburgh Napier) graduation film which to date has received four award wins, two special mentions, four further nominations, and been screened at twenty festivals in all.
Previous wins for The Gurney include the Best Student Film award at the British Independant Film Awards (BIFA) qualifying Norwich Film Festival where the 2018 Oscar winning short The Silent Child took home the Best Short award. The Gurney has also won the Best Short Film award in the Celebrating Women category at the Hastings Film Fringe and the Best Female Actor for Tamara Lawrance at the Little Wing Film Festival. The film’s director, Glenn Whelan (MA Film, Directing, 2017) was awarded the Best Student Director prize at the Bristol Independent Film Festival.
The Gurney’s writer, Rachel Traynor (MA Screenwriting, 2017) was nominated in the U25 Screenwriting category at the BAFTA qualifying Underwire Film Festival – at which the film screened as part of the ‘Living Scars’ programme – while Glenn received a nomination for Best Director – Student Film at the Young Director Awards, Ireland earlier in the year.
Other notable screenings for the film include the Academy Award qualifying Galway Film Fleadh, the BIFA qualifying S.O.U.L Celebrate Connect Event, and the Bradford Drunken Film Festival where the film’s producer, Darrel Kirk-Lambert (MA Film, Production, 2017) was invited to discuss the issues of representation on screen as part of an industry panel.