Canon & CVP Announce Winners of “Stories in Motion” Competition

Award

by Mascha DeikovaMay 2^nd, 2023

Canon UK & Ireland and CVP announced the winners of their Canon Stories in Motion Young Filmmakers Awards. This new competition was launched in January and follows the goal of encouraging and promoting the future generation of talented creators. Last week, the selection committee chose the best films in the categories of Documentary, Music Video, and Scripted Shorts. Watch the winners’ works here.

Application to the competition was only open to UK residents between the ages of 18 and 25 years. Also, the submitted films had to be less than five minutes long. Other than that, every emerging filmmaker was welcome to take part with no participation fee. As the official awards press release states, they got a phenomenal number of entries, which had outstanding quality, so it surely wasn’t an easy task to pick who wins a series of attractive prizes, including a Canon EOS C70 and RF 24-70 F.2.8 L lens, and the experience to shadow an award-winning filmmaker. 

Who was on the selection committee of Canon Stories in Motion?

“We partnered with CVP to establish Stories in Motion to empower the next generation and provide a platform for emerging young artists to showcase their unique perspectives and creative visions.”

Graham Payne, Product Business Developer, ITCG Marketing and Product Management, Canon UK & Ireland

The organizers of the awards invited several industry leaders to assist them in evaluating the submitted short films. Among them were Canon ambassador, author, and cinematographer Elisa Iannacone; director of photography Tania Freimuth, whose works are streaming on Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and Sky; CVP’s technical marketing manager Jake Ratcliffe; and also an award-winning filmmaker, editor, and colorist Ollie Kenchington (we wrote about a couple of his courses here). The members of the selection committee also announced the winners during the ceremony evening at Everyman Theatre Broadgate in London.

The best short documentary

This award went to Daniel Simpkins, who created a micro short film about farming called “Farm Life”. His documentary runs roughly 1,5 minutes. It may feel as minimalistic, as the life of the protagonist itself, but taking a closer look, every frame here is a small cinematographic wonder. See for yourself:

The atmospheric short, made by a tiny team, also got the overall “Grand Prize” of the Canon Stories in Motion competition. A good reminder, that you don’t always require a complex topic and long formats to tell an engaging story.

The whole documentary shortlist included:

• WINNER: Daniel Simpkins – Farm Life
• Samuel Babarinde – Against All Odds
• Darshan Gajjar – Peaks of Colour
• Luis Hindman, Mumford & Sons – Entwined: Noemi and Enrica
• Samuel Robson – Hyperactive

The winner of the Music Video category

Out of the shortlist of diverse music videos, the juries chose “Just Come With Me Tonight”, directed by Luis Hindman. This is an official video for Scottish singer Joesef, who released his debut album “Permanent Damage” in January 2023. Atmospheric vibes of the visual work carry us through the night, from a busy club to dimly lit streets, telling a romantic yet heart-breaking story. Wide lenses, interesting lighting solutions, and definitely a bigger team behind:

Full list of the shortlist in the Music Video category:

• WINNER: Luis Hindan – Just Come With Me Tonight
• Keaton B-McD – Kippin Widda Fishes
• Jacob Gandy – Harry
• Christian Haywood – It’s You, It’s Not Me
• Tianqi Huang – What’s My Name

Scripted short – jury’s choice

The best narrative story, which won the first prize in its category, is also a tough one. The winning short is called “Red Room” by Chas Harrington and it follows an innocent man, who suddenly wakes up in a warehouse unaware of how he got there. An indeed disturbing and very well-done 5-minute thriller, told in one continuous short. I personally also liked the work with colors, which play an important role in storytelling here.

Full shortlist:

• WINNER: Chas Harrington – Red Room
• Helen Iley – The Siren Song
• Manu Ausin – Let’s Bounce
• Elliot Millson – Ralph
• Eddie Yeoman – Drifter

Canon Stories in Motion – prizes

Each of the winners received a selection of prizes including a Canon EOS C70 and RF 24-70 F2.8 L lens, a £500 voucher for CVP, and the experience of shadowing an award-winning filmmaker. In addition to this, all shortlisted projects (five works in every category) got a £200 voucher to use at CVP.

If you want to read more about the Canon Stories in Motion Young Filmmakers Awards and view the shortlisted films, please head over to the official website of the competition.

We are really curious, how did you like the selection? Which of the winning shorts caught your attention? Let us know in the comments below.

Feature image: film stills from the winning films, combined with a photo from the awards (by Canon & CVP).