BBC and BAFTA Bursary for Club Flix Film maker!

BBC and BAFTA Bursary for Club Flix filmmaker

Club Flix member and filmmaker, Jack Crocker has been awarded one of eight prestigious bursaries worth £3000 as part of a scheme created by the BBC and BAFTA to support the development of young filmmakers.

Club Flix is a young people's film group, an initiative supported by the Bath based media production company Suited and Booted Studios CIC. Club Flix provides a network for young people interested in film to work together creating their own films and submitting them to film competitions and screenings. The Club Flix film equipment that is hired out to these young filmmakers like Jack, was purchased as a result of a grant application to Youth Bank and the Quartet Foundation's Safer and Stronger Neighbourhood Fund.

Jack has been a long standing, and award-winning member of Club Flix and the Club Flix Steering Group for the past four years, working on organising events and mentoring younger filmmakers at practical workshops. Jack is also a member of a young people's film council based at the Somerset Engine Room.

His most recent film, From Choice to Change, was screened at the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol and televised on 27 November as part of BBC2's Blast TV: Creates. Jack submitted his film for consideration in the BBC Blast and BAFTA TV Craft bursary competition, and was awarded one of two bursaries in the film editing category for From Choice to Change. There were two applicants selected from each of four categories, including scriptwriting, director of photography, composer and editing. With this funding from the BBC, successful applicants will receive mentoring from industry professionals and be able to create new films in the next six months.

However, the competition does not stop there. In January, four out of the eight bursary winners will be nominated for a Screen-Skills award, through which they will receive placements, inspirational meetings and ongoing mentoring from BAFTA mentors. All of the nominees will attend the televised BAFTA TV Craft Awards ceremony in May 2010 when the winner of the competition will be announced.

In the meantime, Jack will be continuing his work with Club Flix and making his new film with the help of his professional mentor. He will officially receive his bursary from the BFI in February 2010.